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May 20, 2024

Surf City Marathon (prev. Pacific Shoreline Marathon) Runner Comments

Back to Surf City Marathon (prev. Pacific Shoreline Marathon) Information & Reviews

Course 4.2

Organization 4.0

Spectators 3.6

Number of comments: 205 [displaying comments 121 to 131]

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Jon Resnick from Irvine, CA (2/5/2007) "Shoreline 2007" (about: 2007) 6-10 previous marathons COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 3 Positives: The expo was fine, the course markings were great, and there were lots of volunteers on the course with water, amino vital and GU shots. Running along the bike path was fun; even though I do it all the time, it's still beautiful and it's always great to get those bizarre looks from the surfers. It's great to get a free pair of Solomon trail shoes for finishing. Nice to sleep in my own bed the night before the race. Good little post-race beer garden, and although I skipped the beer, I appreciate the thought. Medal: Very attractive medal and a nice technical long-sleeve shirt. Chip timing. Volunteers: Very supportive and they were out in force. Course map and parking instructions: Both were well done. Negatives: The marathon course merged into the half marathoners just after mile 13 and it was absolutely brutal trying to maintain a 7:30 pace while weaving through thousands of halfers running 9- to 10-minute miles when they weren't walking. We finally left the masses at mile 18 for a few miles and rejoined at mile 22 for 5 more miles of bob-and-weave fun. Even at the 8:30-8:50 pace I was struggling to maintain at that point, I still had to constantly run around the walking half marathoners. Almost tripped several times. To be honest, without being overly critical, I feel it was disrespectful to the marathoners to merge us onto a packed Pacific Coast Highway and make us weave through the hordes. Why not just hold a half marathon and skip the marathon with a 900-person limit since they have 7,000 in the half marathon? Another issue was that most of the spectators couldn't tell the marathoners from the jogging half marathoners even though our bibs were different. Weather: It was sunny and 70 degrees by 9:00 (in the shade), 90 minutes into the race. No one's fault, but we had the warmest day in a month on marathon Sunday. At least it wasn't rainy and windy. Parking: The overflow parking filled up so my wife had to find street parking. Luckily she found a spot about 1.5 miles from the finish and she's a fast walker so she got to the finish before I did. They had two overflow lots, but they needed more than that with over 7,000 half marathoners.
S. R. from Southern California (2/5/2007) "The Surf is Flat" (about: 2007) 6-10 previous marathons \| 2 Surf City Marathon (prev. Pacific Shoreline Marathon)s COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 1 This was my second Pacific Shoreline Half Marathon and while I always get that "high" after crossing the finish line, I was very disappointed at what the organizers had waiting for me once the endorphines wore off - nada, zip, zilch! Where were the bagels, bananas, and oranges??? A mere 3 hours after the start and you ran out of fuel??? Just a bottle of water??? I drank plenty of water out there on that flat course. Speaking of which, all that water needed to come out. How about placing a few more of those Andy Gumps between miles 2 and 9??? On the positive side of this - great shirts!!! Excellent medals.
Marina White from Santa Barbara, Ca (2/5/2007) "Awesome First Marathon!" (about: 2007) 1 previous marathon \| 1 Surf City Marathon (prev. Pacific Shoreline Marathon) COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 This was such a pleasant experience, making it my favorite road race to run yet, despite being my very first full marathon. First, the course was beautiful: 12 miles starting off on the ocean, then relatively flat inland miles through the park and neighborhood, and a finish along the coast. Weather was perfectly mild through the whole event. Abundant water, Gu, and energy drinks, as well as clear timers and mile markers all along the route. Helpers were wonderful and encouraging at each station and the volunteer kids that were positioned in the park between miles 18-22 were a nice touch - so enthusiastic, cheering you on and high-fiving. Post event was fine; got some snacks and a nice medal. Pre-event expo was pretty good, except there was no goodie bag, which was a slight disappointment! Only a chip, bib, and shirt were given (and not even in a bag). Overall though, such a great experience! I finished wanting to do another and if they are all so fun and simple, that's definitely enough to make a repeat marathoner out of me!
D. B. from San Francisco, CA (2/5/2007) "Pefect Day, Prefect Race!!!" (about: 2007) 11-50 previous marathons \| 1 Surf City Marathon (prev. Pacific Shoreline Marathon) COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 4 I just finished the PS Marathon and WOW... what a great experience. The weather was PERFECT... the course was BEAUTIFUL... and the organization was flawless. If you want to experience one of the "best in the west," this is the one to do. I especially want to acknowledge all those kids cheering in the park... their enthusiasm pulled me through some tough moments. I would CERTAINLY do this one again.... THANKS to everyone who made it possible!!
t. d. from laguna beach CA (2/4/2007) "Great course but..." (about: 2007) 4-5 previous marathons COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 2 The course was scenic and enjoyable. However, there was little spectator support. The expo was small and uninteresting. And there was no goodie bag in which to put the chip, bib and t-shirt. People kept losing things which kept falling out of their hands. No one wants to shop around with race items in their hands. At the end of the race there was little food - not enough fruit and lots of stale bagels. I finished under 2 hours yet the bananas were all gone! But I looked around and saw one person with three bananas, sharing them with his family members who were waiting for him. Maybe next time the food should be bagged for each runner to avoid this problem.
J. P. from Apple Valley, CA (7/23/2006) "Excellent Marathon" (about: 2006) 6-10 previous marathons \| 2 Surf City Marathon (prev. Pacific Shoreline Marathon)s COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 4 The Pacific Shoreline Marathon is an excellent race and is quite well organized. The water stations have plenty of helpful volunteers and the course is gorgeous. It is mostly flat, but there are two hills in the second half to mix things up a bit. Having it in Huntington Beach on the coast makes the parking difficult. There is no way around this situation. So if you plan to run the marathon, show up early and get a good space. If you get delayed, the chips will ensure that you get your correct time.
d. s. from california (5/29/2006) "they ran out of t-shirts" (about: 2006) 1 previous marathon COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 1 FANS: 3 I went for the 1/2 marathon and they ran out of t-shirt sizes. I hope the organizers read this and order more variety of sizes. Lots of runners are small people and having a glut of size 'L' and size 'XL' means that we cannot wear your shirt in our hometown and help promote your race. I don't need another race t-shirt that is huge!
d. s. from california (5/29/2006) "overwhelmed organizers" (about: 2006) 1 previous marathon COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 1 FANS: 3 The course is nothing special and a weekend in Huntington Beach is not worth the trip. If you decide to go, the marathon is very small. Most of the focus in on the 1/2 marathon, so be prepared with your own support crew if you are finishing in 4+ hours. The 2006 race organizers were overwhelmed! There needs to be a "troubleshooting" table at check in for people who have issues with registration. This is something that happens at every race and organizers need to be ready. I finally did get to speak with one of the top organizers, who still could not help us. She was, in fact, rude. I do not recommend this race.
S. L. from Los Angeles, CA (4/5/2006) "A good small marathon" (about: 2006) 4-5 previous marathons \| 1 Surf City Marathon (prev. Pacific Shoreline Marathon) COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 5 This was my 4th (and smallest) marathon, and I was pleasantly surprised at how fun this run was. It has an informal feel with not much chip timing stations, no lines at porta-potties on course, and sharing the course with the locals (at the beach and at the park). Yet all the important things that make a great marathon were there: (1) The spectator support was phenomenal, especially in the 2nd half of the course when I needed it. The kids at the park were standing every 100 yards or so, cheering me on, so it was hard not to push myself. (2) Water stations were great. (3) A big finisher's medal, MP3 player, and a tech shirt Since this was a small marathon with less than 1,000 marathon runners, sharing the course with the locals weren't a problem at all (there weren't that many locals on the course in the morning anyway), and the locals all cheered for us. The course was great, with most of the course by the ocean or by a lake (at the park), with one or two noticeable inclines/declines. The only thing I would change is food at the end. I don't know if there was any food at the finish, but I did not see any (nor did I want to walk any more looking for it), so I just asked my brother to pick me up and went to a restaurant to eat. Oh, and unlike big marathons where you are basically running in a sardine can in the first few miles (and ruining your pace), I was able to run at my desired pace from beginning to end and PRed. I think this is a very good marathon for those looking for PRs. Fun too.
T. M. from San Clemente, California (2/25/2006) "Excellent event, but parking needs to be improved" (about: 2006) 6-10 previous marathons \| 2 Surf City Marathon (prev. Pacific Shoreline Marathon)s COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 3 I have run either the marathon or half marathon four times. The half marathon course is very fast. The event improves every year and I have noticed that the race organizers seem to respond to suggestions for improvement. The only area where I believe there is room for substantial improvement is with the parking and the shuttle service, both of which were disorganized. I agree with a previous comment that the prepaid parking was a good idea, which was not well executed. There was little traffic control so getting into the beach lots in a timely manner was difficult. The situation was made worse because some people without prepaid parking entered the prepaid lots and slowed the process of getting into the lots by having to pay. I know this latter issue cannot really be blamed on race organization since there was adequate signing for the prepaid lots. The parking situation might improve somewhat if there was better coordination with the State Parks system, which controls most of the parking lots. They seemed to have inadequate staff present for the amount of cars that needed to get into the beach parking lots. The shuttle drivers I had contact with were polite, but how the service was used did not seem to be well thought out. Overall, this event is better organized every year, the event will continue to improve, and I will definitely do it again.

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