Southern California Half Marathon And 5k

My favorite race distance is the ½ marathon and I have completed roughly 50 during the past 10 years. This race was basically vanilla with nothing exciting to report. There was too much looping and running along a storm drain bike path and no thrill streets. I understand this race is popular with the group, Students Run LA, and I take my hat off to these kids that were using this ½ marathon or 18 mile option as a training run for the LA Marathon. However, if you are not a fan of running in a pack of middle and high schoolers, I would avoid this race. Yes, they were young students training to do an amazing feat that many don’t conquer in a lifetime, but I felt a bit challenged dealing with the darting in and out of the pack, stepping on toes, elbowing, and stopping right in front of you with no warning. The bling and ugly race shirt were also lackluster overall. Positives… race day packet pickup was offered and parking was super easy. In all, I wouldn’t opt to do this race again or recommend it.

The Southern California Half Marathon/​18 miler was A-​OK. Like the vast majority of runners at the race, I opted for the 18 miler to use as a gauge for the upcoming LA Marathon (and because it only cost $ 5 more than the half, that’s only $ 1 per mile people!). Most of the runners are SRLA kids and affiliated people. For example, out of about 3,600 people who ran the 18 miler, there were only 73 people in my age group (F30−34), but there were over 600 in the F16−19 age group. That’s a lot of kids!
As others have mentioned the course is flat, but it gets very crowded especially on the riverbed. You’re basically stuck running at the pace of the crowd around you because there’s no way to get through. For the 18 miler, you have to repeat miles 3 – 8 of the half course in order to get your miles. The course runs through an industrial area of Irvine so there isn’t much in terms of entertainment or scenery and the back and forth and u-​turns start getting rather tedious. Still, if you need to do a long training run for LA and want to get a medal in the process, then it’s worth doing.
Pros:
Automatic PR (unless you’ve run an 18-​mile race before)
Flat course
Easy, free parking
Nice volunteers
Tons of cookies at the finish line
Cons:
Course is boring
Ugly medal (although, the year was correct this time around)
Shirt is also kind of ugly and no women’s shirts
Lots of students, some stop in the middle of the course to stretch/​tie shoelaces, one I saw shooting snot rockets
Lack of port-​a-​potties on course. There was no bathroom at all until maybe 4 miles in? And there were probably 30 people in line for 3 loos

As an amateur runner, this is my 5^th half marathon, and despite what the reviews are trending, I give this race a 4 out of 5 stars. (I also PR’ed in this race, and my sister an her first half marathon here too– so maybe I am overly positive in comparison to other runners.)
Pros:
— Easy parking morning of the race
— Many port-​a-​potties at the starting line
— Easy same-​day race bib /​t shirt pick up
— Lots of post race snacks and vendor samples
— Great response at the medic tents
— Flat, fun, and FAST course (net elevation gain = 1 ft)
— Time markers at EVERY mile — keeps you motivated and on track
— Encouraging atmosphere with young runners shouting out compliments along the way
— Tech T shirt (design is meh, but at least you get one)
— Lots of water stations + Gatorade (more so than the ones I have done before)
— Loud music blasting at the big turn arounds /​intersections
— There was a hula dancing group at mile 7 ish!
— Fast email communication (don’t post on their Facebook page– they only message through FB or email)
— LOTS of volunteers along the race so you will always see people
Cons:
— Medals are not very attractive, but they changed the mistake from last year
— Runners are grouped into waves, but we all start at the same time — leads to a bit of congestion in the beginning of the race, but this happens for most races anyways.
— Narrow bike path at the beginning of race, but crowd thins out later
— Middle school/​high school students walking
— No email confirmation prior to race day
— No sign directing you to post race Expo, but you eventually pick it up by looking around!
— Route is not particularly scenic and repetitive, but I didn’t really mind.
Overall, a great race to start of the new year right, and for an enthusiast looking to PR. Will definitely return and recommend to others.

Half #2, 2015.
Something went wrong here…
To begin with, awarding runners with last year’s medal and not having enough medals for the 5K runners anyway was a joke. All said and done, $ 70.64 to run the 2015 Half Marathon, only to be handed last year’s 2014 medal was a garage sale, bait-​n-​switch, slap in the face. What’s worse is that I’ve emailed the promoter, and I’ve heard nothing back. Even the Facebook page for the Southern California Half Marathon & 5K reflects participant concerns. At the time of this writing, there has yet to be an apology, nor any response. Makes one wonder, doesn’t it?
Over 1300 runners registered for the Half, and I would be willing to bet that none of them understood that the medals were to be last year’s overstock. When I emailed the promoter, I simply asked for their address so that I may return the 2014 medal; they could then easily send me my 2015 medal, the one I paid for and earned.
Yet, nothing.
The run itself, however, is not bad. It’s flat, riverbed-​coursed. It’s also local (for me, anyway) so it’s an easy drive. The course is outlined well enough: there were no problems with regard to direction. In fact, running along the riverbeds made for some great and memorable shots. I could have done without so many youngsters running alongside me. Don’t get me wrong, I’m proud that they are out there; but they tend to criss-​cross, stop suddenly, walk in groups… But they’re kids. I guess they can’t be faulted for that. So if you are thinking to PR, get to the front and stay there; otherwise, cut your losses, and call it a day.
The expo afterwards is great, lots and lots of vendors. Again, the kids, they tend to hoard the goodies. I watched as they loaded tray after tray of cookies, bananas, and – to my complete dismay – all of the Muscle Milk. There were many runners behind me who were seriously going to be left out. Nevertheless, cut your losses. Armloads of chocolate chip cookies probably wasn’t what you were running for anyway.
Another ding has to be retrieving the «goodie bags» and T-​shirts – the same ones the volunteers wore – which were handed out after the race. It was a nightmare! Lines upon lines of people. There just didn’t seem to be much organization.
So for my second Half this year, the Southern California Half will not be one I’ll consider again… unless I receive my 2015 medal. It’s a lot of money to spend for such aggravation. It’s money well-​spent elsewhere.

Do yourself a favor and avoid this. Half Marathon amd 18 mile course was garbage. Nothing at all to see unless u like running through industrial parks and bike trails. There were a total of 9 Porta — john’s throughout the course. Kids literally everywhere walking and hands down there most generic, ugly medal I have received. The only thing giving it 2 stars were the post race vendors.