Pros...
Excellent job done by all volunteers in such nasty conditions!! Really appreciate everyone at the water stations toughing it out despite the weather, especially those who manned a station along the beach-side path. Really challenging conditions over there. Also, the kids in the park were really enthusiastic. What a great way to start the race!!

Under the right circumstances the course could have been incredible. Even in the rain and wind I really enjoyed the first section that cut back in to the park and residential areas.

Lots of water stations and lot of bathrooms... don't think I saw any line-ups for a bathroom at all!

Awesome medal and tech shirt!

Cons...
Would have liked to see an elevation profile and type of energy food provided during the race posted on the website much earlier. Even emailed the race director to get more info but they never got back to me. Definitely should have offered gels in addition to the Clif Blocs. Also was not impressed with Amino Vital and would prefer Gatorade or PowerAde.

Response of race organization to the terrible weather was not impressive. The storm had been forecast for several days in advance but organizers didn't seem to take this in to account at all. When I finished the race my lips were blue, it was that cold!! But there was no where warm to recover. Some portable heaters in the race expo tent would have gone a long way. There was also virtually nowhere to sit down in the waterlogged tent!

Finish line food was sub par, especially considering the weather. I was offered one glass of water when I came through the finishing chute and nothing at all in terms of hydration after that. Something hot to drink (hot chocolate, cup of soup) would definitely have been appreciated. Also, the food was pretty disappointing. Where was the bagel and peanut butter? Chips didn't seem like an appropriate option after running a marathon!!

Really didn't see any mile markers in the last half of the race. Maybe they blew away??

Came down for this race from Canada and won't be back. I appreciate that everyone made the best of the bad weather but it just didn't seem to be organized well enough to convince me to try it again.

Thanks again to all of the awesome volunteers. Was a tough day out there for you guys but you did a fantastic job!!

What can I say? Well, I picked Surf City with the expectation that I would get a nice run in the sun in early February, and what happened on Sunday? We got the worst of weather.

Having said that, the organizers should be congratulated on getting the volunteers out - and the kids in the Park in the first few miles were fantastic. Thanks!

As others have said, the finish should be separated so that the marathons get a clear run to the line from that last little climb (relatively easy to do, I would think).

I'll come over again next year if someone can promise to turn the sun on. :) Love the medal and the tech shirt.

The organization of the race is great. The expo the day before is an excellent source of entertainment for those traveling to the race. Also, it is conveniently located next to the Pacific Ocean, so you can swim (if the weather is warm enough) while at the expo. The race course is absolutely beautiful, running adjacent to the ocean most of the way. I ran the half marathon, which was mostly flat with a few inclines. Plenty of volunteers were out on the course and there was water at least once every mile. The post-race food was good and the entertainment would have been good had the weather been better. This year's race was plagued by windy and rainy weather. It put a damper in the race... but that is out of the race director's hands. It is worth traveling to Huntington Beach, as there is plenty of entertainment and you are just a few miles away from Laguna and Newport Beach. I had a lot of fun and enjoyed my stay.

The majority of the course is along Hwy. 1, so this is nice. The expo is tiny. This year we ran during an unrelenting storm where the rain was blowing horizontally and it was freezing. I can't thank the volunteers enough! A lot of these kids were soaking wet and freezing but stayed out there to hand out water. They are all amazing! My advice for anyone doing a marathon event during winter or wet weather is to be prepared and distinguish between rain gear and storm gear. As bad as conditions were, a poncho simply didn't cut it!

The nasty weather aside, the race was nice. The reversed course was a real improvement. The water stations were all well manned by soggy freezing teenagers. Kudos to them for sticking it out as well as props for the spectators who braved the weather to cheer us on.
The post-race food left a bit to be desired; personally I could do with more citrus and less processed junk, but using the expo tents for distributing the food was nice. Not having to stand in the rain at the end was a plus.
The pre-race parking was slow motion mayhem but I have no suggestions to offer on how they could improve it.

I have run many of the big-time, huge marathons and really enjoyed the smaller field, the beautiful setting, the potentially fast course, and the great organization of this race. With the 3 different races, it really was a community event and celebrated runners of all abilities. Unfortunately, the weather took center stage this year and any hopes of PRs were dashed on the last half of the course with the rain and wind battering everyone for about 13 miles.

These are the things I really liked about the race: 1. pre-race information - they have a great, informative website, the expo was well-organized with lots of vendors, the volunteers were cheerful and helpful; 2. The course was scenic, flat, and had plenty of aid stations; 3. Although it usually doesn't matter that much to me, the race shirt and medal were as classy as I've ever received at a race.

These are things that I would suggest for improvement: 1. In the final mile, provide some separation between the merging marathoners and half-marathoners. It was tough finishing the marathon, struggling to the end while trying to dodge hundreds of half-marathoners. A narrow corridor reserved for just the marathoners would be all they need. It would also provide a little more recognition to those that just finished the entire marathon and allow the spectators to see and cheer for them; 2. Have some volunteers in the chute at the finish line to help runners in distress; 3. Mile markers in the last half of the race were non-existent. I suspect that they may have just been blown away by the wind, but it would have been good to know exactly how badly I was slowing down!

Obviously, these are minor complaints. For someone who just wants to go out and race a fast course (if the weather is decent), enjoy great hospitality and not worry about thousands of other runners, the Surf City Marathon is a great option.

This was my first marathon, chosen carefully for flat course and (usually) nice weather. Overall, the experience was super, and I would recommend this race without reservation. Some general comments:
1. The weather was 50-55 with rain and 10-15 mph winds. From mile 9 onward, the course is right on coast. I expect this is usually beautiful but made for some lonely miles in bad weather.
2. I read about congestion and overlap in 2007. They redid the course this year, so the marathon did not intersect with slower half marathon traffic except for last 0.5 mile. I would suggest that the race director make separate "lane" for marathoners during this stretch. The faster half marathon runners did start to pass about mile 12 of marathon, which did not create problem for marathon runners. I really did not have much problem maintaining my desired pace.
3. There were no spectators from mile 9-23, and because of the small marathon field (1000), expect to spend time by yourself.
4. Amino Vital sports drink was missing from many of the later aid stations.
5. Volunteers were awesome, especially given weather.

I love this course. It is truly magnificent. Much better than Carlsbad. Obviously, I love the continuous ocean view. But I also liked the 7 mile dip inland into Central Park (miles 3-9). That was fan-tas-tic!

There is no denying that it would have been much better had we not had the storm. Rain, wind and cold can really sap an Ancient Marathoner (64 years) like myself. I had to wear a poncho for 20 miles. Probably the wind was the most troublesome. It wreaked havoc on my poor plastic poncho. That's why I dumped it at mile 20. But what the heck, at least we didn't have a killer heat wave that messed up Chicago 2007. Such are the breaks.

I do wish that the Race Committee would ban the strollers. A woman ran right up onto my trailing-leg, in what could have been a major disaster. She didn't even apologize. All she said was, "I have a right to be here."

I had read about the trauma caused by the merger of full-marathoners and the half-marathons between miles 9-16. Well, it was as miserable as advertised. I felt like a marathoning cowboy trying to cut through a herd of cattle. And the walkers.... Oy Vey! Why do they have to walk 3 and 4 abreast down the middle of the road?

The advantage of a small marathon (1,050 runners) is negated by having to merge with 8,400 half-marathoners for 7 miles. At least we were able to shake them at mile 16.

But, that being said, I still loved this race. The volunteers were fantastic. I couldn't believe that so many young people were willing to endure the cold, wind and rain to support a bunch of crazy runners.

A previous runner noted that some marathoners started before the gun. I don't understand how that can happen with the "chip." Maybe they were running as bandits. But as far as I know, all marathoners started at about 6:53 a.m. The only exception was a wheelchair contestant.

I will definitely be back in 2009.

...but it certainly did this year! Yes, it was cold, windy, raining and very un-SoCal like, but you can't really blame the organizers for that. The bad weather was really unfortunate as the modifications to the course this year were excellent (we ran it backwards from previous years and only merged with the half-marathoners towards the end) and would have allowed for much faster times had the weather cooperated. Due to the weather, I also think a lot of the volunteers stayed away, as did some of the bands and entertainment, turning what is usually my favorite marathon of the year into something more akin to the Bataan Death March (I just wanted to survive and get back to my car). However, as usual Huntington Beach (i.e., now Surf City) did not disappoint with either their medals (cool surfboard designs) or their shirts (technical running shirts). The expo was the same as previous years and did not provide "goodie bags," which is fine by me since I usually throw-out all that garbage. Anyway, I'm already looking forward to next year's race and praying for better weather.

P.S. HB should also be congratulated for its parking policy - on Friday evening when I went to pick-up my bib and chip, they were not charging for parking at the expo (other marathons in the area typically charge $10 even though you're just going to be in there for 5 minutes). Then on race day, they did not require that you pay as you entered the lot (which sped things up immeasurably), but upon leaving after the race (and even then it was only $5). Thanks for not trying to squeeze every single cent out of the runners.

It pretty much poured the first 3 hours of the race, but that didn't stop the kids from cheering us on in the park. The course was beautiful and fairly flat. There were plenty of water stops and Clif Block stations. There were also plenty of porta-potties. Everyone running seemed in high spirits even with the bad weather. It was a great race, and I would definitely recommend it to others. If there wouldn't have been rain and wind, it would have been a perfect marathon. My only complaint is I didn't see very many mile markers after mile 10. I think the wind may have blown them away, in which case it wasn't the race director's fault because the weather was crappy!!!