Monday, November 12, 2012

Malibu Half Marathon REVIEW

Malibu Half Marathon. November 11, 2012

I ran the half marathon, this event also has a full marathon and a SUPathon.

1) Getting In:  The half marathon is $90. I signed up early (before June) and the cost was $65.

2) The Expo:: Not really an expo. I picked up my bib at a restaurant in Malibu. They had t-shirts for sale but no free samples or anything cool. I also pre-paid for parking at the expo. I thought it would save time, but there still was a lot of congestion in the parking lot and still took me a long time to park. 

3) The RACE:: First thought is disorganized. I'm not a fan of waiting an hour and a half before the race. They offer shuttle services and made a note to say that they run from 5:30 to 6:00. (thus my 4am wake-up call) but around 7, they were still waiting on buses. I think events should do what they say they are going to do. If the last bus was suppose to be at 6, then it should have been at 6. Because this even didn't, there was a half hour late start. I know that's not a big deal, but it is when it's cold and the race isn't that awesome to begin with.

The start was badly organized too. No real division so walkers/joggers were up in front with the runners. The first mile was on a parking lot trying to get out to PCH. It was narrow and crowded. I definitely ran past a few walkers at the beginning. 

The rest of the course was on PCH, like on PCH with traffic and all that good stuff. I wasn't a fan of a few cones separating me from a giant SUV.

No real course meant no real support. There were a handful of volunteers at water stations (ps. thank you) but no crowd which made it pretty boring. I can't imagine doing this as a full marathon with no crowd support (yawn).

4) The After Party:: As soon as I crossed the finish line, I was given a medal and a finisher's towel (nice change since I have tons of finisher's tee's) and there was a little area with water bottles, Dole fruit cups, bananas and Luna bars. That was pretty much it. They didn't have any booths. They did have a band playing but they were way off on the beach which was a little strange. They also had paramedics, I saw at least 2 vans which was nice to know they had medics in case anyone needed them.

In the end, the course was beautiful. We ran on Pacific Coast Highway and had a nice view of the ocean. The course was hilly and challenging. But other than that, I am not a fan. I most likely wont do this race again (unless it was free or something)

2 star (mostly the course which is all props to nature!)

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