This was my first half marathon race and I chose it because it was well acclaimed in my run club. I think overall I didn't know what to expect and was somewhat disappointed.

The race is a huge one - over 13,000 runners for the half and I believe another 7k for the full, all congregated at the same starting line, and a crowd of that size requires good management. Obviously there needs to be corrals. However the corrals are akin to useless if no one polices them. It turned out that I was the only idiot who went to my assigned corral (18) and waited a whole hour after the gun went off to get to the starting line. If everyone underestimates their actual time, that means I end up passing people pretty much the entire run. The number of runners really made this difficult especially on some uphill portions where everyone slowed to a walk. Many friends who also ran were able to get to a faster corral and finished ahead despite slower times, and this made post-race meetup logistics difficult.

I really liked the fact that there were plenty of potties, however it wasn't very clear where they were placed. As people headed north toward the start, huge queues congregated at potties placed further south not knowing that the vast majority of potties are next to the start. This could have been communicated better.

I guess another thing is that for a race in San Diego, I'm not sure why there isn't a beach segment or at least some overlook where we could see the ocean, other than the descent out of Balboa Park which was probably the prettiest segment of the entire race.

There was a lot to like about the race. Good expo, nice schwag bag, really great enroute support (I didn't need restrooms but it seemed like there weren't long lines, and there was water whenever I wanted it). Generally it had a good, friendly vibe, and I liked doing it with my friends. However it seemed to have gotten a little too big for its own good and I probably won't do it again.