Irvine Half Marathon
Irvine, CA
- Half Marathon, 5K
- Road (Paved)
- Official race website
Welcome to the newly branded Irvine Half, formerly the Southern California Half & 5K. The Irvine Half Marathon & 5K is an excellent race venue to start a new year of fitness and preparation for the important marathons taking place later on during the year. The race has earned the … MORE
Local Historical Weather (Jan 07):
| 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | |
| H (°F) | 67 | 58 | 69 | 76 | 64 |
| L (°F) | 49 | 46 | 46 | 53 | 53 |
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Winter Morning Run for Schools
This is a yearly Half and 5k in the Woodbridge area of Irvine, CA that benefits their school district and as such you are running with many students as well … MORE
This is a yearly Half and 5k in the Woodbridge area of Irvine, CA that benefits their school district and as such you are running with many students as well as seeing many student volunteers.
For a 5k it is a little pricey – $50. I am hoping that a great deal of that fee really goes to the schools. I didn’t really see much of a police presence out there. You are running through streets where cars are still permitted to pass although runners have “right of way”. Student volunteers manned those spots.
I parked at Mike Ward community park which is about a half mile walk from the startline. You will see a row a porta potties on the way and those are good ones to hit before you get there. There are more at the start line but they get long lines.
I picked up my packet 2 days before but you can pick up at the expo that day – it is located just past the start line on Barranca. The Half and the 5k start at the same time- 8 am – but wisely have different start lines and follow different paths. The 5k lines up on the left side of Barranca and the Half is on the right. You are encouraged to line up according to your time and they have signs posted for each time. But right before the start they move you up about 200 feet to the actual start line so it’s a bit of a mess. I can imagine the Half runners have a hard time because of this and the fact they start all Half runners at the same time on to a narrow path. This really isn’t a problem for the 5k – our path has plenty of room to run and is completely flat.
It’s a beautiful neighborhood with plenty of picturesque views as you run around a lake. The winter sky always provides some nice magic – It seems this run always times with (So Cal) cold and our rainy season.
At the finish you get a medal and if you keep walking to the left you are at the expo. The expo is a combination of vendors and long tables manned by students with samples from local businesses (Chips from Chili’s, Bread sticks from Olive Garden, Muffins from Corner Bakery and LOTS of Cookies and Bagels from Albertsons) as well as your Oranges and Bananas. It’s actually a better then average expo but a lot of non-runners find it and raid the vendors. This is probably a bummer for the Half runners who come later. The students at the long sample tables try to keep the cookies for later by telling non-runners those items are not for them.
I ran this event with a bum knee and I did better then expected but my timing by RaceWire had an extra 25 seconds on it. I went with my runtastic timing which made more sense.
Perfect for Marathon Training
Perfect date to do this 18 miler for anyone training for the LA marathon. Scenery and course wasn't too exciting or difficult, but it was nice to at least run … MORE
Perfect date to do this 18 miler for anyone training for the LA marathon. Scenery and course wasn’t too exciting or difficult, but it was nice to at least run a distance this far before the marathon. I wished they started off in waves because there were so many people, we were shoulder to shoulder for the first 3 miles. Overall, great race for training.
A great training run for the LA marathon
Someone must be a marathoner to decide to put a supported 18 mile race a little over a month before the Los Angeles marathon, and one month before Surf City … MORE
Someone must be a marathoner to decide to put a supported 18 mile race a little over a month before the Los Angeles marathon, and one month before Surf City too. All of the Students Run LA and the We Rock Orange County kids thought so! The course matched the Half marathon, except the 5 mile loop in the middle was run twice by the 18 milers. Most of the race in along the river bed and somehow was all a gentle downhill (hard to do in an out and back course!) Other than that there were clover leaf shapes through the side streets that were entertaining because you could see other runners coming and going in all directions like an M. C. Escher drawing. My only two quibbles: not enough porta-potties on course..enough said. And the tech race shirt was one of the ugliest ever (and I’ve got some ugly shirts!)
Easy course and small race
There were not a lot of people that ran the race this year and I was fine with that. I ran this with my mom and she registered the day … MORE
There were not a lot of people that ran the race this year and I was fine with that. I ran this with my mom and she registered the day of the race with no problem. We got there early and there was ample parking, along with volunteers to tell you where to go. There was no confusion as to where you could park, and where the start line was. It was easy to get around. They had a lot of bathrooms as well which was nice. The course was flat, there wasn’t a lot to see and it was a little boring, but overall it was nice. They had a lot of aide stations as well!
Simple race without much Personality
As would be expected for a race located in Irvine, many of the miles left one feeling as if he or she were stuck on the set of "Groundhog Day," … MORE
As would be expected for a race located in Irvine, many of the miles left one feeling as if he or she were stuck on the set of “Groundhog Day,” minus Bill Murray. That is to say, there were about three intersections on the course, and many streets connected by those intersections, where I am still not sure if I was just running in a continuous loop! Irvine is pretty big, and there are some fairly scenic parts, too bad this race missed most of them and instead took us on the stereotypical Irvine-esque cookie-cutter route . The start of the race was crowded, as there are many students who are training for the LA Marathon, without much regard to runners’ etiquette (and the sheer number of them would make navigating difficult on the narrow bike paths at the start, even if the best manners were practiced). After the bike paths, here begins the intersections, some streets, and a lot of out – and -back stretches where you can say “Hi” to fellow runners on the other side of the road, which was a good distraction from the monotony of the course. There was one point around mile 8, where we went back on the bike path, but also could connect with an (visible) earlier point on the course about a block up, and at least one person missed the turn, and I almost did. It was very confusing and needed more volunteer direction there. The best thing about this race–flat, and cool weather. We even got a light mist. Perhaps the worst part, beside all that I mentioned earlier–The medals said 2014 on them!!! What a disappointment that my first race of the year would be mislabeled 🙁 Post-race displayed more of the disorganization that had characterized the race itself : Challenging to find which line to stand in to pick up the finisher’s shirt, and a long wait once in line. This is a fine race for a fast run if you are a local, but don’t break the bank to do it.