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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 321 to 331]
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J. K. from San Francisco, CA
(8/5/2005)
"Great Course!" (about: 2005)
2 previous marathons
| 1 The San Francisco Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 3 The course was fantastic, loved the bridge and the fog. Loved that I got a shirt, runner's cap and poster all for what it cost me to run the Rock 'n Roll in San Diego for a shirt. Only complaint was the shirt being small but they exchanged it for me on Sunday after the race. I will be back to run it in 2006! | |
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Jeff Wang from Humble, Texas
(8/4/2005)
"Runner's World Sponsored This?" (about: 2005)
11-50 previous marathons
| 3 The San Francisco Marathons
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 4 OK, I have to admit that I am writing this review with mixed emotion. This was my third straight San Francisco Marathon. I ran the previous 2 as the Chronicle Marathons and thought that the organization was very good. As a result, with the sponsorship from Runner's World, I expected much more. I was a bit disappointed with that namesake. Now, don't get me wrong. I still love this marathon. I echo what every one of the previous writers had addressed of what made this marathon great. The weather had always been one of the greatest, especially for a summer marathon. Even when this was the hottest of the three years I had run here, it was still cooler than the Nashville and San Diego I ran a few months ago. The scenery was spectacular. I was a bit disappointed with the Golden Gate Bridge run - that was actually one of the reasons I signed up for this marathon again. However, with the fog, I could barely see as my glasses were fogged up (and even if they weren't, I still could not tell it from Bay Bridge). I actually thought the crowd was pretty good, comparing it to the previous year. The route was not bad - very hilly as expected, maybe even more so than last year, but nonetheless above average - a few narrow lanes here and there (including the Golden Gate Bridge and in the Golden Gate Park with all of the twists and turns). The medal was great - huge, pretty, and can be used as a coaster. Two more and I'll have a set of 4. Based on those, I would run it again. On the other hand, there were plenty of disappointments. I had to agree strongly with the other on how bad the post-marathon food was. For a marathon that started at 5:20 AM (which also means that many of us had to forego the usual breakfast), it could have provided more food at the end rather than 1 banana, 1 Coke Zero, 1 Cytomax, and a couple of bags of chips and granola bars. And all of those after waiting in long line. Definitely not cool. The quality of food definitely had gone down - I remembered the first year I ran SFM when it actually served plenty of bagels and orange/banana and even lamb cubes. I also was disappointed at the overall organization of the race. There were far fewer water stations than expected, and they were filled with Cytomax. Cytomax? What happened to the usual Gatorade or Powerade that most of the runners were accustomed to and trained with? Further, maybe it was just me or the darkness, but there were a lot of mile markers missing. In fact, I did not see any mile marker until mile 5, and only sporadically thereafter. That really played trick in your mind when you tried to figure out the running pace. Then, the starting time had changed from 7:30 last year to 5:20 this year, which was OK except that the walkers started at 5:00 AM. That meant we still had to run around a lot of slow people, not so much at the beginning but at later miles, maybe at mile 3-5 when we were getting our speed up or at mile 5-7 on the uphill route. Then again, the starting line didn't go exactly smoothly as expected either as I had hard time getting to my starting corral - no clear direction on where to line up and too many people crowding up the front of line. Finally, I had to complain about the expos just for the heck of it. The expos had become a rather painful process as we had to be made to go through the entire camp to get our T-shirts and hats and posters - very inefficiently, especially for those of us who arrived a bit late. And because of the tardiness, the expos again ran out of pretty much all marathon souvenirs, including the ever-so-desired marathon pins. This SFM was one of the three marathons at which I could not buy ANY merchandise - their financial losses, since I usually get a sweatshirt, a pin, a running top/bottom, and anything else that appeared desirable at that shopping mood. However, I still had to go back and point out how much I loved the city of San Francisco and this particular marathon. There is definitely plenty of room for improvement, and I hope that Runner's World will take our advice to make this even better. For a city this beautiful with its full tradition of fine food, fine scenery, fine weather, and fine cuisine, SFM should receive 5 stars on all of the ratings from every single runner. I think it could be in a few years, and I hope to be there to see it. | |
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K. B. from Oakland, California
(8/4/2005)
"The sizing of the t-shirts was terrible" (about: 2005)
2 previous marathons
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 3 The half marathon course was wonderful, and I love the shirt; however, the sizing was terrible. I am a small woman and a small t-shirt fit me like doll clothes. I have sent several emails and it still has not been addressed. I am pretty disappointed. Otherwise, I think it was fairly well organized. | |
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L. K. from San Diego, CA
(8/4/2005)
"old version much better" (about: 2005)
50+ previous marathons
| 3 The San Francisco Marathons
COURSE: 2 ORGANIZATION: 1 FANS: 2 This was my 3rd SFM. We ran over the bridge in '99, fogged in just like this year. It was hardly worth the danger of the narrow lanes and slick metal expanders. Need to start the walkers earlier. Finish line food beyond awful. 25 minute wait for a banana and bottle of Cytomax?? Doubt I'll return unless significant changes made to above issues. | |
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A. L. from Caifornia
(8/4/2005)
"pathetic" (about: 2005)
6-10 previous marathons
| 2 The San Francisco Marathons
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 1 FANS: 1 With an almost 100-dollar entrance fee, this is a disastrous marathon. Greed is the word. It seems someone pocketed a lot of money without spreading some of it around for organization of the event. With over 4,800 entrants in the marathon and many more in the half, this was the largest turnout in many years. Will someone stop being so greedy. My suggestion is if you want to do a very good marathon in Northern California, either the Napa Valley Marathon in March or the California International Marathon in December will do. Even the small Silicon Valley Marathon in October is halfway decent. All of them care about the runners. A note to Runner's World. You guys should be ashamed. Next time why not change things a little and have an apple instead of a banana at the end. | |
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Doug Fulton from Minneapolis
(8/4/2005)
"Loved it until I crossed the finish line" (about: 2005)
11-50 previous marathons
| 1 The San Francisco Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 2 While many of the criticisms below are justified, my overall opinion was positive. The stars were definitely the course and the weather. I'll always remember running through the Presidio and over the GG Bridge in the early morning fog. Thanks for taking on the logistical challenge of the bridge -- it was worth it. The biggest disappointment -- and irony -- was the finish area food. In a city known for it's cuisine, refreshments were limited to product samples (Coke Zero) and bananas. I would have soaked up the post-race celebration longer; but I was starving! Oh, one more thing: thanks to Cytomax for supplying the energy drink; but I found it a little nasty. I would love to see Gatorade or Powerade lock up every marathon with over a couple thousand runners. The middle of a race is not the time to try unfamiliar drinks. | |
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M. P. from Irvine, CA
(8/4/2005)
"I love this marathon" (General Comments)
11-50 previous marathons
| 4-5 The San Francisco Marathons
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 3 The weather is always perfect, cloudy and cool for 2 or 3 hours, then clear and sunny. The route is nice, the medals are big and pretty, the city is AWESOME. A fun marathon altogether! | |
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D. R. from San Francisco, CA
(8/4/2005)
"Best Marathon Yet" (about: 2005)
11-50 previous marathons
| 2 The San Francisco Marathons
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 3 This is the second time I have run this marathon and I thought that this year was a huge improvement over the first time. I found everything I needed in the expo and better deals than I thought. Since the event is downtown, it is really easy to get there and get out of there when I wanted to. The course was truly fantastic. I loved the bridge and the fog provided a cool backdrop. Being a local who runs the bridge often, it was a thrill to be on the roadbed and with so many other runners. Thanks to all the spectators in the Haight and the Mission; they propelled me along in the end. The first 2 water stops seemed understaffed but the rest of the course support was great. I loved the trivia signs along the course and the chocolate in the tunnel. Thanks to the SF Marathon - I had a great time and am proud to call you my hometown marathon! | |
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A. Y. from South Dakota
(8/4/2005)
"5 stars for potential" (about: 2005)
11-50 previous marathons
| 1 The San Francisco Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 2 FANS: 2 I hope the race organizers regroup and take everyone's negative comments as constructive criticism. As has been stated, there are a lot of positives here. The volunteers I encountered were friendly and upbeat. Thank you all. Lots of law enforcement at intersections, most appreciated. The course is one of the most interesting I've run, although I too found the metal on the bridge slippery, disconcerting, and especially annoying given the crowded conditions there. (As a short person running just under 3:30 pace, I took a lot of elbows and knees!) I feel mixed about both the bridge and the early start--glad I ran the bridge, glad I had the race in before 9, but not sure how I feel about doing both again next year. The food issue has to be addressed; it was compounded by the fact that a local running club had a huge bowl of pretzels and other goodies exclusively for their runners right where we all passed by. Making the packet pick up a sort of scavenger hunt was silly. While the hat, shirt and medal are all first rate, I'd forgo some of the finery for food at the end and better course markings. I've run smaller races where there's a volunteer at the 10K and other spots calling out times. San Francisco is a great setting for a marathon, the weather is perfect for running and the foundation is there for a truly first-rate event....maybe next year? | |
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K. B. from New Jersey
(8/4/2005)
"Cool temps, great city and thanks to SFRRC" (about: 2005)
1 previous marathon
| 1 The San Francisco Marathon
COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 1 FANS: 1 I flew cross country to run SF because it promised cool mid-summer temps and I love visiting the city. My goal was to qualify for Boston, which I did thankfully - in part due to the consistent pacing by Joe and Doug from SFRRC. With the semi darkness, various obstacles, crowded conditions and hills during the first 15K, even pacing was no easy task. Joe was the man. Then at the end, Doug brought me home after I hit the wall at 24. Thanks Doug! I really appreciate the SFRRC runners sacrificing their own personal goals in the race in order to run as pacers. As for the rest of the race experience, it was sub par overall - for many of the reasons that have already been alluded to. I really expected more from a Runner's World-sponsored event. |
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