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☰
The San Francisco Marathon Runner Comments
Back to The San Francisco Marathon Information & Reviews
Course 4.3 
Organization 3.6 
Spectators 2.6
Number of comments: 503 [displaying comments 171 to 181]
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C. L. from Irvine, California
(8/7/2008)
"Great Marathon!" (about: 2008)
6-10 previous marathons
| 1 The San Francisco Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 I loved this marathon! The course was beautiful, with enough new things to look at, fun streets and plenty of turns, and of course, some hills - both up and down! The 3:50 pace group was the best! A big "thank you" to Sara! I think most runners run their long runs early anyway, so I say the earlier the better! I was finished by 9:30 a.m. and had the rest of the day to enjoy and recuperate! I have run several marathons and this was one of the best for organization, with lots of starting line and finish line excitement and perfect weather! Congrats to the race director and all who organized this race. San Fran is a beautiful city with great people. Five stars! | |
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R. S. from Vancouver
(8/6/2008)
"To run SF, or to not run SF: this is the answer" (about: 2008)
6-10 previous marathons
| 2 The San Francisco Marathons
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 1 Why run this race? - Tour this beautiful city on foot: a great loop course that includes the Golden Gate Bridge, Embarcadero, Haight Street, Golden Gate Park, and a view inside AT&T Giant Stadium at mile 25 - Lots of good munchies at the finish - Cool temperatures - Just when you are feeling lonely at mile 13, the second half half-marathon starts to lift your spirits Why skip this race? - No purse, and thus no "elite" athletes - Minimal crowd support (very minimal) - Many hills, and what goes up in the first half eventually comes down - Early start (5:30 - 6:30 rolling starts) - There are way better technical shirts out there | |
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B. M. from San Francisco, CA
(8/6/2008)
"Great course/organization; not much crowd support" (about: 2008)
2 previous marathons
| 1 The San Francisco Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 2 I ran the 1st half marathon and thought that the scenery was beautiful! Everything was well organized and the volunteers were really helpful. Plenty of water stations. There were several hills, but after all, it is San Francisco. You can always count on comfortable running weather for this race. The only downside was lack of crowd support. There were a few spots with enthusiastic spectators, but they were few and far between. Overall, I really enjoyed the experience and would definitely do it again! | |
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s. b. from salt lake city, ut
(8/5/2008)
"Spectacular course. A well-rounded tour of SF." (about: 2008)
11-50 previous marathons
| 1 The San Francisco Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 5 From Salt Lake City, I came for the scene and was not disappointed: The piers; marina; Golden Gate Bridge, G.G. Park; Presidio; Haight; Mission; the Giants' stadium, and what would SF be without Fog? The park is huge, taking 7 miles of the course. Very nice. These magnificent landmarks will remain very vivid in my mind. Good aid stations: Maybe fill the cups up a little more, and a banana snack around 18 would be nice. But you covered my back at 22 with that Xcyto Energy Drink. The online thing was way cool. My family in SLC knew immediately when I finished via internet. You raised the bar! And the SFPD was most supportive and friendly. Big thanks. Fans were fine. No one should feel obligated to cheer runners, so thank you to the bands, DJ's, bell ringers and whoever you were. | |
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James Gorman from St. Louis, Missouri
(8/5/2008)
"Tough, hilly course with great views." (about: 2008)
11-50 previous marathons
| 2 The San Francisco Marathons
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 2 This was my second San Francisco Marathon and I enjoyed the addition of the Golden Gate Bridge this time. The course is deceptively tough, with rolling hills as well as some long pulls and quad-smashing downhills. Hill training is a must. I did not care for the half marathoners who ran the second half of the course and started in Golden Gate Park as they were a distraction at that point of the race for full marathoners. I would recommend this race. Race organization was very good overall. If you're looking for lots of cheering spectators, this race is not for you. I race to enjoy the city and the course, and the lack of spectators was not an issue to me. Thanks to all of the great volunteers who manned the water/aid stations. Well done. | |
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A. B. from Wyoming
(8/5/2008)
"Great run!" (about: 2008)
4-5 previous marathons
| 1 The San Francisco Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 3 I think this run was great! I really enjoyed the course - I ran the 2nd half of the marathon. The organization of the race itself was great, which made up for the poorly organized expo. Not a ton of crowd support, but that's okay. Great race with good scenery - just make sure to train for the hills!!! | |
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B. G. from Fairfield, CT
(8/5/2008)
"B-list event, or "The Mellow Marathon"" (about: 2008)
11-50 previous marathons
| 1 The San Francisco Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 1 Odd event. Great place to run. Basic organization fine. Community interest zero. Locals would say, "SF has a marathon? It's tomorrow??" So much potential to make it one perfect summer destination event, but no one seems to care. The "pasta dinner" was in a deserted food court attended by about 45 people. The expo was lame and the logo gear was dull and laughably overpriced. The hoopla at the start consisted of someone announcing, "Ready, set, go!" BUT, you run across the Golden Gate Bridge, through several neighborhoods with great character, and along the bay on the way out and back. At the end you do get a roll and banana along with a giant coaster on a ribbon. Too bad. This has the least realized potential of any event in the country. And I am including local 10K's. | |
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M. K. from Sherman Oaks CA
(8/5/2008)
"Beautiful course, so-so organization & NO SPECTATO" (about: 2008)
1 previous marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 2 FANS: 1 It was more quiet than some of my early morning runs out there except for a few small knots of people along the course. Beautiful course but, in the first half, mile markers only at 5 and 10 miles. Asked at a water table what mile it was and no one knew. Volunteers knew what they had to do, but if asked even the most basic questions, they had no idea. No way of finding out your split times. And then, near the end of the first half, some traffic guys pulled a tape across the road to change to course so we couldn't follow the people ahead of us - REALLY confusing. I wouldn't do this race again. Once I adjusted my head to making this just a nice morning run in a pretty place (rather than a race with fun spectators and music), I had a good time. | |
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Trevor Neeb from San Diego, CA
(8/5/2008)
"Incredible race!" (about: 2008)
11-50 previous marathons
| 1 The San Francisco Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 3 For a city as large and crowded as San Francisco, this race goes off without a hitch! The 5:30 a.m. start is pretty early, but the wave start makes it so that you never get bottled up too much with other runners - a problem in most other marathons. And, since the sun rises at 6 a.m., you're only in the dark for the first 3-5 miles. The course if absolutely gorgeous for miles 1-21. You see so much of the city, and so many of its incredible views. It has much more impressive scenery than other big-city marathons (Boston, NY, Chicago, LA, San Diego). Miles 21-25 go through an industrial area, which is kind of scuzzy at a demanding point in the race, but the last mile and a half are again, incredible, going along the bay and around the ballpark. The hills are very demanding, so don't run this one for time - just for the pure joy of running | |
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A. B. from New York, NY
(8/5/2008)
"Beautiful Course, Poorly Organized" (about: 2008)
3 previous marathons
| 1 The San Francisco Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 1 FANS: 2 The SF Marathon was a beautiful marathon, but the poor organization took away from the experience. The course was very hilly (the elevation diagram on their website is very misleading) but the scenery makes up for it. The main problem with the race was that there were many missing or poorly marked mile markers so runners often have no idea where there are in the race. An additional drawback was the lack of clocks posted, except on mile 13.1 and mile 26.2. Because of the multi-wave start, runners without watches can't even get the time from other runners. It would have been helpful if the SF Marathon organizers had publicized the lack of clocks ahead of time so that we could properly prepare. |
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