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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 481 to 491]
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A Runner from Austin, TX
(8/23/2001)
"If only I could choose 0 star for the organization" (about: 2001)
COURSE: 2 ORGANIZATION: 1 FANS: 2 San Francisco is a beautiful city, but its marathon is a shame. I have run 43 marathons and I must say even a marathon I ran in Amarillo, TX was better organized than the Chronicle Marathon in 2001. Enough is said by others, I only wish to add one thing: water please. We all paid $60 or $70 to be in the race, why can't we get a water station per mile? I drank as much as I could every two miles but still became terribly dehydrated. I ran this marathon back in 1993, when the opening mile was on the Golden Gate Bridge. I guess they are trying to cut costs so we got to run through a bunch of parking lots instead. It's time for you groovy San Franciscans to make some changes to your not-so-groovy marathon! | |
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A Runner from Bay Area, CA
(7/27/2001)
"What a waste" (General Comments)
COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 1 FANS: 2 First of all, the good things (It'll be brief, trust me). The few fans out there were great, but there were only about five of them. Most people looked at us with sheepish eyes like they wanted to know what the ruckus was about. And the volunteers tried to help us out, I have to give them props. And whoever had the idea to give out watermelon at mile 20 deserves a thanks. That's it for the good. I would type all the negative things that happened at this marathon, but my fingers would fall off from the typing. This was a pathetic attempt at a marathon, but ironically enough it was stereotypical San Francisco: you pay twice as much for half the quality. The expo was a disorganized mess (how could they run out of shirts so quickly?). The day of the marathon they had so many types of runs (marathons, half marathons, two person relay, four person relay...) that they couldn't concentrate on any one of them being enjoyable! The half marathoners running the second half of the course just lead to confusion all around. Plus, by the time the buses got us out to the half marathon starting point, there was only about 10 minutes before we had to take off! Needless to say, I found a bush to use rather than the porta potties. My suggestions: forget the stupid relays (this is the bay area, and there are shorter runs every weekend if people want to run them). Keep the marathon and half marathon, and have the half marathon just be a shorter course! That way no confusion at the finish line, no muss, no fuss. Also, why do they have the run start and finish in Golden Gate Park? There's no parking, it's freezing cold, and it's always a convoluted mess! How about have the event start and finish at Pac Bell Park? Tons of parking, warm weather at the finish... makes perfect sense, which is probably why they didn't do it, eh? One final note, I found it extremely ironic that this marathon had NO coverage and NO promotion seeing as how the main sponsor is San Francisco's major newspaper! Are you kidding? They had a map of the course in the newspaper a couple days before the marathon, and featured an outdated map! This was a pathetic marathon. I may run it again, but you can forget about me paying for it. | |
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A Runner from California
(7/21/2001)
"Great city.....ashamed of how this was put on" (about: 2001)
COURSE: 2 ORGANIZATION: 1 FANS: 1 I could go on and on but here's the best example... Around mile 2, imagine a few thousand runners coming down the street and seeing a police officer actually helping a couple BACK OUT of their garage into the runners path!!! I could not believe it. I looked at the expression on all their faces and it was like the runners were a ''thing'' that rolled off the truck and were in the way. We all started laughing. What ever happened to those ''race coming through signs''. Terrible....Never again. It takes so much to train for a marathon......No one should have to go through this. | |
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A Runner from Downey, California U.S.A.
(7/20/2001)
"overall The Chronicle Marathon was very rewarding." (about: 2001)
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 3 I did not know what to expect, as this was the first time I ran The San Francisco Chronicle Marathon. Unlike a lot of other Marathons, they did supply sufficent amount of 'Gu', Fruit and also water. As with many Marthons, the water stations need to stay up longer for slower runners. It's important to encourage the first time Marathoner and seeing the water stations taken up early, can be like a 'wall' to some first time Marathoners. Overall, this was one of the most challenging courses yet and for my own personal best, I broke my time at this Marathon and it was well worth every hill. Here's to more S.F.Chronicle Marathons to come! Wishing you the best! | |
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A Runner from Belmont, CA
(7/17/2001)
"Poor, poor organization" (about: 2001)
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 2 FANS: 1 I was originally hoping to run this as my first marathon - thank God I did not and ran the 1/2 instead. The event was so poorly organized. 1. For slower marathoners that ran above 4:30, they ran out of medals and mylar blankets. I heard several of the aid stations did not have anything left for slower runners either. 2. Because they started the 1/2 marathon at mile 13.1 and started it 45 minutes after the marathon start, the lead marathoners had to fight their way through huge masses of slower half marathoners. Also, the 4x10K relay team runners stole all the glory and the escort service from the lead male marathon runner. 3. About 50 half-marathoners, myself included, were given Blue marathon bibs instead of the red half-marathon ones. This caused big problems. I heard organizers on their walkie-talkies saying how they lost the lead runner. Some race volunteers thought one of these blue-bibbed half-marathoners won the marathon when he crossed the line a a minute before the true lead male marathoner. 3. No crowd support at all. None. I didn't know a race could have so few spectators. 4. No Gu. They promised a single packet of Gu to everyone at mile 20, but there was no Gu to be found. 5. Huge line to get food at the end. But at least there was soup. 6. About 75 cars got big parking tickets ($75) for parking near the race start. Apparently there was no warning not to park in those areas. 7. One or two magic markers for all half-marathoners to label their sweat bags. The lines were huge and the scene quite chaotic. 8. At the half-marathon start, there were no announcements, no gun, nothing to indicate it started. My husband was up front and said that after people waited around for 2 minutes past the official 7:45 am start time, they just all started running. 9. At the half start, the line was configured so that you would run 40 feet directly toward the portapotties and then take a sharp left. Needless to say, the starting area was crowded with people in portapotty lines and making a left is extremely difficult with such a big crowd. 10. The expo was very small and there was no goodie bag. They ran out of some sized t-shirts, even for people who marked the appropriate size on their pre-registration forms. Since I live an hour away, I did not appreciate the mandatory 2-hour round-trip for such a small event. | |
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A Runner from Charlotte,NC
(7/15/2001)
"Yuck- what a total MESS!" (about: 2001)
COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 1 FANS: 1 To think I actually traveled from Charlotte,NC to run in this totally unorganized mess. I expected much more from such a beautiful, sophisticated, wealthy city. I will never run it again and will tell anyone who will listen why----. It started off badly when I registered online before reg. deadline and before the price went up. I was charged for the higher registration. I had had surgery and decided to register for the 1/2 instead of the full marathon. My husband was registered for the marathon. They registered me in the 20-29 year age category even though I am in the 50-59 category. Tried to get both issues cleared up previous to the race to no avail! Even tried by phone, fax, and at the Expo. No luck. Is it really THAT difficult? The Expo---- Sorry, sorry, sorry Expo! No goodie bags, no xx lg tee shirts, chaos, volunteers who were 'clueless'. Even Charlotte,NC has a great Expo! Puts yours to shame. Did anyone in SF even know there WAS a marathon happening in their city? Morning of: Very few porta johns (Had to hit the bushes before the start), one magic marker being passed aroung to mark 'Sweats bag', one poor guy w/ a megaphone who you could not even hear!!Good Lord, I could go on forever---- The course itself was OK. Hills are fine with me as the old Charlotte course was VERY hilly. Weather held- perfect. No crowd support to speak of. Thank goodness for all those great fans (all 10 of them) on Haight Street. No mile marker times called out or computed along the way, water stations inadequate, and with all these comments I feel the stress creeping back in!! Thank goodness I foung this site to voice my complaints because you can't even get to the appropriate site for the Chronicle Marathon to voice your thoughts! They know their site would be overwhelmed w/ negative comments. And, as I say, I ran the 1/2. Thank goodness I didn't waste my time w/ the full marathon. Forget your race guys-- I'll stick to real races!! Get your act together. | |
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A Runner from San Jose, CA
(7/13/2001)
"A great way to see San Francisco" (about: 2001)
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 2 The first half of this marathon is scenic and the second half is less so; then again, maybe it only seems that way because the second half is much more difficult! The weather on the typical San Francisco morning in July is perfect for running and this past Sunday was no exception. The organization, despite all the complaints I've heard and read about, was adequate to make the overall experience most enjoyable. The expo was disappointing. I would have gladly bought a long sleeve shirt with the race logo on it but they were out of small sizes by noon on Saturday, and there wasn't much else to choose from. Run this marathon if you would like to see the Golden Gate Bridge, half hidden in fog, stretching out directly in front of you as you round a turn in the forest of the Presidio. Then move along to the wharf and the waterfront, PacBell Park and elegant victorians. Its a view of the city you can't get from a bus! | |
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A Runner from San Francisco
(7/10/2001)
"What a mess!" (General Comments)
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 1 FANS: 1 I ran the Chronicle Marathon last weekend. I don't know how a city like San Francisco can have such a poorly organized race. They messed up my registration. They were giving marathon bibs to the half marathon runners. The water stops were every two miles and undermanned. I had to track down a medal and mylar blanket after I came through the shute. Oh, it just goes on and on. This is the most I've paid for a marathon with the absolute worst support. Very sad. | |
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A Runner from Houston TX
(7/10/2001)
"JUST DO IT!!" (about: 2001)
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 1 I just ran SF Marathon yesterday and still can't believe the experience! It's a must do race in the summer but don't expect a PR. Views of SF were the best and can't be beat. There were INSANE hills on mile 3 and 16 and a tough mini hill on mile 25. Mile 3 hill was hard, but mile 16 seemed like it was vertical. I would run this race again for the sheer beauty of the course and of San Fran location. Organization was average (noone at mile markers to call your pace) and besides Team in Training supporters everyone else in San Fran is still in bed. Medal was nice, shirt is ok, and clam chowder in bread bowl was a unique post race treat. | |
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A Runner from California
(6/5/2001)
"Not a marathon for a PR" (about: 2000)
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 3 Nice marathon and great views along the course. Running in the Golden Gate Park was nice, but I was looking forward to the Golden Gate Bridge. |
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