Just wanted to share some thoughts about the Expo and the race. I’ll focus on the first half marathon since that’s the race I completed.
EXPO
The Expo was held at the Fort Mason Festival Pavilion just past Fisherman’s Wharf headed toward the marina.
Fort Mason Festival Pavilion
It was the perfect location, not too crowded, easily accessible and accompanied by the best views. Many runners plan some vacation/touristy stuff when they are in town so hitting up the Expo and then sight-seeing can be done on the same day. I’ve been to SF before but the views never get old. I stopped there the minute they opened to head straight to the “Solutions” desk to change from the Full to the Half.
easily found with a sign that big!
They had limited spots and it was first come first served so I wanted to ensure I could make the switch. The process was relatively painless. They had spots for the first half so that’s what I chose. There was a $10 fee for switching but in hindsight I know it was money well spent.
race switch complete…half the distance, half the hills….all the fun!
Valerie’s first ever full marathon bib
The usual suspects were there selling merchandise and offering free samples of things. And I tried out the Vega Accelerator that TSA speaks so highly of.
RACE DAY
Race day offered a Full Marathon and a first Half Marathon which both started together along the Embarcadero at 5:40am. Valerie ran the full and Lisa and I ran the first half. They also offered a second Half Marathon (that started at 8:30am) at the halfway point of the full marathon course. My friends Michelle and Shane ran that one. And there was even a double marathon (52.4 ultra called “Worth the Hurt” that my friend Roger and also PavementRunner completed which started at midnight) (There were shuttle buses that took runners from the finish to the start and vice versa. This was my only complaint overall about the day and I talk about it more later.)
There were multiple waves. Lisa, Valerie and I were seeded in Wave 5 which started about 6am. There were about 5 minutes in between each wave start which is really pretty efficient compared to some other large races I have participated in.
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