Santa Rosa Marathon

Santa Rosa Marathon

Santa Rosa Marathon

( 24 reviews )
91% of reviewers recommend this race
  • Santa Rosa,
    California,
    United States
  • August
  • 3 miles/5K, 6 miles/10K, 13.1 miles/Half Marathon, 26.2 miles/Marathon, Virtual Race
  • Road Race
  • Event Website

Erin

San Jose, California, United States
27 15
2014
"run in wine country at a well-executed race"
Overall
T-Shirts/SWAG
Aid Stations
Course Scenery
Expo Quality
Elevation Difficulty
Parking/Access
Race Management
Erin 's thoughts:

I had the pleasure of being a 3:35 marathon pacer at the 2014 SRM. It was my 25th marathon, and my first one as a pacer, and it was a great experience. Some things that stand out:

1. the expo is at DeLoach Winery, the same place where you run through the barrel room around mile 10/10.5 of the marathon. It was unlike any other expo I've attended: wine tastings, outside, at a winery... very neat. It still had the typical expo stuff/vendors though and was a good size.
2. the swag: nice. We were supposed to get 1/4 zip-up tech jackets, but the production company had something last-minute go awry, so full participants ended up getting a LS tech shirt and then, after the race, a zip-up cotton hoodie. They were both nice garments and gender-specific. Also, if you like medals, you'll love SRM's because it's the size of a small continent and is a double-spinner.
3. the course: quite flat, aside from a few little hiccups. It was a bit crowded in the first 3 miles, when you go through downtown, but it evens out a bit. many of your miles are on a bike path, and that has the potential to get crowded later in the race, when (depending on your speed) you might run into slower-moving half marathoners who start an hour or so after the full. even with our large 3:35 group, though, we didn't encounter too many problems with the HM runners.
4. aid stations: this is where SRM can improve in future years, and I think it'll be an easy change. The stations seemed short and understaffed to me, which makes things a bit chaotic mid-race. I think with some additional personnel and maybe 1-2 tables more per aid station that things will be significantly better. the volunteers themselves, though, were fantastic-- super enthusiastic. bigger cups of fluids would also be nice.
5. finish line: this year's race had small glasses of water at the end, and I think it'd be a good idea to hand out more water (or at least make it more readily available). They don't necessarily need to be plastic bottles of water, but even just bigger cups (again) could be nice.

All in all, though, it's a good race. I think I read it's 5th or 6th in the nation, in terms of how many BQs it produces, so if you're eyeing a potential course, this one may fit the bill. I had a really lovely time at SRM and was told by many afterward in my pace group that they PRed and/or BQed :)

aaaand, for more info, here's my blog post about it: http://www.runningruminations.com/?p=1898

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