Overall, I liked this race. It had numerous positive features, and only a few areas for improvement, in my opinion.

Positives:
1. Generally a scenic course. Especially liked the park. The beach views were also good.
2. Well organized.
3. Fairly flat and fast.
4. Unique finisher "medal."
5. Environmentally friendly, reusable bag at expo pick-up.
6. Nice technical shirt.
7. Enthusiastic volunteers.

Some potential for improvement:
1. The path along the beach was definitely too narrow for the mid-pack marathoners. I often had to slow down behind slower groups, and saw several near collisions with runners coming the opposite direction.
2. Gear bag area location was not displayed in the race information and not obvious at the start.
3. Aid stations need to consistently have water first and sports drink next (or vice versa). The lack of consistency is problematic for tired, thirsty runners who don't want to have to think about where to go for fluids. This should be an easy fix to make.
4. No finisher certificate. An online certificate that finishers could print themselves would be a very nice feature to add, at not much cost to the marathon organizers.

Not subject to anyone's control:
A. Few spectators, and those that were present were quiet and not motivating in the least.
B. The weather was cool at the start, but got quite warm (at least for me) later in the race. I can see that the weather could be hot, cold, wet or windy on any given day. Or it can be beautiful!

On the whole, I would recommend this as a very good marathon that would be well worth participating in and which met or exceeded my expectations. Nice job to the race director and all the staff and volunteers.

Having now run this marathon 8 years in a row, I can see the improvements from year to year. I agree with most of the previous reviewer's comments regarding the beauty of the course and area, the good organization of the race and expo (but I really don't care about receiving a goody bag filled with junk), the cool finisher's medal, and some of the hassle of traffic and parking (although one thing this race does that others could learn from is having people pay their parking fee on the way out instead of the way in).

My only reservation regarding the race is now due to its increased popularity (2,400 in the full, 12,000 in the half) and crowding out on the course. As other reviewers have commented, the bike path along the beach is getting a little crowded, with 2,400 marathoners having to go out and back along the same narrow path (I think in previous years they capped the field at 2,000). If the race continues to grow in popularity, I think they're going to have to reroute the couse so the marathoners are back out on PCH for a majority of the time the way it used to be several years ago. I did appreciate the marathon starting a half-hour earlier than the half, as well as the wave starts, but unlike one other reviewer, I do not want to see the start pushed all the way back to 6:00 a.m.

Other than that, I think this race is one of the better ones in the area, and I plan on being back again next year (just like the Colts!).

This is my fourth year coming from MN and I still love it!! Will be back again next year. The course is beautiful, has lots of variety, and is flat!! The weather is always the perfect temperature. Lots of food handed out on the course. I love the wave start; this is probably the only race I have been in where I actually can start out at my pace and not get stuck behind slow people who always think they need to start out front. As for the person complaining about the goody bag, I guess I'm not sure what you expect. This race has the best medals and shirts around.

This is one FUN race. Everything and everyone seemed geared to make sure every runner had a good time.
Some runners have criticized parts of the course, but I think the organizers have made the most with what they have to work with. I gave the course 4 stars because of the narrow pavement and the numerous locals blithely snaking their bicycles in and around the runners. I got a chuckle out of all these people with their little toy dogs riding in baskets on the bike's handlebars. While this is far from ideal for the runners; if you want to run along the beach, the paths are narrow, and no race is going to build wider paths.

I know lots of runners raved about the views along the shore, but personally, I think that if you have run along one large body of water, you've run along all of 'em. So I found that part of the course boring (except for the risk-to-life-and-limb surprises caused by bubbleheads on their bikes). The leg through the park was my favorite part, and whoever recruits those kids (course marshals) does a great job. A bunch of nice, fun kids, cracking jokes, and making sure you don't take one of the many possible wrong turns on the park path. As example of a joke, one of the kids stood there facing the oncoming runners, arms out, palms up, saying in a whiney voice, "Come on, guys. I need some help here. Don't I get any encouragement?" Really cracked me up.

The spectators were pretty sparse, and only in a few places were there enough spectators to sustain a party atmosphere (as far as I could tell running by).
The weather was OK, but the sun was strong and once out of the park, shade was nowhere to be found. I made the mistake of wearing a black singlet, and it was hot to the touch from the sun. Staying hydrated took real effort, and I could not pass any hydration stations (though I usually do).

Weather was perfect.

It was tough for the full marathoners to see finish line just ahead only to make a right turn at the last minute to get on the bike path for additional mileage. :-( It wasn't tough as in hard to complete, but it was disheartening - now you see finish line, now you don't! The only other complaint I have is about the bag: great bag, beautiful design, but that's all it was - a bag. There was not one single goody inside, unless you call the t-shirt a goody.

I did appreciate the snacks at the end of the race. I was SO hungry, and they were enough to tide me over until I made my way to a restaurant.

Very helpful volunteers at aid stations. Please offer orange slices and bananas on the course. Music was much appreciated.

Wouldn't mind running this race again.

This course is very pretty - along the coast in Huntington Beach. The race organizers are great and lots of kids volunteer. It's nice to see.

The wave start takes WAY too long! It either needs to start earlier or move faster. Police stopped spectators from coming onto PCH (from the north) to cheer on runners. Got a little sparse out there! The only real cheerleaders were at the finish.

Course was relatively flat and pretty fast.

Would recommend doing it once for the scenery. I probably won't do it again because it's too crowded and there are not enough spectators throughout the course. Oh, and it's pretty expensive too!

Just do it!

For a race that takes place along the ocean, in a city that is known for surfing, on the biggest sports day of the year, with 20,000 runners, you set your expectations high and want the race to be top-notch.

The Surf City Half Marathon pretty much met those high expectations. The course is mostly an up-and-back along the water, which has its pros and cons - you don't get to see a lot of the city, but you see a lot of runners in an area where spectators have trouble getting to, and you see a lot of ocean, which for a guy from the East Coast, never loses its luster. The hydration stations are plentiful and there are a decent number of bands. They could do more wave starts in the half to help with the first mile, but other than that, a great morning all around.

Am I missing something? Why aren't people raving about this marathon? The course is flat and fantastic. The crowd is large and supportive. The views are wonderful. The weather was perfect! And the number of marathon participants was only about 2,000. All of the above combine to create an experience I have never had at a previous marathon. The energy emitted from the views, crowd, and weather is immense. Yes, parking is scary. The finisher t-shirt is not in keeping and does not say, "finisher," but I strongly recommend this race! For the first time, I kind of enjoyed running 26.2 miles.

Overall the course was breathtaking as it looped around the park and down and back on PCH. The volunteers were wonderful at all of the aid stations, ready with water and words of encouragement.

The reason I ranked it a three was the public portion of the course. Parts of the road where way to narrow to accommodate two-way runner traffic, aid stations, morning joggers/walkers, bikers and surfers. At times I had to walk through an aid station as there was no other option with all the traffic. Everyone was as cordial as possible, but as you could imagine on miles 15-25, patience for such things run little short.

The finish was a bit unorganized as the half marathoners and marathoners were corralled through a narrow finishing area. I would like to see the marathoners and half split up throughout the entire finishing gate process.

The finishing surfboard medal was fantastic and well worth it. Overall, a great experience, but with room to improve.