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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 491 to 501]
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A Runner from Southern California
(5/5/2001)
"Lovely course, so-so organization" (about: 2000)
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 2 I liked the course, but would earn six stars if we had run over the Golden Gate bridge. But the sight of it as we were coming down mile 3-ish was spectacular. It struck me as a small field given the fact that this is San Francisco. The organizers have a great city going for them. This could be a great marathon if better organized. The weather cooperated, and perhaps the hardest hill is that infamous climb on Haight Street. Something I didn't like about the course was the out and back part towards the end; running next to the water on Great Highway was nice once, but turning around was boring. And the hills are really kept to a minimum given the ones in this town. I would recommend it if you haven't done it, but I wouldn't go back. I'll look for another summer marathon to run. | |
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A Runner from Chicago, IL
(5/4/2001)
"Clam Chowder in a bread bowl?!" (about: 2000)
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 3 Normally, I love chowder in the bread bowl. But after running 26.2 miles, that's the last thing I want. Thank goodness Ben & Jerry's was giving out free scoops of ice cream after the finish. Okay, the marathon itself: I'm from Chicago, and have run the Chicago Marathon 5 times, so I'm a little spoiled as far as crowd support goes. I hope the city of S.F. will embrace this event the way they get excited about the Bay to Breakers run. Most of the course was gorgeous, with a few less sightly areas. Hey, that's San Francisco. The race does have an informal feel to it, but then I only have Chicago to compare it to. The race organizers do a good job of avoiding hills as well as they can. But it is San Fran, and the hill through Haight-Ashbury was quite the challenge. We don't have any hills like that here to train on. This was my first S.F. marathon, and I'll be back in 2001, looking forward to some Cherry Garcia. | |
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A Runner from San Francisco, CA
(5/3/2001)
"Have the city to yourself" (General Comments)
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 2 FANS: 1 San Francisco does not wake up until 10:30 on Sunday mornings. So for most of the course, the runners own it. I would prefer if the course started on the Golden Gate Bridge and ended in Kezar Stadium as it did a number of years ago. This is not a very crowded race. Since many runners are put off by the hills, we don't see that many out-of-towners. However, the hills are not that bad. The race organization needs a lot of help. It does not have the feeling of an event. More like something that's thrown together. In a town like San Francisco, you would think there would be a slew of sponsors pitching in. Not at all. For a world-class city, this is not a world-class marathon. Run this for the scenery. | |
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A Runner from Clovis, CA
(1/22/2001)
"Beautiful course, but poorly organized" (about: 2000)
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 2 FANS: 3 The weather was great and the scenery beautiful. Aid stations had Ultima (yuck) which was poorly mixed or not mixed at all. Some aid stations had no water or Ultima for the slower runners. No medical help or aid stations in the last miles where you really need it. This is not a course for a beginner!!! | |
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A Runner from chicago
(12/15/2000)
"beautiful but tough" (about: 2000)
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 3 Ran in 2000. SF is a great city. Expo was good, Could use more spectators. Course gives great view of city. Golden Gate Park is awesome.Insane long uphill on Haight Street. I had a great time. | |
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A Runner from Laredo, Texas
(7/27/2000)
"If you want to run a marathon in July......" (General Comments)
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 1 Diverse course with beaches, parks, the city, the bay. A little like the twilight zone, though, with even Chinatown deserted on an early Sunday morning. Pretty good organization, had a very small town feel to it in every way. But good. How could any run in SF not be good? | |
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A Runner from Rochester, NY
(7/17/2000)
"Relay or marathon?" (about: 2000)
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 1 Beautiful city, course and weather. Web site offers complete and detailed race info- important for us out-of-towners. Not many marathons to choose from in Jul so I'd like to see this one succeed. Hopefully this is constructive criticism. The $4 surcharge to register over the web left a bad taste in my mouth. Web use should be encouraged, not penalized. At $70 a crack, it's expensive enough. Spectator support is meager. I think we finished before SF was awake. Doesn't seem like the city knew there was a marathon. Finish area activities need improvement. A single line through the food/drink area doesn't cut it. Need parallel processing, not serial. The last thing needed after 26.2 miles is to stand in a long line. It seemed like the majority of runnners were relay- either half or quarter marathon. It's not as good a marathon experience for me. Harder to settle into a pace. Different attitude. Maybe I don't like getting smoked 4 different times in one run. Shuttle buses after the race were insufficient. Staging area not well-identified. Long wait. All of these issues are fixable. The volunteers that were there really did have their hearts in it. And the natural beauty of SF can't be beat. | |
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A Runner from San Francisco
(7/17/2000)
"Spectators not there, poorly organized." (about: 2000)
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 2 FANS: 1 This was my first organized run -- I ran the first 1/2 of the marathon. I know other runs must be better than this.... First comes scheduling -- the marathon was run the week before AIDS Walk SF. The whole city turns out for AIDS Walk SF (30,000 walkers + bands + etc.). Granted, I only ran the first half -- but there was virtually no fan turn out (except for the members of sponsored charities that were running).... When the half way point approached, they put the water stop at 12.9 miles. Hello!!!! At the half way point there was NO signage telling the 1/2 marathoners where to go. Many ran across the timing pads -- but had to walk back to the water stand to find out where to go. Of course, that virtually required crossing the timing markers a second time.... I drove by parts of the rest of the course -- and saw such niceties as the port-o-potties placed on the wrong side of a divided highway. If the runner wanted to use it, s/he had to run across 4 lanes of traffic -- provided s/he even saw them! (Did anybody check this?).... | |
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A Runner from Olathe, Kansas
(7/16/2000)
"Scenic course" (about: 2000)
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 3 Great place to run a marathon. Nice mixture of flat and hills. There are 3 tough hills, but what do you expect in SF. Haight street is straight up. The weather cooperated, it was 55 degrees to start and 65 at the finish. | |
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A Runner from The Southeastern US
(6/22/2000)
"Great Course -- Where Were the Fans?" (about: 1999)
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 2 This race is worth doing simply because the course is outstanding! The views of the Golden Gate Bridge and of the different sections of the city are only topped by the runs through Golden Gate Park. The weather last year was pretty warm (got up near 80 toward the end), but there was no humidity. The hills, (esp. up Haight St. midrace and the hills into the park at 24) are a definite challenge and you do need to be prep'd -- going out too fast will cost you. The race was pretty-organized, although it would have been nice to get a larger certificate. In looking at the website for the 2000 race, it looks like there is a lot more focus being placed on organization and planning -- word was that in 99, the race management organization was new and got rolling a bit late. Despite that, they did a pretty good job. Plenty of water stops and very good munchies aftwards. The only downside to the race was the lack of spectators. The city just doesn't support the race. Most people didn't seem to be aware the race was going on, and the traffic jams race day were pretty extreme. If it wasn't for Team In Training volunteers, there would have been virtually nobody watching the race. On the other hand, the real star here is the course. . Bottom line: save your PR run for another race, but totally enjoy the experience. |
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