Let me start by saying that I'm amazed that nobody has yet Yelped this event. Considering the…read morepopularity of other running events in this area, it's actually quite surprising. In any case, allow me to offer the first review. This is actually a dual event, a half and full marathon (with the latter being the Surfer's Path Marathon) that is really a marriage between Wharf To Wharf and the Santa Cruz Half Marathon. I ran the half so hopefully soon someone can provide some feedback on the full. If you love Wharf To Wharf (and this year's race selling out in one day suggests that you do), and you're into the half marathon scene, then you're going to love this run! Let me premise with this: The course is almost the precise route Wharf To Wharf is held on - with the difference being that runners loop around the Capitola wharf area and obviously run back. Expect a few rolling hills throughout the course to add a bit of challenge for you (in case 13.1 miles isn't enough) and the typical support of the Santa Cruz and Capitola communities as you run by. It would be irresponsible for me not to mention the finish line. Once you've completed about 13 miles, they've saved the last 30 or 40 yards for you on the beach... in the sand. So, if the miles you've just completed weren't difficult enough, be prepared for the change in footing. I actually stumbled a bit at that point and then gave a quick look around to see if anyone noticed. Oh yeah, it's the finish line, there are several thousand people there, and yes, they noticed. To rub salt into that would, my name was read by the race announcer as I crossed the finish line. Now everyone knows my name - you know "that guy that almost fell." That said, don't expect any glamorous photos at the finish line, and yes, there are photographers there to capture your special moment. I would suggest positioning yourself for more favorable action shots from the photographers elsewhere throughout the course. If you're into the bling, you'll appreciate the finisher's medal. Though smaller than many of my other medals, it's still pretty cool and has a fancy ribbon (I'm big on a nice ribbon - details man). This year's race was met with an absolute clear sky and a nice cool morning air that was perfect for running. That's part of the reason why I waited a week to post this. I wanted to wait and come off of my high from the race so I could give a better thought out perspective. My only real knock on this event is with the limited expo. Though at the beach in Capitola (which is cool), there weren't a lot of vendors. And of those that were there, many were advertising other races. Also, the packet pick up is kind of a pain. Considering the time of year, the weather is warming and more people are headed to the beach. So the seemingly simple task of parking your car to pick up your gear can become quite adventurous. Also, being from the San Jose area, it's inconvenient to have to make that drive just to pick up my bib. I will offer this though: Did I see a packet pick up on race day? I'm pretty sure there was a table that was staffed with WAY too many volunteers that was for race day pick ups. If that's the case, then please ignore my earlier complaint. To sum this up, think of the little things that you dislike about Wharf To Wharf and imagine those things no longer being an issue. Imagine not having to deal with parking and those damn bus lines! Imagine a race where there are only a fraction of the runners that are in Wharf To Wharf. I'm not sure. Now that I think about this, I like the race the way it is. Maybe I'm shooting myself in the foot here by providing a Yelp review and drawing more attention to it. Maybe I don't want too many people knowing about this. Maybe I don't want it to lose its charm by becoming more popular and bigger. I'm conflicted.

My first time running in this event…read more.. The Good: I ran the 10K w/ my boyfriend a few weeks ago. We were unfamiliar with the park but we were very well informed about the best route to get there. Highway 130/Hamilton Rd. was very winding and scary to drive at 6am but we were told that it was safer then taking Quimby Rd. The event was very well-organized w/ informational updates, race instructions, post-race food and entertainment. Although the actual race is very small (500 participants max), they particularly had an event for everyone. The Not-So-Good: However, I didn't enjoy the abundance of potholes on the course since it made it very hard to "run" the course. I also didn't like the quick, sharp and narrow U-turn after the first mile. Seriously? It was too congested and I nearly had to stop to avoid running into runners or tripping into potholes. Also, where were the port-o-potties? I had to go so bad - I asked 3 different race officials along the course and they kept telling me "it's further up" which literally meant at the finish line. As a natural runner, I would've taken the bush route but there weren't any that were tall enough to hide and to take care of my business. But thankfully, my bladder was able to hold it and I didn't get UTI (urinary tract infection) after all. Sigh. Overall, I had a good time and enjoyed jogging the beautiful park but I'd probably not run it again in order to avoid driving up the dangerous route and running a twisted-ankle route.

I was looking for a local marathon to ramp up my miles for the NYC marathon. I was happy to find…read morethat LivingSocial had a deal for $40 to the NorCal Full Marathon (regularly $80). The marathon course itself was ok, I would give it 3 stars. It starts off as small loop in downtown San Jose. But the majority of the marathon is on the Guadalupe River Trail. I've ran on Guadalupe before with SJ Fit and it is a great trail for training. But on race day with all the extra runners, it was dusty and crowded. Also, since I've trained on Guadalupe before, the marathon felt longer and boring. What made me give NorCal Marathon 4 stars was the volunteers! The volunteers were awesome and they were constantly cheering, clapping, and dispensing much needed water. At one point the gels were gone but one volunteer told me to hold on and ran to her personal stash to get one for me. That was freaking awesome and much appreciated. The post-race area was nice, they were dispensing burritos and awarding prizes to the fastest runners in every age category. I discovered one of the runners I had been pacing for a few miles was 75 years old! Overall the marathon was very well organized and the volunteers were great. Only thing I would recommend is changing up the course.

Inaugural Northern California (NorCal) Marathon and Half scheduled September 18, 2011…read more The fast course begins and ends at the Arena Green, adjacent to the HP Pavilion Arena. Starting on Santa Clara Street right in front of the HP Pavilion runners and walkers will be treated with fantastic support. Route: Heading down the Alameda, then making a large loop you will head back into downtown San Jose. You will proceed north eventually entering the Guadalupe Trail system. Heading North the Half will turn around and make a straight shot back to the finish line. The Full course will continue North near Alviso, turning south working its way back to the Arena. Both courses finish together! Updates to come for the 1/2 marathon.

This 5K marathon is quite a laid back version of the marathons held in the bay area. When this was…read moreposted in Groupon it was advertised to be in the Fairground but it was actually held at the Almaden Lake park. The beauty of the place makes it a relaxing and fun event for all ages. Anyone, young and old was geared up in their super hero costumes. There was even a guy in the wheelchair participating. During the pre-run event, the organizers set up a bouncy house for the kiddos with music playing for the participants. There was also a photo booth to take your super power poses and fight the evils of morning cramps, dehydration and kiddo tantrums. The registration starts at 8 am., 8:45 would be the warm ups and 9:00 is the start of the run/walk. There are different stalls for vendors with goodies to offer. There is also a booth for free massages if you can wait. The weather is breezy with no hint of rain. Thank heavens! It was such a fun experience to see people and kids doing this. I personally ran for about 15 seconds and then walked the next hour and 10 minutes...Lol! Was I bummed with my time? Heck no! I was just glad I got to finish it like everyone else and got to reach every poke stop to replenish my supplies for Pokemon Go . Got my medal, water bottle and banana at the end of it all....and got to evolve my Rhyhorn

Fun, fun, fun for the puzzle-solver in you…read more DASH (Different Area--Same Hunt) is a puzzle hunt that takes place in several cities across the U.S. at the same time once a year. If you live in the Bay Area, you usually have a few nearby cities to choose from. I took part in the April 24, 2010 event in Santa Rosa, which featured 59 teams at that city. The event involves solving puzzles that are fairly intellectually challenging and take usually a half hour to an hour to solve. You do need to get from location to location to solve the puzzles, though this time does not count as part of your total time, so there is no benefit to being physically fit--you can even take a break and get lunch! Two of my friends and I took part and had a great time doing it. The theme this year was TV shows, and one activity had us looking through these dossiers containing outlines of murdered Disney movie characters. There were then rebuses which you had to figure out who killed that particular Disney character. Example: picture of Jeff Bridges + a pirate's speech bubble is Jeff+Arrr or Jafar. After figuring all of that out, if you ordered all the murders together by linking the characters who belonged in the same movie, and then realized that there was a number in the description of the murders, you would take that number letter of the murderer's name to spell out the final solution (e.g. if the puzzle said there were nine slashes, you would take the ninth letter of the murderer's name). All in all, a great time. If you get stuck on a puzzle, you can always take hints (there is a penalty for taking hints). Our team was resilient, taking no hints ever. We finished 40th out of 59 teams, which was not bad for our first time doing one of these. Having a smart phone helps some, but fairly minimally. The first puzzle involved listening to these songs, and identifying the name of each song. The last word in the name of the song could be strung together to form a sentence you could then solve. When they started this puzzle, a lot of people got out their iPhone's to use the app which can recognize songs being played on the radio. However, the game organizers recognized this and actually sped up all the song sections they played. The name of the puzzle was Alvin and the Chipmunks to justify the high-pitch of the voices. At another puzzle, one of my friends used his Android phone to take a picture of one of the albums on the piece of paper and the phone was able to figure out that it was a Queen album. Technology is crazy these days.

You're from Orange County, Craig. Isn't a 6-hour drive to San Jose a little much to simply run a…read more5-mile or 5K? Yes, it is. And it isn't, for many reasons... First, if you're a die-hard San Francisco Giants fan, there'd be no question: you'd be there, just as many, many others were, dressed proudly in orange and ready to run. (The San Jose Giants, by the way, are the San Francisco Giants' farm team.) Registering for San Jose's Great Race, now in its 4th year, you'd not only receive free tickets for the SJ Giants' evening game, you'd not only collect a custom SFG World Champions replica ring, but you'd also be able to take your picture with SFG's 2010, 2012, and 2014 World Champions Trophies! So that's a pretty cool reason to run. Second, by running both San Jose's and San Francisco's Giant Races (any distance), you'll be handed the "Turn Two Award": a Runner's Armband/Phone Case, the San Jose Giants logo and San Francisco Giants 2014 World Champions logo on the side. And third, there's the 2015 Three Bagger Award! I want this! You must finish both San Jose and San Francisco, and your third race is your choice: the 2016 Scottsdale Giant Race (SFG's spring training camp in Arizona), or Sacramento Training Run on 7/12/15. I'll be traveling to Arizona! Then the Three Bagger will be mine: a super sparkly mega medal commemorating not only the three Giant Races, but also the three-time World Champions on the field. No, I'm not a huge Giants fan. But my pops is, and so are my nephews. (I guess that makes me a fan by association.) Nevertheless, I am a medals fan, and I love running. So to answer your question, whether or not driving six hours out of my way is a bit excessive... Well, I got another sweet medal, didn't I? =]

This year was a bit disappointing. I've completed all 5 years and they've been pretty organized…read moreuntil this year. I did the 5 mile and the organizers didn't seem to care about a large group who finished around the 1:20 mark. We had to ask cops which way to go as there were no guides for the last mile, NO medals and nobody was handing out water. Apparently they only cared about the 5K folks and anyone who finished in 15 min. Turns out, after about 10 min of standing around, a box of medals was left in SF. Just disappointing. The shirts are another thing. Why bother asking for our size, only to run out? The race was also short by .3 or .4 of a mile. I remember last year the route was a true 5 miles. Not this year.

Great race that I have done in the past. Does anyone know why the 2024 race was cancelled? 5/5…read morestars as it was a lovely run and I would love to support this cause in the future! Maybe in 2025?

Yep, this is a good one…read more This was my first 5k, but it was flat and fast, well organized, friendly, a certified course, and professionally timed--in short, everything you could want. The only bummer was the big 2 mile sign at around 1.7 miles into the course.

This is my review on my run!…read more Hmm...driving to pick up my bid and packet the day before the event was useless. WHatda waste of gas! Next year, if I do the race, I will just pick up my packet the day of. There was practically no one picking up their packet the day of. Just be there about 15 minutes early, and you will save yourself the drive to pick up the bid. Yea, no water stations or mile marker. I like how the run took place in Great America for the first .75 miles, but I thought the entire run should've take place in GA. We ran the 2.25 miles around the parking lot. That part was definitely not fun! =( At the end of the race, they passed out medal and water bottle. Bagels, and banana, fruit snacks, and oranges were served. Not too bad! $25 (family pack) goes directly to charity and they feed you, give you a medal, freebies (playing cards, and pens/pencil), water bottles (which they sell at great America for $4), a shirt, free parking, and a ticket to go into GA to bond with your friends and family. Can't ask for more=)

This is the first time I've done a run at Great America. Though it was fun to run inside the park,…read moreonce we got outside it was rather quite boring as all we were doing was running in the parking lot. Two thirds of the run was in the parking lot and it was easy to cut the corners in the parking lot, so in the end the distance didn't even end up being close to 3.1 miles. They only had one mile marker at mile one, and it was at least 1/3 mile off, and there were no water stations. Packet pick-up was the day before at one end of the Key Point Credit Union. There was only one sign to direct people to where that location is. My friend picked up his packet in the morning shorty after 9am, and he said they were completely disorganized. They were still stuffing the bags when he got there. By the time I got there they had gotten their act together. Unfortunately the only "goodies" I got in my bag were just flyers, which I ended up throwing in the recycling bin. The only thing worth keeping was the 10% off sports basement coupon. I did like that entrance into Great America was included in our registration as well as free parking before 7:30am. We got a finisher's medal after crossing the finish line. They gave us a bottle of water at the end of the run, but it wasn't even cold. There was slices of oranges, bananas and bagels available for us at the end, but no napkins. This is only the second year Mission City has done this run, so hopefully it will get better as the years go on.