The race has a new course. At least half is farm land before getting to the shore. I don't know if it even reaches Malibu. There aren't enough port-a-potties at … MORE
The race has a new course. At least half is farm land before getting to the shore. I don’t know if it even reaches Malibu. There aren’t enough port-a-potties at the start; parking at the start took a long time. The only way back from the finish are race shuttles; I waited over an hour for one. Part of the wait is on line right in front of the music stage blasting music at unhealthy levels. No extra sway; post-race food is minimal and hard to find. Very disappointing.
Please login to reply to this review.
Not as scenic as advertised
The race has a new course. At least half is farm land before getting to the shore. I don't know if it even reaches Malibu. There aren't enough port-a-potties at … MORE
The race has a new course. At least half is farm land before getting to the shore. I don’t know if it even reaches Malibu. There aren’t enough port-a-potties at the start; parking at the start took a long time. The only way back from the finish are race shuttles; I waited over an hour for one. Part of the wait is on line right in front of the music stage blasting music at unhealthy levels. No extra sway; post-race food is minimal and hard to find. Very disappointing.
Malibu's Zuma Beach is there more to say
It was on PCH very hilly, warm day, plenty of fluid stations, volunteers were awesome, decent cheering sections. The parking is a 20 minute walk from the start, a little … MORE
It was on PCH very hilly, warm day, plenty of fluid stations, volunteers were awesome, decent cheering sections. The parking is a 20 minute walk from the start, a little confusion where and when the waves started for the half. I did the Combo Challenge ran both the 5K and 1/2, would do it again.
Highway One: great with some tradeoffs..
This was my first time running the Malibu Half Marathon. It’s a beautiful, hilly course, but the tradeoffs for racing this stretch of Highway One are narrow lanes and chaotically … MORE
This was my first time running the Malibu Half Marathon. It’s a beautiful, hilly course, but the tradeoffs for racing this stretch of Highway One are narrow lanes and chaotically jammed water stations.
Expo / pick-up:
-Packet pick-up and the expo is staged in the Zuma Beach parking lot. You can look up your bib number and efficiently grab all your items. I loved the small official cloth bag that they provided. It’s sturdy, and just big enough to hold the shirt, bib, etc. There were so many great vendors providing samples (and more bags), including Neutrogena, Qure, Oak Berry, Bahamii, and UCLA Health. The official merch store also sold parking passes for the rest of the weekend’s races, so that’s a great way to save yourself a few minutes on race-day morning.
Parking:
-Tip: while you can pre-purchase parking at the expo, that doesn’t guarantee you a great spot! Beach parking is plentiful, but the parking spots are stretched thinly along the coast, so you need to get there EARLY to prevent having to walk a mile-plus to the start-line. Based on my experience, “early” means at least an hour and a half before the start time.
Pre-race:
-The start area is just between the Zuma Beach parking lot and the expo area. There are lots of porta-potties in addition to the beach’s permanent facilities. Mornings in Malibu can be COLD, so bring a jacket, gloves, hat, whatever you need to stay warm. And if you need to check your gear, note that it’s at the western end of the expo area, in the same tent where you pick up your race shirts. If you manage to get an early morning parking spot that’s closer, it might not even be worth walking all the way to the gear check tent.
-The field at the Malibu Half is large enough to feel like an energetic running event, but not too crowded as to be uncomfortable. That means the start corral is easy to get into, and you can find your corresponding pacer group with no trouble at all. In fact, this was one of the fastest wave-starts I’ve ever been a part of. It seemed like everyone was able to cross the start line very quickly after the starting gun.
Course:
-Miles 1-3: If you did the 5k on Saturday, this is essentially the same route. You head southeast on the Zuma Beach Access Road before looping back onto Highway 1 (Pacific Coast Highway) right around Busch Drive. The first 3 miles are the flattest and easiest, so enjoy it while it lasts!
-Miles 3-8: After you run past the Start/Finish line, it’s time for a steady climb that never seems to end. There are gorgeous ocean views for your eyes, but the price is paid by your legs. The steepest climb is around Mile 5, at Meyer State Beach and El Matador Beach, but every downhill seemingly ends with the start of another uphill.
-Miles 8-13.1: The course hits a turnaround at Mile 8, and now you get to do all those same hills again, but from the opposite direction. Again, the steepest hills are around El Matador State Beach (this time at Mile 10). The good news: the “back” of this out-and-back course is net downhill. The bad news: Highway One is a highly trafficked road, and they probably can’t afford to shut down multiple lanes for a race. As a result, the closed course only consists of 3/4 of a full lane (marked by cones to create a small buffer) for outgoing runners and a small bike lane for returning runners. This makes for a very narrow race where outgoing and returning runners can be very closely bunched! To make things worse, the water stations are only located on the coastal side of the road—outgoing runners must cut into the returning lane to get water, and it is a messy traffic jam at every station! As a runner, approaching normal water stations is already a tricky task of grabbing a cup/drinking without slowing traffic behind you. Now you need to worry about incoming traffic too! It’s chaotic.
Scenery/Weather/Support:
-The weather in Malibu was clear and great. It started off pretty chilly, around 54 degrees, and rose up to 62 by the time I finished. There isn’t much tree cover or shade, so if your eyes are sensitive, be sure to bring a hat/sunglasses. The amount of water/gels available and volunteer support was absolutely perfect—every time I was just about to need water, the next aid station was coming up right away. But again, I must reiterate that the stations serving two-way traffic can get way too crowded.
Post-race:
-Once you cross the finish line, and grab your medal, a bottle of Qure water, and a goodie bag full of refreshments from the friendly volunteers. The half marathon goodie bag was basically the same as the 5k’s: a banana, a quarter bagel, Bahamii date energy bites (mine was Chocolate almond), Wipala fruit bar (Strawberry/spinach), and a few crackers. The festival was full of great vendors, including Neutrogena handing out lotion and skincare samples. The massage and compression booths were also very popular. I counted two different photo ops: a first/second/third place podium, and a red carpet backdrop along the sand. Both were pretty great!
Swag:
-The 5k and Half Marathon events share the same official race shirt: a gray tech shirt, with the Run Malibu logo in white atop a solid purple forward-facing chevron and a black palm tree silhouette. It’s a nice shirt with nice material, and better-looking than the black variant shown on the race website. The Half Marathon finisher medal is a hefty chunk of hardware. The Run Malibu logo is centered on a purple/red gradient forward-chevron, with palm trees in the background, all encircled by a brushed metal ring. The medal is looped with a ribbon that’s red on one side, purple on the other. Very eye-catching!
If you ran the 5k to complete the Malibu Combo Challenge, the Challenge medal is a circle of purple-orange-blue chevrons, and the Combo Challenge text in shiny chrome at the bottom.
One medal issue: The Malibu Half Marathon was the fourth qualifying race I ran this year in the Golden State Challenge series. Organizers at the race ran out of Golden State Challenge medals because they weren’t given an updated list, and instead provided us an email contact. I’ve emailed several times, and also contacted Motiv Sports, but it’s been a week now, and there’s been no response. Not sure I’m getting that Challenge medal…
Bottom-line:
The Malibu Half Marathon is fun and beautiful race. I would recommend it as long as you’re ready for some tough hills, narrow lanes, and crowded water stations. It’s otherwise a great event with wonderful atmosphere and unbeatable location.
Breathtaking Scenery
Great run with great crowd, well organized, by the water! There were a lot of vendors with lots of freebies and free massages and really enjoyed the scenery. Parking was … MORE
Great run with great crowd, well organized, by the water! There were a lot of vendors with lots of freebies and free massages and really enjoyed the scenery. Parking was rough to find though, expect to get there early as soon as they open. Mornings are cold in Malibu so bring a jacket.
Not for first timers
I ran the Malibu Half Marathon as my first half marathon. I loved the run, the production was great, and scenery was beautiful. Although, I would not recommend this race … MORE
I ran the Malibu Half Marathon as my first half marathon. I loved the run, the production was great, and scenery was beautiful. Although, I would not recommend this race for other firs timers as the course is very hilly. Mile one was the only flat part of the course, and mile 8 was pretty much all uphill. They did provide water and jells at each mile, and pretzels at a few stations. Portapotties at ever mile, and cheering at the half way point.
Beautiful and Fun!
First off, the race organizers are not joking about parking. Get to Zuma Beach EARLY! We got there around 5:30, which ended up being perfect. This course is beautiful, but … MORE
First off, the race organizers are not joking about parking. Get to Zuma Beach EARLY! We got there around 5:30, which ended up being perfect.
This course is beautiful, but it is NOT a fast and flat guaranteed PR. There are some big hills IMO, but the views are truly stunning. You won’t find a more beautiful route. That being said, I saw a lot of people struggling because of the hills and the heat. The abundant water stations were so helpful!
Starting corals were a bit crowded, but the energy was electric! My fellow runners were friendly and fun. We supported each other out there!
I earned every bit of my PR on this course! It was challenging, but the great organization, beautiful course, and fun atmosphere made this race spectacular. An awesome race!
First Time Marathoner
This was my first Marathon and the experience was great. The energy of the crowd was great. The weather was perfect. So many runner from young to odd, novice to … MORE
This was my first Marathon and the experience was great. The energy of the crowd was great. The weather was perfect. So many runner from young to odd, novice to expert made the race even more inviting. I even had 3 of my 4 daughters join in with me. It was definitely a family affair. The event made my goal
of running my first marathon by 50 years old an enjoyable mission accomplished ✔️. Definitely will be back next year.
Well run race with great scenery
The race is very well run. The start had plenty of bathrooms, and the course was well serviced with aid stations and great volunteers at every mile. I will be … MORE
The race is very well run. The start had plenty of bathrooms, and the course was well serviced with aid stations and great volunteers at every mile. I will be back next year for sure.
Getting out of the parking lot was the only issue, and I don’t see anyway to change it. It took us about 40 minutes to exit. The race officials worked with the police to make it run smoothly so it wasn’t chaos. It is what it is given the location.
Improved from last year
Overall I think the race was better organized this year. Parking was still a bit nuts, got there over an hour before the race and still had to park 2 … MORE
Overall I think the race was better organized this year. Parking was still a bit nuts, got there over an hour before the race and still had to park 2 miles from the start which was fine before but totally sucked after. The shirts weren’t quite as nice this year and way shorter but the medals were nice. The start corrals are small and it can be hard to get where you need to be but even that was better than last year. The course itself was great as always, water every mile which is good given the hills, not crowded after the first mile. Not a lot of crowd support at this race because it is so small but it’s peaceful and beautiful; can’t really complain!
Amazing experience
What a well oil machine! Everything ran so smoothly! Great swag! Amazing people! Staff was top knotch! Scenery was beautiful. Definitely will come back next year! MORE
What a well oil machine! Everything ran so smoothly! Great swag! Amazing people! Staff was top knotch! Scenery was beautiful. Definitely will come back next year!
Awesome race
Beautiful race with an amazing view and a wonderful ocean breeze. The team did a very good job in keeping us hydrated with water and gatorade. We received HUGE medal, … MORE
Beautiful race with an amazing view and a wonderful ocean breeze. The team did a very good job in keeping us hydrated with water and gatorade. We received HUGE medal, a swag bag, and a race shirt. Also, a great team behind in taking care of all of us. So, this is a race that is definitely worth coming again for me.
Please note though: you will not like the parking situation and coming in before the race and leaving is a pain. I got to the parking lot about 40 minutes prior to start time and the only place that was available for me to park was 2 miles away from start line.
Beautiful weather!
Beautiful weather! And great location, good expo, ample parking, mostly rolling, elevation changes along the highway. Not as picturesque as the website shows due to location change and leaving the … MORE
Beautiful weather! And great location, good expo, ample parking, mostly rolling, elevation changes along the highway. Not as picturesque as the website shows due to location change and leaving the parking lot took over an hour due to the restricted access of only one exit which seem to be due to construction.
Good race PARKING SITUATION SUCKED
You REALLY need to work on the parking situation - I arrived 1 hour early for the race and it took me 1 hour to park and was 20 minutes … MORE
You REALLY need to work on the parking situation – I arrived 1 hour early for the race and it took me 1 hour to park and was 20 minutes late to the start! I had to walk 1.5 miles to get to the start. They had police out blocking the way that all of the emails instructed us to go – so we all had to turn around and go miles out of our way to get in line to access parking. Most likely would not recommend this race due to the parking situation only.
Decent race with some hiccups
This was an ok race experience overall. I originally signed up for the ½ back in March but downgraded due to lack of training and too many other races on … MORE
This was an ok race experience overall. I originally signed up for the ½ back in March but downgraded due to lack of training and too many other races on my schedule. I’ll break it down into three sections.
The Good: Fairly scenic course for the 5K, I did notice that the half marathon course had a large section with trees blocking the coastal view. The t-shirt is good quality and loved that they had boxed water. The medal was just ok, a little boring and uninspiring, could seriously use some color.
The Bad: The beer garden. Erdinger was handing out the N/A artificially flavored stuff at the finish. It’s not good and should not be called beer. They had an actual beer garden, $5 a piece which is reasonable and profits went to a good cause. Unfortunately, they were pouring bottles that had recently been put in to ice in red solo cups, which meant instant foam and it was taking 5 minutes to pour one beer. There are so many great breweries in this area, go get a keg from one of them and support a local business. Also, for the price of registration, one beer ticket should have been included. I can’t recall doing a race with a beer garden where you don’t get at least one. I heard from many that parking was a complete nightmare, luckily I took a chance and parked in the neighboring shopping center lot since I knew I’d be done before the stores opened.
The Ugly: Start line management. The corral was long and wrapped around to the expo. Unfortunately, there were no speakers in the expo area so you couldn’t hear what was going on at the start. The 1/2 should’ve started at 7 and the 5K at 7:20. I made my way to the start at 7:15 and the half runners were still in the chute and 5K runners were being told to get out. Even as they told the 5K runners to line up, late arriving half runners were pushing their way to the front. If you can’t arrive on time, don’t sign up. The 5K portion of this event was treated like an afterthought.
I wanted to like this race, but it failed miserably in the two areas that matter most to me, start line organization and beer garden. There were many other great races in SoCal this weekend, one of those will probably get my money next year.
Beautiful course, smaller race!
You cannot beat the view throughout this course; it makes up for the long uphill miles. The swag was great, race was one of the more affordable, and the post-race … MORE
You cannot beat the view throughout this course; it makes up for the long uphill miles. The swag was great, race was one of the more affordable, and the post-race party was wonderful. The expo was nothing special. The corralling at the start was the most terrible I’ve experienced, wayyyy too small (almost had a panic attack – very claustrophobic) and runners (and pacers) couldn’t get to the appropriate corrals which caused the start of the race to be too slow because fast Runner’s had to try to safely pass walkers and slower runners. Other than that it was a great race. Would definitely do again!
Great Race for Turtles!
Okay, I am going to have to rate this event a 4.8 out of a 5 scale. As a turtle (if they had a snail, I would have chosen that … MORE
Okay, I am going to have to rate this event a 4.8 out of a 5 scale. As a turtle (if they had a snail, I would have chosen that as my symbol instead) I always tend to be forgotten about. Whether they run out of food, water, gels or my personal favorite, taking the course apart while I am on the course I always seems to be disappointed in many “walker friendly events.” I was shocked that they had plenty of water (and cold at that!), port a potties, and gels galore on course. This was both on the way up AND back. I think I am still picking up my jaw off the floor. I was not expecting this at all from my previous race experiences and always tend to carry gels and water on my own not counting on having anything left for me. This is a hilly course however, the hills are gentle and doable. I did not plan to race this course at all and chose to take it easy as I did RnR LA the previous week and still came in well under my goal pace. I did have a few small niggles that I hope Malibu fixes for the future, mainly, that they need to better time the water stations. What I meant by that is that at a certain point, we walkers are running against the folks coming back. Because the water station is to the left of those walking uphill, all the downhill return runners ran into us as we shared a single water station to their right. It makes more sense for the water station to be in the middle of the road to split the station between the walkers and the runners. We attempted to go around when we could but it wasn’t always a very neat option. This was a small niggle that we worked out among ourselves but it caught us a bit off guard. Other than that, great views, great course support and great people. I will definitely be coming back!
My first race (minus casual 5ks)
The race itself was a great experience, way more fun than expected. I had a few bumps during training... injuries, flu which definitely took their toll. Plus, the days leading … MORE
The race itself was a great experience, way more fun than expected. I had a few bumps during training… injuries, flu which definitely took their toll. Plus, the days leading up to the race I felt weak, the night before I wasn’t sure if I’d even make it out of bed. But come race day I felt great.
I initially wanted to finish under 2 hours, but with all the hiccups in my training, I set a more realistic goal of just finishing the race. The route was great, I felt confident and strong the whole race. The hills are easy and short so they didn’t slow me down or tire me. Being able to look out at the Pacific Ocean was great motivation. I finished with 2:09:36, When I registered I had put down an expected finish of 2:15, so, all in all, I’m quite happy my results.
The Malibu Half is a bit pricier than other local Half Marathons, but it was close and Malibu is such a special place. I’m really glad I picked this race, an absolutely great experience. I’m planning on being back in 2018 to take that sub 2.
Good training run
If you are not from the area, it's a little Hillier than the course profile. Nothing crazy, but a little more than gentle rollers. I had a slow PR, so … MORE
If you are not from the area, it’s a little Hillier than the course profile. Nothing crazy, but a little more than gentle rollers. I had a slow PR, so not knocking it. On the way back it’s really tough to get fluids as they are provided on one side of the course. A couple of near collisions. But overall, a fun run…and very nice people involved in the process.
Malibu is my absolute FAVORITE
The multiple rest stops, bathrooms, water, Gatorade along with stinger gels that were offered during the course is fantastic. The EXPO is fantastic. We really enjoyed ALL of your vendors. … MORE
The multiple rest stops, bathrooms, water, Gatorade along with stinger gels that were offered during the course is fantastic. The EXPO is fantastic. We really enjoyed ALL of your vendors. Very professionally run. The staff and volunteers were incredible. The officers at all the cross streets were amazing.I love to see all kinds of folks out on this course. I have done this course 5 years. Will continue to enjoy this for as long as it’s offered.
Great race by the Malibu coast
Beautiful area. The race was well organized. No parking problems. More than enough bathrooms. The race itself started without a hitch and great after race food! This was only my … MORE
Beautiful area. The race was well organized. No parking problems. More than enough bathrooms. The race itself started without a hitch and great after race food! This was only my third 1/2 marathon, just started back running in June. I found the course to be comfortably challenging. I definitely plan on signing up again next year!