This was a great race. I had prepared to run the NYC Marathon the week before, but it got cancelled, so I ran Santa Barbara. My time wasn't any where near I'm used to finishing. By the time SB came around I was spent physically and emotionally. I would love to run it again and give it my full focus. It's a great course and well organized. It could have had better post food however.

Wow! How did the organizers pull off what they pulled off: fighter jets flying over at the start with bagpipes doing god bless America with lead WWII vehicles, motorcycles, side cars, elliptigos and more. The energy was just awesome! I am so pleased I made the Choice to run this well organized wonderfully supported event in the most beautiful place in the world! The course was fast too and weather perfect. I pr'd in what was my 6th marathon. I heard there were problems with the shuttles but I got there early as was suggested and had no problems. Great time in SB after the event! Thank you, see you next year!

Clearly the organizers have listened to their participants! NO lines for Porta Potties! plenty of water/Gu Brew on course. TWO GU Energy stops at mile 9 and 19 and one thing I really noticed apart from the incredible beauty of the first few miles and the last few miles was the amount of police on the course. Wow, I've run NYCMarathon as well as Boston and I counted over 80 on course! Either the community of SB is on board this race or the organizers have some serious expenses!
Loved the Veteran's day theme as well with all volunteers waving usa flags. The finish at SBCC track Stadium is just perfect...not to mention that delicious Chocolate chip cookie. I'll be back as I'm sure it will grow BIG TIME!

I really enjoyed this marathon overall. I thought it was well organized, and I liked the course. I especially liked the gym that we were able to wait in before the start; it was so nice not to have to wait outside in the cold! More than enough porta potties, barely even had to wait in line. Very friendly & supportive volunteers and spectators, aid stations were well manned.

We absolutely lucked out with the weather. It was pouring rain the night before, and was supposed to be raining marathon morning as well, but it ended up being overcast with temps between mid 50s and low 6os...perfect running weather! The only problem weather wise was that for the last six miles I ended up running against a headwind...NOT fun. I don't know if Santa Barbara is normally windy or not, but I do know that if I was to anticipate running the last 6 against the wind again, then I would not sign back up for this race!

The 'it's all downhill from here' finish is a bit exaggerated. There's a slight incline in the beginning of that stretch (and I mean, this is AFTER the hill at mile 23), then the downhill after that isn't really steep enough to give you much of an advantage in the late stages of a marathon; perhaps I would have appreciated that stretch more if I hadn't been running against the wind, which unfortunately completely negated any advantage I could have gotten from the downhill.

I loved running into the stadium and finishing on the track there; it was great inspiration for a strong finishing sprint that I've never been able to pull off in a marathon before. I also thought this marathon was just the right size. With only about 1,000 runners, neither the start nor the course was too crowded at any point, yet there were enough runners around me the entire time that I didn't feel lonely out there!

My only complaints (besides the wind of course, which was obviously out of anybody's control) were that there were no 'drop bags' at the start, and that the food at the end was kind of pathetic. I was searching for food tents and all I found was a tent offering some recovery drinks (which tasted awful, but I'm sure were very good for me :) ) and then a tent with a very nice spread of food that I wasn't even allowed to eat! Here I was having just finished a marathon and there's this awesome smorgasbord of cookies, yogurt, fruit, and I can't even remember what else...a ton of options...and there's a sign that says something to effect of 'for select people only.' Apparently just running a marathon didn't quality me. I even asked the lady to be sure, and she just looks at me like, 'no, you're not special enough for this stuff.' I'm not sure who exactly that food was for (because there was a lot of it and I didn't see anybody actually eating it), but I was quite miffed that I walked away from that field with no food whatsoever, only a cup of recovery drink!

Beautiful course, well organized friendly event, started on time, lots of aid stations, well run expo, easy starting point, great finish are with lots of water/ food, cool medals, friendly vibe, perfect size event. Its a hilly course and I still got a PR

I'm posting my first comments on marathonguide.com to help offset some of the negative comments left on this site about the SB International Marathon that gave me concern about registering. Overall this is a nice, small, locals race with a pretty solid course and definitely worth running. Really feel the comments about the hills are overdone. Yes, mile 23 is a distinct technical challenge with 'the hill', but one that can easily be addressed with proper training. I will be back again next year for sure.

Very nice race, well organized, fast course, perfect weather, not too big (around 900 marathoners). I PRed with 2:26. It is very fast until mile 14 or so, with quite a bit of downhill false flats. It gets a bit hillier after that with a 1/2 mile or so climb at mile 23: prepare to lose 40s to a min at mile 23. Last 2 miles are downhill but we got a fairly strong headwind. Finish at the SB College stadium was very nice. I highly recommend this race as a nice, low-key and fast course.

This race gets better every year. 2011 was the best so far. Started right on time. Well organized, well supported. Water stations every 6 miles. Gu packets and Gu Brew. Lots of crowd support. The race finishes on the track at in SBCC stadium, which gives spectators a nice view of the finishers.

This is my third time running this marathon, and each time it gets better. Very well organized race, nice expo. The course is similar to last year with a few minor tweaks due to realignment of a bridge along the way. Crowd support a bit thin at the beginning but very good overall. I managed to PR despite the hill at mile 23. Plenty of porta-johns both at the start and along the course. Aid stations were plentiful, well placed and well-stocked. Transport to the start was flawless. In addition, a great tech race shirt and plenty of food with good variety at the finish. I've already signed up for next year.

The Good:
-started on time
-plenty of bathrooms at start/finish and throughout course
-warm gym to sit in until start of race
-great course (very scenic)
-nice medal/adidas tech shirt
-good expo with plenty of free parking (you would be surprised how many races have an expo at a convention center where you have to pay $5 to spend 15 minutes picking up a packet)
-good spectator course (spectators can drive around to multiple locations to see their runner)
-runner drop-off is set up well to minimize traffic
-nice 2 mile down-hill finish into a great finish area in the stadium

The Bad: (two major complaints)
-No Gatorade on course, they had gu-brew (a very watered-down version of gatorade) at very few locations on the course. This was my 7th marathon and I've done more halfs then I can count and all have had water and gatorade at every stop. Mile 18 was the first time I realized how important gatorade is for minimizing cramping!
-No caloric beverage at finish. No gu-brew/gatorade/powerade/coke/pepsi/sprite/whatever at finish. After I run 26 miles i like to throw back something that helps with recovery and keeps me from passing out. I probably should have brought my own, but most races have something like that.