"Running for the bay!" Marathon

Be advised that most of the marathon is run on two concrete bridges, each with a huge hill (really it's a raise to let boats go underneath). The website will attempt to ridicule these hills, but do not underestimate them - the last one is at mile 25 and will take anything you have left. On the bridges, I passed two cases of water. I did not waste time attempting to open them. Therefore, dehydration is a problem. Also, post race food consisted of tangerines and Quaker bars. That's it. I recommended you choose another race.

While this was a beautiful course, as one who cares about the environment I was shocked to see the waste of giving out entire bottles of water and powerade instead of cups like all other races. Most runners drank a couple of gulps of water and threw down the entire bottle after each water stop. Same for the entire bottles of power drink. What a waste. On top of that, runners had to pick up their own bottles often from a carton and then open the bottle which is not always easy while running. Was there no thought for the effect of disposed plastic bottles on the environment especially in a seaside setting. And it had to be more expensive to purchase all those bottles instead of cups!!!!

I thought this was a fine marathon, despite the negative reviews. Seeing the reviews was very helpful in setting my expectations however. Here's what you get: amazing scenery, cases of water laid out on the side of the road about every mile, running with traffic (which wasn't heavy), a large nice-looking medal, a non-technical t-shirt. There are about 18 miles of bridges on the course, and with some strong headwinds this year, that was challenging but expected. Under different conditions this could be a fast course, but I changed my pacing strategy to deal with the wind & I had a slow but satisfying run. There isn't much crowd support due to the layout of the course, but the volunteers were super friendly. Packet pickup was quick and painless the day before the race, and we didn't stick around after the race, opting instead to head to Up the Creek for some baked oysters & beer. I'd do it again for sure.