OC Marathon Official Website

The "Nitty Gritty" Details (User Opinions)

southbaygirl .
San Pedro, CA

  (05-04-2010)

"I want to start this off by saying I am not a fast runner. I consistently finish Half's in 2:30ish. I unfortunately dont have the time to train-so most of the half marathons I run are usually my long runs.

With that said, I entered the OC Half and it was my first Half in just over a month. I had a pretty good streak going, one every 2 weeks, but I had fallen off the Half marathon wagon.

I had always heard about this race but had never given it any thought until about a week ago. I received an email stating that the half was close to selling out-nothing pushes you to sign up for a race like a sell out!

The expo was Friday and Saturday at the OC County fair grounds. I opted for a Friday expo visit-thought I might beat the crowds. I picked up my bib , no problem, and then pre-paid for my parking in the morning (smart idea!!!!). Now where are the t-shirts?? I would have walked all over trying to find the t-shirts! No signs pointing you to the goody bag.

The expo had "all the same" stuff, I browsed, say friends, talked to people I had met from other expos and then left. had to get back to LA before traffic!

I had been given a 4:30am shuttle for race day. Horrible, I know-but I have differing opinions on it now. I found out that the later you register for the race, the earlier your shuttle! I arrived at the parking lot a tad later than I had planned-procrastination in the morning-but I still arrived at the parking lot and got "rockstar" parking (a plus to arriving early). I was near toilets but had to walk to the shuttle (I arrived off the 55 Freeway). But I noticed that my parking was VERY close to the finish-yes ROCKSTAR parking!

I walked to the shuttle, which was on the other side of the finish area, and pile din with alot of other people around 5am. I got to the start line around 5:20ish..I noticed as we were driving to the start the traffic was getting heavier coming into the OC Fair Grounds

There were tons of porta potties where the shuttles dropped you off-big plus! I had a little over an hour until the start-there weren't many places to sit but there were alot of porta potties!

The startw as just down the hill from the long lines of porta potties. They had corral signs up: A, B, C, D etc..... depending on you estimated finish time. There was nothing separating each Corral so you could, theoretically, go in whatever corral you wanted. Of course it didn't matter since it was chip timed!

The start of this race is early, 6:30. personally, I like an early start-gives the slow runners,like me, a chance to finish before the heat! And I knew it was going to be sunny and warm.

I had never really run in orange County at all. This race started at Fashion island in Newport Beach and headed to the ocean. We ran past stores and thru residential neighborhoods. i was amazed at how many people came out to cheer at such an early hour!!

The course to the ocean was lovely. The residential area we ran thru was very pretty. Even prettier was the view as we came to the ocean. At this point we headed down slightly and headed inland toward PCH. And this was fairly flat.

When we heat PCH, we headed north briefly and then ran under PCH to the other side of the street. This was the only time when I felt we were squeezing tons of people into a very small space. It was a small path that led underneath PCH.

Once off PCH, we were heading into the Newport bay Ecological reserve-this was the part of the race I was looking forward to!! It was beautiful! And fairly flat-ok, there were some rolling hills! But looking out onto the ecological reserve was breathtaking-how lucky that this race is allowed to run thru this beautiful place!

There was a steep hill as we came out of the reserve-but there were lots of cheering spectators! We were on sidewalk briefly and then went right back onto the ecological reserve trail for the last mile or so. And that's where the last hill was-just coming out of the reserve. But once again, people were there to cheer, porta potties were lined up and we knew there was only a little over a mile to go!

At mile 12, the Half and the Full went their separate ways. On this day, there is no way I would have wanted to run the full! So I was very happy to make that left at mile 12 and see the finish a mile ahead of me! Of course it sucks when you can see the finish area-I swear it makes it seem farther and farther away!!

Once onto the OC Fair Grounds I kinda knew where th finish line was , since I had seen it parking. I knew there were a few turns and once past the restaurant on the right it would be a left turn and BAM the finish!

And BAM, there was the finish!!

I think this is a great race for a first timer. And there were alot of first time Half and full marathon participants! It's relatively flat and the half is a beautiful course! I have heard that the half is the pretty course-once you go past the 12 mile mark, the full isn't very scenic. Good thing I only ran the Half!!!

On a side note: I run with my own water and electrolyte drink, so I'm usually not paying attention to what electrolyte drink it served-but i only saw one nutrilyte drink station-they said there were going to be 3 for the half-but I only saw one.
"

Reviewed by a: First Time Participant for 2010

Zachary E.
Toluca Lake, CA

  (07-29-2009)

"I ran this race for two reasons, the first being the most important: a free technical jacket to the first 1000 marathon registrants. It's a sweet jacket, made by MPG, water resistant/proof, zip-off sleeves, slim fit, etc. - definitely worth the run. Secondly, it isn't far from me and it was between two other races I had already registered for (Surf City and SF). It was the first year for a new course, and I guess it was ok... didn't like all the rolling hills though... not very high, but several of them; and then there was a long 3+ mile stretch along a wash (miles 20-23+) that wasn't fun. Not sure if I'll run it again, though I did set a pr (3:25)... we'll see."

Reviewed by a: First Time Participant for 2009