no hot takes here only facts. i totally agree that with the right positioning the SF marathon could be as big as NYC. name another race (besides new york) where you run through all the highlights of a city?
what the SF marathon needs is some bay to breakers energy. it takes itself too seriously, too may events, feels too traditional. it needs to loosen up, let its hair down and encourage ppl to come out and support. work on getting the non-running community engaged. fine we can’t start later for whatever reason (eye roll) then offer like free pancakes and a bounce house for kiddos out in chrissy field. offer a prize for the most enthusiastic cheer station + let the runners vote.
thanks for the shout out, i really appreciate it. the weekend was wild and general feedback was that the community here is craving some out of the box events. can’t wait to do it all again next year! (no trips to europe this time, ha)
I have so many thoughts about this race. They try to do too much and charge an exorbitant amount. I expected the race many years and years passed. There has been many issues. One being that there has been no lead bike for the lead women. The women leading the marathon have to fight their way through the back of the packers of the half marathon without any support or aid. I understand closing the Golden Gate Bridge is no easy task but to squeeze 33,000 runners on the singular bike path going across the bridge is crazy. I saw many videos from this year of runners having to walk shoulder to shoulder to get in that single lane onto the bridge bike path.I have seen the 5K run into the 10 K. They start the 10 K first that allows strollers and dogs, then send off fast 5K runners to run directly behind them with only one lane on the road available. Once again, the 5K‘s have to fight their way through the crowd, when they could just open up the other lane down by Fishermans wharf and not have this problem also towards mile 23 by the bridge after the ballfield, there is a curb, stepping up from the road onto the sidewalk, and it has never been marked with caution. When I spectated last year, I saw five runners go down and come away bloody because there is no sign cautioning them, no paint on the curb, allowing runners to realize it is there. At the end of the marathon when your legs are dead, tired this is unacceptable. Honestly, I could go on and on with stories like this… their prices go up as the year goes on, and the starting entry is just over $200 with tax. This is almost what you’re paying for the Boston Marathon and the caliber is not even close.
Morgan, the bridge bike path-era (2018-present) has indeed been a bummer. I wish I got to experience running on the road surface of the bridge like you have where it was presumably less cramped.
After having complained about the same thing, marathoners running into the back of other races, it's been better the last few years. The faster marathoners have had a clear course, and we feel oddly isolated in miles 20+. Your point about too much going on with at least seven different races is dead on.
I warned our Run365 trainees about the brutal curb set-up with one mile to go that you mention. Oddly and for the better I suppose, this year the route had us staying on the sidewalk so we didn't have to remount the curb from 3rd St. on absolutely dead legs.
This race could indeed be so much more. For all the vacant retail spaces downtown, I wish, say, Embarcadero Center had all the brands or pop-ups like Newbury St.
As a night owl, I don't love the 5:15am start. However, for we Bay Area heat wimps, it does allow us to run before it gets warmer. Few might care, but that allows us to turn in a decent time on a course with so much elevation gain.
For my seven years running it, here were the 6am/9am/12pm Weather Underground SFO temperature splits. It admittedly sucks for crowd support and that might be a worthy tradeoff, but one silver lining of the miserably early start is finishing when it's ~5 degrees cooler.
Couldn't agree with you more that this race has so much potential but it never lives up to it. I just don't think the race organization cares much about running or runners, but has treated this as a business, from offering 8 different distances to constant price raises and flash sales, changing the course in the last minute in 2018, and not owning up the short course mistake in 2024. Money is the problem, money could also be the solution. I like that you point out the race's sponsorship is a big missed opportunity. (Funny how a few years ago the race's title sponsor is Biofreeze.)
Yessssss keep the hot takes coming! I reallyyyy like your start time point about Boston. Seems so obvious now and glad you spelled it out!
no hot takes here only facts. i totally agree that with the right positioning the SF marathon could be as big as NYC. name another race (besides new york) where you run through all the highlights of a city?
what the SF marathon needs is some bay to breakers energy. it takes itself too seriously, too may events, feels too traditional. it needs to loosen up, let its hair down and encourage ppl to come out and support. work on getting the non-running community engaged. fine we can’t start later for whatever reason (eye roll) then offer like free pancakes and a bounce house for kiddos out in chrissy field. offer a prize for the most enthusiastic cheer station + let the runners vote.
thanks for the shout out, i really appreciate it. the weekend was wild and general feedback was that the community here is craving some out of the box events. can’t wait to do it all again next year! (no trips to europe this time, ha)
I have so many thoughts about this race. They try to do too much and charge an exorbitant amount. I expected the race many years and years passed. There has been many issues. One being that there has been no lead bike for the lead women. The women leading the marathon have to fight their way through the back of the packers of the half marathon without any support or aid. I understand closing the Golden Gate Bridge is no easy task but to squeeze 33,000 runners on the singular bike path going across the bridge is crazy. I saw many videos from this year of runners having to walk shoulder to shoulder to get in that single lane onto the bridge bike path.I have seen the 5K run into the 10 K. They start the 10 K first that allows strollers and dogs, then send off fast 5K runners to run directly behind them with only one lane on the road available. Once again, the 5K‘s have to fight their way through the crowd, when they could just open up the other lane down by Fishermans wharf and not have this problem also towards mile 23 by the bridge after the ballfield, there is a curb, stepping up from the road onto the sidewalk, and it has never been marked with caution. When I spectated last year, I saw five runners go down and come away bloody because there is no sign cautioning them, no paint on the curb, allowing runners to realize it is there. At the end of the marathon when your legs are dead, tired this is unacceptable. Honestly, I could go on and on with stories like this… their prices go up as the year goes on, and the starting entry is just over $200 with tax. This is almost what you’re paying for the Boston Marathon and the caliber is not even close.
Morgan, the bridge bike path-era (2018-present) has indeed been a bummer. I wish I got to experience running on the road surface of the bridge like you have where it was presumably less cramped.
After having complained about the same thing, marathoners running into the back of other races, it's been better the last few years. The faster marathoners have had a clear course, and we feel oddly isolated in miles 20+. Your point about too much going on with at least seven different races is dead on.
I warned our Run365 trainees about the brutal curb set-up with one mile to go that you mention. Oddly and for the better I suppose, this year the route had us staying on the sidewalk so we didn't have to remount the curb from 3rd St. on absolutely dead legs.
This race could indeed be so much more. For all the vacant retail spaces downtown, I wish, say, Embarcadero Center had all the brands or pop-ups like Newbury St.
As a night owl, I don't love the 5:15am start. However, for we Bay Area heat wimps, it does allow us to run before it gets warmer. Few might care, but that allows us to turn in a decent time on a course with so much elevation gain.
For my seven years running it, here were the 6am/9am/12pm Weather Underground SFO temperature splits. It admittedly sucks for crowd support and that might be a worthy tradeoff, but one silver lining of the miserably early start is finishing when it's ~5 degrees cooler.
2018: 52°/58°/62°
2019: 58°/67°/74°
2021: 60°/64°/69°
2022: 54°/60°/67°
2023: 60°/65°/67°
2024: 55°/58°/66°
2025: 57°/59°/63°
Couldn't agree with you more that this race has so much potential but it never lives up to it. I just don't think the race organization cares much about running or runners, but has treated this as a business, from offering 8 different distances to constant price raises and flash sales, changing the course in the last minute in 2018, and not owning up the short course mistake in 2024. Money is the problem, money could also be the solution. I like that you point out the race's sponsorship is a big missed opportunity. (Funny how a few years ago the race's title sponsor is Biofreeze.)