Berkeley Half Marathon

I’ve done this event twice now and think the cheer section and aid station volunteers are always some of the nicest folks I’ll meet at a race. The finish line food could use a little more carbs, but the main reason this almost five star race gets three is the course.
Right by the ramp to the freeway on university where there are some cars still allowed to travel, the 10k runners start their race and are tightly packed. That’s an uphill considerably far in for a half runner, so to get stuck in human traffic when you most need to motivate yourself is really no fun. At times I found myself darting into runners going the opposite direction just so I could keep some semblance of my pace. I’d really, really reconsider this part because I got so frustrated I considered walking.
I’m so glad I’ve done this twice and may do it again– but without expecting to beat any personal records.

My Sweet 16^th Half Marathon! Though I came in with the last wave of joggers, I had a great race and improved my time over my 15^th half by 11 minutes. I chose to park in the lot near Memorial Stadium so I got to preview the hilly first part of the course (don’t they know the first two miles are always the worst two miles?) so I knew it would be a rough beginning. I walked the hills but still managed to keep a good pace.
Bib number pickup was held at the Berkeley Sports Basement. It ran smoothly. I wasn’t a big fan of the unflattering green shirt though I’m sure I’ll train in it for my next event. Why not blue and gold in honor of Cal or black and yellow in honor of the BHS yellowjackets?
Sweats check was well-​organized by event and bib numbers. Race corrals were started at different times to deal with pacing though runners basically chose when they wanted to start.
The course itself was what I expected. We went through campus, the Gourmet Ghetto, through part of North Berkeley, down Fourth Street, to the shoreline trail and back to Berkeley High. The race monitors were awesome and provided lots of moral support.
The post-​race snacks were lacking. Sure, a Lagunitas beer was welcome but all they offered for food were bananas. Smaller races (we probably numbered in the thousands yesterday) roll out the red carpet when it comes to taking care of tired, hungry runners.
The medal was awesome. I run for the bling and for the reminder that I can accomplish the goals I set.

As someone who has run this event every year, there is some constructive criticism I will offer to make this great event even better:
1) Please move the date back to the second week of November. It’s hard to do something like this right before a major holiday.
2) I’ve heard that there were a lot of pissed off elite Half-​Marathoners at the point in the course when the 10k runners merged in from their start line. Fortunately, it didn’t bother me by the time I got there, but I can understand that some people are running for prize money, rankings, etc. and unnecessary crowding affects your time!
3) Beer line was a bit insane. I think it took about 30 minutes to get a beer.
4) Can we PLEASE move the course away from the freeway!!!
Good things:
1) Beautiful course (except for the freeway part)!
2) Great shirts and medals!
3) Well supported course– 7 stations with water, electrolytes, and even Gu Chomps at Mile 6!
4) Very organized.
5) Love the 8:00 a.m. start time! So civilized :)))
6) Reasonable entry fee ($ 85) with early sign up

This event totally sucks. I am not a participant although I considered to attend. I was living at kittredge at next to the marathon starting location. Starting at 7am on Sunday, there had been loud noise from the voice projector with a man’s voice who woke everyone up from their sleep. The man’s voice continued every single minute and I am sure everyone living at my apartment could hear that. The music and the noise continued till I couldn’t sleep and left my place at 8:30am. I think it is really selfish to disturb everyone’s rest nearby especially on a Sunday. I used to support marathon events like this but I don’t think I do now.

I did not run this race in prior years, but I understand that this year was only their third year. I was really impressed with how well organized everything was!
–Really nice course that takes you through the major points of Berkeley, including the University, water front, and telegraph ave. Be prepared for some major hills though, most particularly around the university.
–Some of the roads that the runners had to run across were open to oncoming traffic. To make this work, they had a switch rope and an alternative route planned out. I think they did a great job managing the switch rope without interfering with the runners.
–7 water/​aid stations throughout the half marathon course with both water and nuun electrolytes. Volunteers were great about handing out the water cups without actually stepping too far into the course (which has been an issue at other races).
–Great course support along the way
–Parts of the course that was through UC Berkeley campus (~2 miles or so) was a bit more congested than out on the streets; wonder if the «Cal 1 mile challenge» had anything to do with the increased congestion.
–Free photos and there were plenty of photographers throughout the course. They were also very easy to spot, which is nice for runners who want more picture opportunities.
–Fantastic organization for the differences distances they had available (5k, 10k, half marathon, and half marathon relay. Noticed that there were different bib colors based on distance run. The 10k runners did not start with the half marathon runners, which was a nice way to avoid congestion in the beginning of the race.
–plenty of port o potties through the course and around the finish/​start line area.
–health bars, protein muscle shakes, water, bananas, and health bars were available as an after race beverage. Additionally, they had mylar heat blankets to hand out to runners at the finish line, This happened to not be necessary as we did have fantastic weather in race weekend,
–Easy bib pick — up, but parking was very difficult to find
–they had people checking bibs before corral entry, but I still saw a lot of people hopping the fence
–They had pacers for many different times. Pacers were easy to spot as well!
Things for improvement:
–Wish the medal or at the very least, the medal ribbon were personalized according to distance run. Don’t think it is fair for the 1ok or 5k runners to get the same medal as a half marathoner.
–More parking options for runners, especially during bib pick up.
–As the race grows, consider a bib pick up in South Bay (I have seen other east bay races hold bib pick up at the sports basement in Campbell)
Overall, I would run this race again. There was nice variety in the course elevation + scenery. Also, I would conclude that people who did this race (particularly the half marathoners) are pretty athletic on average. I don’t think I am a super slow runner, but I was getting passed left and right. Based on the results, looks like the majority of people finished with sub 2 hour times (my goal at some point too :]), so this could be a good motivator race for people!

The race organizers are dishonest. When they initially claimed that there were awards for the team competition (see the archived webpage:
) they’re now not actually honoring this, claiming that there was a «miscommunication».
What bozo amateurs. Sponsors should beware that they’re getting into bed with liars when they put their brand on this event.

Wow, what a thrill to run through the streets of Berkeley! Thousands of runners with a generous time limit (4 hours /​18:00 minute miles) makes for a fun tour of the beautiful city.
The expo is cute and quaint, but could use more signage inside the halls, or more volunteers (which I know is out of their control) to direct people around.
Course was challenging in a good way, but man Berkeley’s got hills! LOL. Start line was kinda crammed and a little disorganized, but being that it’s a new race (2^nd year this year), they have plenty of things to improve on, and lots of things that prove that it’s a race to stay.
Medals: Legacy runners get a different medal than the regular runners get, as does the SF/​Berkeley Challenge runners, if you did that previous years vs first timers.
I would do this race again, maybe in a few years after they have some experience under their belts, provided they take runners’ suggestions for improvement.

An endurance tester from one high point to the next!
The highlights of running this half marathon:
~ Pretty organized. No issues with the BART ride pick up or drop off. Staff told you where to go.
~ Hand wash pumps after using the porto-​potty.
~ Gear check, easy! In a gymnasium, so lots of runners stayed warm and stretched.
~ The Starting Line was kind of crammed, but really what running event isn’t.
~ Cutting through Cal Berkeley (mile 3), while the band and cheerleaders root you on! Flyin’ skirts and pom-​poms really got my adrenaline goin’!
~ Seeing that bigger hill through a residential street (mile 4.5); Thoughts of disgust, but turning a negative into a positive! Then pushing yourself to the limit and to never give up! Do it for the Gu Chomps at mile 6!
~ Coasting down down down the street with ease towards the marina (mile 7 & 8).
~ Mile 9 & 10 along the freeway and next to the marina. I actually hated it! Fairly noisy, and seemed to never end. I can see why runners needed medical attention through this. It was grueling for a straight away!
~ 3.1 miles to go, zig zagging through residential and headed towards the Finish Line!
~ A pretty decent looking winners medal that’s like no other.
~ The SF/​Berkeley Challenge Medal is shiny, way bigger, and heavy. I liked it!
So, overall I gotta say its a half marathon that’ll really test you wills! Would I run it again next year? I’d love to, but most likely won’t, only because I’m gunning to run the Long Beach Full next year. I say, if you like my descriptions in this review, then challenge youself! Happy runnings y’all!!!

Short version: great race, one star off for the freeway section.
Long version: I signed up for this race because I got a good deal on entry and they were offering the SF/​Berkeley challenge medal for running both back-​to-​back. I like Berkeley and it seemed like a nice race.
I struggled with training, having just done a half the previous month on an injury, and decided to just run the race and do the best I could. I was nervous about the hills, but they really weren’t that bad. Just when they start to get gnarly, you get a nice flat spot or healthy downhill to recover. Things were going great up until Mile 7.5. Then you get what seems like an endless stretch of freeway to run down. They call this the «waterfront» section of the race, and there is indeed a body of water on one side of you. The other side, however, is Highway 580. At around 9 am on a Sunday morning, this freeway gets pretty packed, so you get to listen to the fun sounds of traffic on one side and birds calling to each other on the other side.
Water, Gu Chomps, and Nuun electrolytes were plentiful, so no worries there, which is good because it warmed up promptly at 8 am. After the hellish freeway experience, we got to run through leafy neighborhoods with lovely spectators yelling encouragement. That made it really hard to walk (even when you really want to walk), because how can you not run with all that great encouragement coming your way?
The race itself was pretty well organized. I used GottaPark to reserve a space and it was really convenient. I could have probably left half an hour later, because I hit the corral with an hour and fifteen to spare, and the corrals were empty right up until about ten minutes before the gun. Traffic control could have been a bit better; Berkeley drivers are not shy about slipping between barricades and mowing down pylons to get where they need to go, and no one really seemed to notice or care. Getting out of town after the race was a bit tricky due to traffic backups, but my GPS didn’t notice that half the road was still blocked, so I got the added fun of driving a stick shift through the backup on my 13.1-mile sore legs.
Corral enforcement was pretty solid, although with only four corrals, there wasn’t a whole lot of confusion or rule-​breaking. The announcer at the start was pretty cool, didn’t go overboard with the enthusiasm but still managed to get us pumped up. The Beauty & the Beast (which was a guy in a dog costume) cart was really cute.
The race t-​shirt was very nice. I don’t tend to wear race t-​shirts because I’m sentimental and save them, but it seems like it would be a good tech shirt to wear for a run in cooler weather.
I skipped the expo – Berkeley is too far for me to drive to an expo just to pick up my bib – so fortunately they offered bib mailing for $ 10, which I was all over. They didn’t mail me a wrist band to pick up my Challenge medal, but it was printed on my bib so I didn’t miss out. I love the idea of having my bib and chip mailed to me; saved me a ton of time.
Overall, the course was nice (except for that heinous freeway stretch) and very well supported, and the runners and spectators were great too. I’ll probably sign up for next year’s race ASAP.

This review is for the 5k only (cause a half marathon makes me run… away haha).
GOOD:
–The expo was quick and easy.
–Volunteers were super nice.
–Race course was fun– a hill in the middle but the finish was perfect– downhill with the Cal band & cheerleaders right before the end.
–Very well organized with the 2 wave corrals.
–Different finish area from the half marathon so no congestion or lack of food for the 13.1 runners.
–Race included all kinds of people including kids and was walker friendly.
–Nice swag– free ticket to a Cal game, finishers medal & nice long sleeve tech tee
–Free race photos!
–Good start time & location for 5k run because it was very BART friendly!
ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT:
–The e-​mails detailing info a week or two before the race were helpful (although I think I got too many e-​mails (I counted 10… 2 max would suffice).
Overall, I thought it was a great run and the organizers’ attention to detail and improvements made from the previous year made it awesome.

I didn’t run the inaugural race last year but it seems like the organizers have ironed out a lot of the complaints. For example, the start and finish are right next to each other (you actually run through the start line to get to the finish). Also, there is less time spent running along the freeway. It was nice to run along the water, but the bumper to bumper traffic takes away from it.
It’s not a flat course by any means but I think the hills are definitely more manageable than the first half of the sf marathon.

Only about 3,600 people ran the race this year (second year). I paid $ 115.19 with the measly $ 10 discount from the SF Half Marathon and signed up for the extra medal (really). But towards the race, there were discounts for at least $ 30 off. The week before, the entrance free was BOGO. I would wait until last minute to sign up for this race to get the best deal. Maybe as the race gets more popular, there won’t be these deals but I’d expect them for 2015.
There was plenty of parking if you got there early (around 6:45 a.m.). We parked at the Promenade on Addison and MLK and it was $ 20 cash. I would reserve parking at that location for $ 24.95 just in case next time since it filled up in 10 minutes and they were only taking prepaid cars. If you’re running the 5K — take BART.
There were plenty of port-​a-​pottys at the start with no wait unless it was RIGHT BEFORE the race. They were passing out Nuun and water before the race and there were plenty of water stations along the way. The volunteers at this race were really awesome. The motorcycle gang helped the police and the college students gave out the food and medals at the end.
Problem with the pacers was they were in the WRONG WAVE. On the website it says that 1:55 and 1:50 pacers are in Wave 3 but they were in the rear of Wave 2. Also, the pacers do not stop at the water stations so you have to catch up to them. Also, the wave signs the pacers carried were hard to read. The person who designed them obviously has not run a half marathon before. The pacer signs were cute and all and matching the Berkeley/​California signs but they were extremely hard to read and only utilized ¼ of the top of the sign.
The course itself was not bad other than the neverending 3K up and down the marina. It was way too long! I ran this course only a minute faster than the new Nike Women’s Half course in SF since I was bored out of my mind and not used to running mostly flat, boring ground. Tip on the course is not to go out too fast and save some energy for the marina and the last 3K — even though it’s mostly flat, it’s challenging because it’s boring and seems really long. I ran the first hilly half of the course much faster than the latter flat end of the course. Pace yourself and practice the course.
The tech shirts are the same material and sizing as the ones for the SF Marathon. They were selling leftover shirts from the SF Marathon after the race. The race was very well organized and there were some sponsors (Nesquik, Whole Foods, SunRype, Ketiva). They had Parrot coconut juice, bananas and plain bagels at the end of the race.
Also, the reception really sucks in Berkeley compared to SF so my iphone 5s ran out of battery at the end of the race so I had to use my BF’s phone for photos and calling friends to meet up. Spotify had weak reception and I had no music most of the second half of the race. This never happens to me in SF.
I’d recommend paying the extra $ 10 for getting your bib mailed. It saved me a lot of time and trouble and I just picked up my shirt after the race.
Happy training and racing,
IG: christinerunssf

Today, I ran my first half marathon and while thousands of people do this everyday, it is a big deal for me. As someone who has never participated in anything that can remotely be categorized as a «sport», this is new. As someone, who was always known as the chubby girl, to break out of the chubby girl state of mind and doing this, is new.
During the race, there were times when my legs gave up, but my heart kept going. But when I stood there at the finish line, I realized how blessed I am to be able to do this. And in that moment I decided to stop categorizing my body as chubby or skinny or curvy or heavy. In that moment I realized that my body is worthy of being defined by only one word — strong.
Thank you Berkeley Half Marathon for being the best first half marathon that one could ask for and for giving me my revelatory moment!
Right from the registration to the finish line and beyond, everything was well organized. I received my bib by mail on time and the customer service responded to my questions via email promptly. I thought the race course was perfect for someone who is running a half marathon for the first time, it is hard enough make you work but easy enough to finish. There were plenty of water stations and porta potties through the course. The finish line festivities were great as well. The t-​shirt pick up was effortless. And the medal!! love it!
The start and finish lines were close to each other, not like last year as mentioned in the previous reviews. The course this year seemed different too as compared to last years reviews, so Im glad to see all these changes were made because i was very happy with the overall race and I will be back next year!!!

Free shots in the middle of a half marathon? Don’t mind if I do!
Actually, I didn’t, but seeing those college guys offering alcohol from the sidelines was hilarious. They were just a few of the many spectators and volunteers present at this race.
The course itself provided a decent tour of the area, but the amount and length of switchbacks were annoying. Inhaling car exhaust while running alongside the freeway was no good either. On the bright side, runners were treated to nice views of the bay, San Francisco, and Golden Gate Bridge. The course was mostly flat, but there were some hills, especially a steep one towards the very end of the race.
Some aid stations provided Gu Chomps for energy. Love those!
The finish line festival was okay, but I’ve seen better offerings at other races. The finisher’s medal was hefty and shiny. There was beer, some snacks, a long line for massages, and not much other freebies. This was the first place I tried those Inner Peas chips, which were pretty good.
Because the start and finish lines were far away from each other, you had to catch a shuttle bus back. The wait was long, and the smell was bad with so many sweaty runners packed onto a single bus. I’d advocate for a looped course next time so we wouldn’t have to travel so far to get back to where we parked.
As a graphic designer, I appreciate a well-​designed shirt. The one from here is definitely one of my favorites.
Not too interested in running this race again unless they modify their course. The high price doesn’t seem worth the hassle.

Inaugural!
I did this race since I had participated in the SF Half earlier in the year. If you completed both races, you ended up getting the SF and Berkeley Challenge medal. That was the primary incentive in doing this race. Secondly incentive was that I had never stayed in Berkeley and explored. This was my chance!
Sadly, I was disappointed with this race mainly because of the course. I presumed it was flat and I was shooting for a PR. Well, it wasn’t all flat and I didn’t get a PR.
The weather warmed up quickly and there were times during the course where there was no shade. At one point, we were running alongside the freeway, which wasn’t too thrilling.
What was weird was when the terrain changed. All of a sudden we were on a trail (gravel), which was totally unexpected. It was challenging trying to dodge slower runners. Then towards the end we had switchbacks through a parking lot. Ummm no… What took the cake was that big ass hill towards the end. WTF?!
The start and finish were in 2 different and far places. I felt sorry for the bf since he walked from the start to the finish (several miles away) just to meet me. The shuttle didn’t take guests without bibs back to the start. BUMMER. We ended up using Über to get back to our hotel. It would be ideal to have the start and finish located near one another for convenience!
I like the long sleeve tech we received. Packet pickup was at Pyramid Brewery, which was a distance from the start/​finish. Again had to Über it. The packet pickup was kind of dysfunctional since it was located upstairs and there was a long line to even pick up the packets. There were separate lines for the different races, which was not clearly defined. TOOK FOREVER!!!
Oh well, best of luck to this race in the future!
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Stats:
Chip Time 2:07

The inaugural Berkeley run was my first race ever! I ran the 10k. The volunteers were awesome! Shirt and medal were fabulous! Route was great until you get to the freeway/​Marina area. I was not a fan of the gravel section as it was a very narrow footpath. There also was one big muddy puddle which made it a terrible bottleneck. The zigzagging towards the end was kind of annoying.
I’ll definitely run this again next year… hopefully they could work out some of the course kinks.

Um, how did I forget to review this race? Oops.
Anyhow. I was looking for a half in November that wasn’t too far from home, so when I got an invitation for a seeded spot in the inaugural event, I couldn’t pass it up. I’d never run a race in Berkeley & I was excited to see what they’d do with it.
PROS:
* Well-​run & well-​organized
* Awesome sweat check setup given that it’s a point-​to-​point course.
* Nice schwag
* Great, super-​helpful volunteers
* Reasonably priced compared to other half marathons in the area
CONS:
* The course. Oooohhhh, the course. A promising start in downtown Berkeley, but there were just WAY too many miles in this race spent running out-​and-​backs along the 80 W frontage road, on gravel, and the uneven, broken-​up pavement in the Marina /​Cesar Chavez Park.
* Shuttles to take people back to the start. Kind of a mess. A bunch of us just ended up walking ~4 miles (after running 13.1!) back to our cars.
* The sports drink. Served on the course. Had no carbs.
Bottom line, I think this race has a lot of potential & some great people running it, but there is a lot of work that needs to be done on the course before I’ll run it again.
Full race report here:

I signed up for this race as soon as I first heard about it — MONTHS in advance — because I wanted to have the chance to run on the streets of downtown Berkeley without all the traffic congestion.
The date was perfect. The tshirt was fantastic — the best tshirt I’ve had from any event ever — great design, great color — I like the big logo on the back and the small logo on the front breast area (and it wasn’t covered with sponsor logos like so many shirts!). The route was very well marked, and the folks handing out beverages did not miss!
I want to give it 5-​stars because I want to see this event again next year on the weekend before thanksgiving, perhaps a bit later start time — and more running on the streets of Berkeley.
Humans are the only animals who use machines to travel the surface of this planet that we all share — what I like best about these kinds of urban runs is the fact that we get to close down the streets to all those machines, even just temporarily, and do what we’re meant to do – travel the earth under our own power. We pay taxes to build and maintain these streets — why shouldn’t we get to run on them once in a while and enjoy them safely without fear of being struck by a car (speaking as someone who has been hit in a crosswalk at a 4way stop — and you know it’s not that rare!).
People who live in the neighborhoods might complain about the inconvenience — but I find it far more inconvenient to always have to live thinking about cars traversing the streets. Why not embrace the peace and the humanity of streets cleared for a footrace for a few hours? I’ll pay for any event that does that — even if it turns out I can’t do the run!
There were a few areas for improvement:
ROUTE: Honestly, I was a bit disappointed at the route — it was rather poor with all the doubling back along I-​80, bottlenecks and crowding (faster runners going into oncoming runners along Bayshore). And the horrible bit of running back and forth in the cones like airport xray screening lines? At least we didn’t have to take our shoes off!
EXPO & BEER GARDEN: tiny expo, not quite up to the challenge of the crowds. Beer garden featured long lines (though not as bad as the bus)
SHUTTLE BUS: please make this a loop next year — I can’t bear waiting for an hour for the shuttle again. I was just about ready to walk back except I was having so much fun talking with another runner who I met in the beer garden… the shuttles were a horrible experience. It took nearly as long to leave the event & return to the finish line as to run it!
PHOTOGRAPHY: Please invite amateur photographers to snap away and post in a Flickr pool or something — similar to what Brazen Racing did at the Quarry Lakes run in February. The picture thumbnails are SO small and overlaid with a horrible watermark that it makes it impossible to decide whether it is good enough for me to pay the extravagantly expensive prices for *digital* downloads of bad pictures. Please don’t go with the horrible pirate marathon foto people next year!

I received a bib for this race from a friend who couldn’t run. I wasn’t interested in signing up myself. However, I’m down to run and took the opportunity to make it happen. I knew it would be a flat course and thought maybe I could squeak out a PR.
The course starts in downtown city center Berkeley. It runs down and alongside University out to the freeway, over the overpass and about half the course is run along the freeway on the trails parallel to 580. I was not a fan. Between the smell of exhaust and the repetitive looping of the course to make up the mileage it was the most boring course I have ever ran in my 8 years running half marathons.
I have never wanted to cheat and get off course so badly. There was an option to divert and go on the 10k course which I was VERY tempted to do. However I didn’t and stuck it out against my yearning desire to be done.
I didn’t get a PR on this course because I couldn’t get out of my head how horrible the course was. I’ll never do it again.
Pro’s: (there are a couple), it was well marked and supported for direction and nutrition. And the shirts are cool.

I am glad that I participated in the inaugural Berkeley Half Marathon. Logistically, everything was good. The opportunity for improvement is the course. More information is below.
Course: The first three miles was in Downtown Berkeley, however, the next ten miles was along the Marina. Although the weather was nice and the marina was pretty, there were too many switchbacks and random turns along the course. It was a bit boring along the marina. The course also had some «trail» aspects with the mud, rocks, and dirt. I know many people complained about the congestion as there were the 10k and 10 miler also sharing the same path as the half marathon course. Hope the course can have more running through the Downtown Berkeley area.
Communication: Plenty of email communications via email and Facebook.
Expo: I don’t even call the expo an expo. It took less than five minutes to pick up my bib and long sleeve shirt (which is a really nice Greenlayer shirt) at Pyramid Brewing House. I drove over 40 minutes, so it would have been nice to see other vendors. As with t-​shirt exchange, volunteers said that the shirts must be exchanged after the run.
Water Station: Plenty along the course. There was water and energy drinks. One station had Gu Chomp giveaway. I thought the Gu Chomps was an odd choice since it required chewing as opposed to the Gu gels.
Amenities: After the race, you receive your medal, bagels, fruit, Zico water, and the opportunity to view vendors for more giveaway items.
Transportation: After the race, we received free transportation from Bauer Transportation back to the start line. For next year, hopefully someone will direct traffic as cars and buses had to leave the parking lot at the same time.
Parking: We parked on the street as there was free parking on Sunday. Berkeley Half recommended three parking garages, but it wasn’t necessary to pay for them. Plus, I read that the owner of the garages overbooked for pre-​registration.