The Surf City Marathon and Half Marathon is a great race to put on your race calendar. This year the Surf City races had participants from all 50 states. The Surf City marathon and half marathon in Huntington Beach are becoming a fun destination race people, nation-wide, are putting on their calendar.

The Surf City marathon and half marathon is full of traditions like always being run on Super Bowl Sunday, great bands along the course, fast times, ocean views and the longest Beer Garden lines.

This year’s lines were long again but moved a little quicker because temps were dropping as it got later in the day. I was glad I had warm sweats waiting for me at the finish line. But, the Surf City Beer Garden offers Kona Brewery beers along with Michelob Ultra. And, you don’t only get one beer but two as long as you walk away from the beer table double fisted. In fact, a Huntington Beach Police Officer monitoring the area, stopped me to remind me to grab my second on the way out of the beer serving area. Now that’s service!

This was my third time running this race but the first time running the half marathon. With 20,000 runners, the race and course is very well managed. I only felt the course clogged up once around mile 3 and it didn’t last long. The majority of the runners participate in the half marathon.

It was another beautiful day, perfect running weather, with the slight exception of some wind in our face the last 4 miles. It is a fast course and I have PR’d here, but this year I took it easy and enjoyed the day. Plus, I made a slight detour to wake up and take donuts to some of our cheering crew.

Besides the Beer Garden line, I really liked the half marathon. It is a great way to burn some of the calories you are going to eat watching Super Bowl. Surf City’s traditional surfboard medal is very popular and looks great hanging on your wall.

I will be back for my fourth consecutive Surf City next year. I hope to see you out there.

Train Focused, Steve Mackel – Head Coach Sole Runners Full and Half Marathon Training Programs