First time running it, a few thoughts: - swag is…read moreridiculously sparse, but oh well - while they announce a "bucolic course in the hills of SLO", get prepared for 2/3rds of the course to be on the road with other cars passing by (people in the area love their trucks, it smells every time a car passes by). A decent 2-3 miles is on an access road by Highway 1, with the noise etc. People with sensitive lungs/avoiding to work out where there's car pollution should be aware of this - hydration stations 2, 3 and 4 ran out of cups. Runners were offered the option to lift the giant water bottles and drink out of it - super hygienic. C'mon people, paper cups are cheap, you know how many runners have signed up, and hydration is too important to be fuddled with!! - they "ran out of beer" when I arrived at the finish line (runners were still arriving for another 30-40 min after me). Another false claim in the confirmation email "enjoy a beer at the finish line", and again, it's not that hard to know how many runners there will be that day. I don't think I'll do this race again. The scenery is more appealing to me than city races, but it's really poorly organized. There are waaay better organized races in similar settings - including Mexico by the way (valle de guadalupe).

Just ran the City to Sea Half Marathon yesterday and I thought the organizers and event staff did a…read morefantastic job. 2012 brought in a record number of runners with City to Sea clocking in at 2500+ participants. This is a point-to-point race that starts in downtown SLO and brings you through stretches of rural backroads, beautiful coastal roads with scenic ocean views. The course is relatively flat with a few gentle rolling hills starting at mile 5. There are numerous fuel and hydration stations and excellent course support throughout. The pace groups were very helpful (they run at 15 minute intervals) and really kept me on target with my finish time. Runners can enjoy live bands, wellness and nutritional information and a delicious full breakfast catered by Scotty's Bar & Grill (grubby breakfast burritos) at the finish. There is a convenient bag drop and pick up station and a shuttle service to bring you back to the start. The pre-race expo included a variety of top-name vendors, great specials (my Nike LunarGlide 4's and Mizuno Wave Precision's were 20% off) and featured a few of the latest brand new designs in running gear (liked the ear bud/sunglasses). The race packet included a very nice gender specific techincal fabric shirt, which I will get a lot more use out of than one of those big baggy unisex t-shirts. The registration fee is one of the lowest you'll find -- while most half-marathons are priced at $100 +, the City to Sea is very nicely offered at $65 - 75. If you haven't been to this race, I highly recommend adding this one to your race list. A 5K and a Kids Run are offered as well. There is something for everyone to enjoy at this beautiful event.

(My 8th Half this year.)…read more When my family first moved to Lompoc, CA, it was simply a tiny beach town of about 12,000 people. (It's easily quadrupled in size now.) Back then, we had two high schools, two grocery stores, and if you craved Asian food, the Rice Bowl, alone, would have to do (http://www.yelp.com/biz/rice-bowl-lompoc.) It was all that Lompoc had to offer. We were small. I mean, this year's Disneyland Marathon turnout was over 16,000 strong! Runners at Mickey's resort outnumbered our entire population! So in coming home for the Valley of the Flowers Half Marathon, I figured it would be an intimate run. In fact, there were roughly 75 of us racing around La Purísima Mission's scenic course. Many times, I ran alone, weaving around dirt trails, pausing to snap a few photos, reminiscing and remembering, daydreaming... It really was beautiful, as it always has been. And I took my time. The race wasn't always at the mission though. Lompoc, in its past, was actually known as the "flower seed capital of the world." I suppose it's arguable now, but at one time, we held the honor; and during that reign, the "Valley of the Flowers Half Marathon" truly coursed around and among open flower fields. Now having been relocated to the historic La Purísima Mission, the Half still makes for a stunningly beautiful run; but old names die hard, I guess. Plus, it's about tradition, and tradition is important. Lompoc, I've missed you. I was happy to come home. =]

come back number 4 (4 stars)…read more The route was slightly changed, and all for the better. Great start, but would've liked an earlier start, and great route. This year the finish was at the beach, much better than last year. Due to the problems at the Port of Long Beach, the medals were not delivered on time, and we were told that they'd be mailed to us. Oh well ... Already registered to run 2015

**Review for the 2017 half marathon**…read more Is there a spot for negative stars? It was so poorly organized it honestly felt like someone had just forgot they were organizing a race. So many red flags: The bib pick-up had a location change the day before that wasn't posted on their website. There was no signage or parking available unless you went into the residential neighborhood or paid the city fees. The expo prior to the event had one booth and the DJ was not provided an electrical outlet so they had to bring in a back up generator. They then did not have enough volunteers for water stations along the 13.1 mile path and did not set up any bathrooms. The bathrooms they did provide were right at the starting line and there was no one talking to participants about where to line up or any communication when the race was running late, leaving about 300 participants standing at the starting line for an hour before the police cancelled the race. The organizers apologized on Facebook yesterday but considering registration fees were around $85-115 this disorganization is unacceptable. This gives other half marathons a bad rap and I hope the organizing company refunds the participant fees and is not allowed to organize in SB again.

I have run the 5K portion of this race twice now, and it's been great both times. Great community…read moresupport and lots of happy, smiling faces. I love the course, taking you on a tour along the coast and then through downtown Santa Barbara. Mile 2 is slightly uphill and then you turn around and get to run slightly downhill for the last mile, which feels great. All the volunteers were amazing. The after-run festival was nice, best part was free beer at 9 am! ;) I will be repeating this race again in 2024 for sure.

Such a community feeling run! The half marathon was a great way to get a great pump along the…read morebeach! Most of the pasta was so picturesque with only the final few miles in the city. Relatively flat but still 13.1 miles so still pretty brutal. It's a small run but still very organized and had tons of sponsors. The event went off without a hitch and worth a quick trip to Santa Barbara for the weekend to enjoy the city while you are at it! If you are looking for a half to do and don't want to deal with the huge runs around LA, check out this run!

I just registered for the half marathon on 7/22/26 and just got noticed from the university of Utah…read morethe graduation dates which are the same weekend as the half on 5/8/27. I quickly requested a refund and explained by situation but Mark from Motiv Sports denied my request. The running organizers have changed, its all about the money now.

A really cool local race, I believe they cap it off around 3,000 runners between the 1/2 marathon…read moreand the 1/2 marathon 2 person relay. The relay is split with the first runner doing 5 + miles and the second running doing 7 + of the 13 miles. The course goes through the valley of Solvang passing by some of the wineries in the area. The course can play some mind games with you if you're now aware that after the initial downhill of the race miles 2 through 5 & 1/2 are all on a small invisible steady incline. I thought I went out too fast and was gassing out because of my pace until I saw the stats on my gps watch after the race. Around mile 6-7 is the big climb everyone talks about, it's a challenge climb but if you pace yourself right you can make it through without burning out. After that hill you can pretty much make up time with the rolling down hills from mile 7 to 11.5. Toward the end of the course there's one last gradual hill then the last half mile of the course finishes flat. For a course that ended up have 700 feet of elevation gain through out the 13 miles I ended up having a 6 minute PR. The expo for the race is at a park in Solvang where the post race wine party will be. Since it's a small race there's only 1 day to get your race pack, they also have a race day pick up option for an additional fee. They offer shuttle pick up to 3 locations in town, since the race is early enough in the morning before the shops in town open it's possible to find nearby free parking. I showed up about an hour before the race and easily found parking less than half a block from the start line.