Divas Half Marathon & 5K in San Francisco Bay

i ran the half marathon in 2013 but did not run in 2015 since i had signed up for another half marathon a couple weeks later. however, i did come and cheer two of my running buddies who were both running the half.

one of my friends was running this for the first time and pr’d on this flat course. my other friend came close to a pr, but still ran a strong race. i saw them near the end and snapped some photos. we later met at the finish line area and took more photos.

i appreciated that they kept the finish area at a large, grassy park, which made it easy for folks to hang out, stretch, and enjoy their goodies. i saw a great variety of post-race snacks including cookies, trail mix, salted pretzels, bananas, and water, perfect for refueling after 13 miles.

the finisher medal was extra big and blingy, suitable for a diva! volunteers had handed out boas and tiaras along the course, in bright pink, and many of the ladies wore the pink tutu that was given out at the pre-race expo. the schwag was blinged out and fitting for an event like this.

if my schedule permits, i’d want to sign up for this event again in 2016, even if it’s just to finish and have another blinged out pink medal!

PINK tshirts….BOAS….TIARAS….RED ROSES….CHAMPAGNE….and a SPARKLY BLINGED out medal….

what am i talking out? no, not a pageant, or a bachelorette party, but this was a party with about 5000 other women from the bay area and outside of california

yesterday was the 2nd annual divas half marathon in san francisco, and for the most part, it was a successful event.

for this particular event, there was a choice of 2 distances:
1. half marathon (13.1 miles)
2. 5k (3.1 miles)

i chose to participate in the half marathon distance since this is my favourite distance to race. pre-registration for the half is $85, which includes all of the below.

the pros:
*early 7am start to avoid the potential heat in may (and we had an unseasonably hot week leading up to the race, so an early start was much appreciated)
*PERFECT race day conditions, mid-high 50s and overcast for a majority of the race with a slight headwind on parts of the race since we were running along the bay trail
*flat out-and-back course that originated from burlingame’s bayside park, ran through several other parks along the bay, down to the san mateo bridge, and back to the starting point
*staggered start times for the half and 5k events to avoid congestion at the start
*flags to mark each mile for the half
*friendly volunteers directing runners along the course, especially at major turns and the halfway turnaround point, they also handed out fluids at all aid stations along the course and after the finish line

what you get:
++packet pick-up @ the divas expo, held at the host hotel, san francisco airport marriott waterfront, on both friday & saturday before the race
++PINK drawstring bag with divas logo (also serves as gear/coat check bag at the start)
++PINK dri-fit, women’s cut, v-neck finisher’s t-shirt
++boa and tiara station just before the finish line, so you can look your best crossing the finish
++long stem red rose at the finish line, each rose in its own mini-water vial
++glasses of champagne at the finish, or ginger ale for those who prefer the non-alcoholic version, option to keep the souvenir plastic champagne glass with divas logo
++HUGE, blinged out medal on a pink strap with lots of room on the back to engrave name and finisher time

the cons:
-the recommended parking options were not very good: park at millbrae bart/caltrain station, which is 2.5 miles from the start line, and take a shuttle to the start or park at the host hotel, marriott, if you get there by 5.30am, and walk about a mile to the start (note that parking at marriott will run you about $10, depending on how long you park there)
TIP: park in burlingame, along rollins rd or carolan ave, near broadway, and walk across the footbridge to the start line. only a 5-10 min walk depending on how close you park to the footbridge.
-course was not very interesting, even though it ran along the bay. for some reason, all of the parks that i ran through seemed very deserted, no playgrounds, soccer fields, or people for that matter. parts of the course ran into residential areas of burlingame and san mateo, which again, were not very interesting.
-a good chunk of the course was quite narrow, so if you are running in the middle of the pack, you would likely get stuck/feel congested on certain turns, especially the halfway turnaround point which was extremely narrow.
-there was very little entertainment along the way, much less so than was advertised on the official map. the major spectacle that i recall seeing was the chinese dancing dragon around mile 3, which i saw again around mile 10 on the way back.
-overall course was a bit long, per my garmin, i ran 13.21 miles instead of the official 13.11 miles, and this is with me running the tangents at each turn (so i assume most participants would have run closer to 13.3 miles running the long way around the course)
-mile markers could have been bigger, and a better/brighter colour. short stumps made of black fabric is not the best material, especially on an overcast day as they were hard to see until i got really close to them
-no timers at each mile marker/major split. clocks were only seen at the start and finish so we could not guage our progress unless we had our own timing device.
-not much variety of food, especially for a half marathon. our only choices were plain bagels (no cream cheese or peanut butter), bananas, and cookies
-there was coconut water at the end, but unfortunately they ran out very quickly so not all participants were able to have some
-while there was a post-race party, it did not begin until 2pm. and for those of us finishing before 9am, we did not want to stick around for 5 hrs.

in short, love the PINK, love the BLINGY MEDAL and the other schwag, but the course itself could use some modifications.

would i run it again next year? for the bling, yes. for the course, probably not….it’ll be a game time decision.