Monday, February 14, 2011

2011 Surf City Half Marathon




The weather was fantastic for racing. It was cool and a nice marine layer kept the temps low. When your running your body temperature rises and keeping yourself cool improves your performance.

This was one of the most well organized races Ive been to and its a HUGE race too. Seriously other event coordinators should take some tips from Surf City on how to organize an event.

Usually most races everyone start at once, marathoners, halfers, 10k, elite, and 1st timers, so the first few miles are dodging elbows, cutting around slower runners, and finding the right pace.
But with the way Surf City was set up, you didn't have to deal with that. I loved it!!

1- Marathoners started 1 hour before the half marathoners so the crowds were already cut in half.
2- Your bib number was determined by your time. For me I put my expected finish time to be 2 hours so I was in the 8000 group.
3- Your bib# determined your corral so it was a no brainer. So if you think "hey everyone here is a 4000 and I'm a 15000... hmm am I in the right spot?" (there are the occasional few that have late regs or something else, but for the most part it follows that pattern)
4- The corrals were sectioned off in 3-5 min waves with ribbons and tape, so people couldn't get anxious and go ahead.

This enabled everyone to have a crowd-free experience during the Entire route. Awesome!

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