Preston Reed's Staging Area

I’ve run this course I believe 6 of the last 7 years and mostly enjoy it each time. This year the weather was perfect though a little humid at the start. There is plenty of course support along the way with a bit of music. I think some of the best entertainment along the course comes from some of the running clubs or other runners who are dressed up or otherwise having fun out there.

They started things off with a tribute to Kobe, his daughter, and the other 7 who died in the helicopter crash last weekend. It was very sweet. In fact, they had mile marker 8 (and I heard 24– but I only did the half marathon) changed to look like Kobe’s jersey.

Overall a good race but there are still two things that could be improved. First, the corrals are still a big pain in the butt. If you want to run with your pace group, you’d better be in your corral early. If you’re not there 10 or more minutes before the start, you won’t be able to get in and you may start 1 or more waves behind your pace group.

Second, heading up Seapoint, they have about 75% of the road marked off for people heading up, and 25% for those heading down. I understand why they did this, but it still creates a bottleneck both heading up and heading down. It was ok when I was heading up near the 1:50 pace groups, but I saw the faster half marathoners having to weave around the slower marathoners who were clogging the lane. When I was heading down the 2:05/2:10 etc. groups were heading up and it was super packed. So packed that people were cutting over to our narrow downhill side to try to get through. That is probably the area that needs the most attention to try to relieve some of the congestion.

The swag was ok. I always like the shopping bags they give. Usually the shirts feel high quality, but this year they were a scratchier material than in year’s past.

Overall good race. I’m already signed up again for next year. Some improvements to be made as always.

There is a lot to like about this run. However the biggest negative I think outweighs the rest. The biggest issue with the change of timing from a morning run to an evening run is that many miles of the course parallel the Bolsa Chica state beach and bonfires. This means that for several miles of a race you are breathing in smoke from whatever wood people decided to bring and burn. I’m sure that’s not good for your lungs. For this reason alone I won’t be doing it next year.

Aside from the smoke, it was a beautiful sunset and it was nice to not have to wake up at butt-early-o’clock to be at the starting line. The crowds were nice near the start and finish and the fact that they gave you glow sticks (of sorts) made it more entertaining.

Several things to improve upon aside from the smoke: The starting crowds were terrible and not broken up. It was pretty tough to get through because it seemed like everyone started wherever the heck they wanted. Walkers doing the 5k? Sure, start ahead of those wanting a 7:30pace doing the 10miler! They also asked people to stay to the right especially after the turn around, but the slower 10k and 5k folks really clogged up the roads on the return for the 10 mile runners. Only at the very end was there a sign to remind walkers to stay to the side. This was made worse by the fact that there were lights only about every half mile along the course, so there were stretches with very low lighting. I didn’t realize I would need to provide my own lights for the run. They said that the course would be “lit” (their words). So if you do this next year, make sure you bring lights to help you see the road once the sun is completely down.

Again, I liked the idea but there are lots of areas for improvement. Unfortunately the biggest issue is out of the race director’s control (the smoke being a health issue). So I’ll probably skip this in the future.

This was my 6th time running the race and as always it was a beautiful course. They have changed it very slightly over the years so that you enter the fair grounds in more of a straight shot, but that adds a little extra wrinkle at fashion island to make up the distance. There are a couple climbs, but mostly flat-ish with some slight rolls. All in all, a really beautiful and not that difficult course.
Probably my biggest complaint is common with most larger races: the lack of organization regarding the corrals that results in things being too crowded at the start. Additionally, this year I was placed into corral 5 for some reason (despite saying my time would be around 1:50 and registering months in advance). After seeing that corral 5 was the very last corral (way away from the pacers running my speed) I had to work my way up to the correct corral. That was quite a bit of work and meant I was at the end of the gigantic corral 1. The first mile was spent trying to get through large crowds who should have started in later corrals.

As with many races, they should either properly enforce corrals, and / or have more corrals of smaller sizes so that things aren’t so crowded at the start.

Ok – now that I’m done complaining, the views were great running atop of Back Bay and through Corona Del Mar. Definitely my favorite course of the Beach Cities Challenge courses.

I was originally signed up for the Santa to the Sea up in Oxnard, but that was (rightfully) canceled due to the fires in the area. An opportunity came up where I was able to sign up for the Holiday Half at the last minute, so I hopped on board.
Race had a surprising amount of climb (~650 total feet) that I wasn’t expecting. Yes, they do mention this on the website, but given my last-minute sign up, I didn’t realize that. Despite this, I had a good time. The crowd was pleasant and not too large. You run around a lake and Raging Waters, so you have plenty of nice views. Worth doing again next year depending on whether or not I actually get to do the Santa to the Sea.

First off – this race is mostly flat and is fun to run. I think they did a much better job than last year. Last year I was pretty frustrated with the race as a whole. The expo had very narrow aisles which made it difficult to maneuver around. Add to that the strict security making you flow one direction and it became a whole ordeal if you accidentally missed an area to pick up your legacy shirt or something. During last year’s race, they don’t police the starting corrals, and I spent the first several miles stuck behind runners who should have started at the back of the pack and were clogging up the course.

This year was totally different. The aisles at the expo were much wider which made getting around that much easier. Whereas they didn’t police the corrals to make sure people started where they should, they did do smaller (and thus more) waves to thin things out. I wound up being in the 3rd wave (when based on their online description I should’ve been in the first wave based on where I lined up by bib number), but with the smaller waves, there was much less crowding the first few miles. In fact, I had probably found a good placement within the first mile.

For those of you who haven’t run it before — the views are definitely nice, but you don’t see the ocean the whole time. Actually for much of the long stretch, you’re slightly below the beach parking lot.

Also, for those considering the marathon – I can’t imagine doing that. It’s essentially an out and back twice. There are other full marathons that I think provide more scenery. At least this one is relatively flat. Plus lets you feel better gorging at the Superbowl parties.

Run along the beach, but can be boring after a bit. Finisher medal was really nice/big if that’s what you’re into. I’ve run it several years, but this was probably the most disappointing year due to how it was run.

There were several aspects of this year’s race that were wholeheartedly disappointing. As someone who has been a legacy club member for a few years, I was hoping/expecting more from this race.

First, the expo was overcrowded and overpoliced. I wanted to pick up my bib and my legacy shirt, but didn’t know where the legacy booth was. I walked around for a bit and fought very thick crowds until I made it to an info booth in the center of the expo that told me I missed the booth and needed to go back near the entrance. The person told me I could either leave and come back in the front, or go back the way I came. I decided to go back the way I came because it seemed like it would take about as long. After fighting my way through the crowd, I was about 15 feet from where I needed to go before security stopped me and said that it was a one-way only area and I would have to exit the expo and re-enter before I could get my legacy shirt. Would have been nice to have known that before I wasted 10 minutes fighting through the crowds. So I had to fight back the other way through the crowds to go the ENTIRE way through the expo, as I was not allowed to exit any of the side exits of the expo. Then after I finally got out and around to the entrance, I got my shirt (20 minutes into this…). After getting my shirt I wanted to leave the quickest way possible, but again was stopped by security who told me that I had to go all the way through the expo *again*. They would not let me leave through any of the side exits, nor turn around and leave the way I came in just about 100 feet away. That meant another 10 minutes of fighting through a crowd. The aisles were way too narrow for the amount of crowds that were there to allow any movement through the crowd. At the least, knowing that the expo was overcrowded, the security guards should have let people exit the expo at various locations.

Second, the race start and corral (mis)management. The morning of the race, I find my corral based on my bib number. I anticipated that my pace would be about 1:50 for the half marathon, so I was looking for the pacers for my group. However, I saw that the pacers were about 2 corrals up from where I was assigned to start. Stupidly, I followed the rules and was in my assigned corral. If corrals were based on anticipated finish time, why were the pace groups for 1:50, 1:55, 2:00, 2:05, and 2:10 all in a corral ahead of someone anticipating to finish at 1:50? Worse yet, there were hundreds and hundreds of slow runners starting in the wrong corrals ahead of me. That meant that for the majority of the race I was having to dodge slower runners and walkers who should have started several corrals back. I appreciate that so many people want to get out and do the race, but I do not appreciate having to work my way through such a crowd when they’re going so slowly and should have started further back.

Third, the water stations causing bottlenecks on the course. The water tables were set up with too little space between them, and the volunteers handing out the water (eager to help the most they could of course) were edging into the course to hand out water. This meant that those who were taking water or vitalyte were blocking the course for those who didn’t need water at that stop. The number of water stations was more than adequate (which I greatly appreciate on a day that was warmer than anticipated), however it would be best to make sure there is a path for runners to go through who don’t need/want water at that stop.

Finally, a much smaller point, I feel like there has been less and less crowd support and band support as the years have gone on. This last point is more of an observation. however my first three points made this probably one of the least enjoyable half marathons that I have done.