Surf City Half Marathon

In a perfect day in Southern California, the Surf City Half Marathon kicked off. There are so many good things about this race, the views, the course support, the bling! So let’s start with my favorite, the bling! It is super cute and perfect for this particular race, considering that the surfers were dodging runners to get to the waves. It was by far the best entertainment on the course. 

The course support was abundant. There was tons of water and Vitalyte every couple of miles. There were tons of volunteers there handing it out. I even had a volunteer ask me who I was cheering for in the Super Bowl. It was so nice to think about something besides running at that point! Wish I could thank that volunteer personally, so kid wherever you are, thanks for keeping me going!

They also had jelly beans and Clif Shot’s. Tons of port-a- potties, I didn’t visit them on the course, but at the start line they were well taken care of and not too nasty (based on past port-a-potty experiences). 

The race goes right along Pacific Coast Highway and you have a view of the ocean almost the whole way. It was breath taking, or maybe that was the 13.1 miles! I especially liked that they closed down PCH to allow room for all the runners. Even with the amount of runners there, I did not feel crowded and felt like I could run without worrying about affecting other runners.

Because our flight did not get in until after packet pick up, I sent a family member. It was made very clear on the website what was needed to have someone else pick up the packet and was seamless when my family member picked it up.  The communication on the website, emails, and signs at the race gave me all the information I needed to complete a stress free race.

Only one recommendation on this race, provide a map with the elevation shown on it. I was expecting a relatively flat course, but surprise, surprise, there were hills. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t anything major but when you think flat, even a few hills can mentally throw you.

Overall, a fantastic race! I am amazed how they successfully managed 20,000 runners and made it a fantastic experience.  I would give this race a 4.5 shoes (you know cause we are running!).