Latest reviews by Nathan Imhoff

(2019)
"A great race for a great cause!"
Overall
T-Shirts/SWAG
Aid Stations
Course Scenery
Expo Quality
Elevation Difficulty
Parking/Access
Race Management

Overview & Background
OK, I will make this as quick as possible as Mardi Gras Madness is a community race supporting a great cause in Students Off And Running (SOAR), in fact, I am not even going to give this race rating since that would be like giving a Yelp review to a local girl scout troop. I will have some feedback where I saw a few things that could use a tweak to make it a little better but that is about it.

Now some people may think that a charity that supports at-risk youth with a running program is a lesser cause than one that would feed, shelter or help with education. While I understand this logic, I challenge you to look at it a different way. This program teaches at-risk youth about aspects of life that many ordinary people go through their entire life never learning. First and foremost, is that if you want something it take persistence and hard work. There is a reason that more people have PHDs than have finished a marathon. So imagine now a youth that feels like life’s deck is stacked against them, but they are in the .5% of the population that has the drive to finish a marathon. What does that for their life?

There are about 570 marathons held in the United States every year and approximately 0.5% of the US population has run a marathon*

Pre Race & Course
The marketing for this event is an eclectic throwback, the race’s marketing is rocking animated clipart gifs. So it might be a turn off for some and I think that is to your own loss. The race overall is well organized, it is very clear that this is a race put on by people that are passionate about running.

Race pickup was painless. The race swag bag which seems to be a thing that is becoming less common was quite good. There were 2 full sized race branded beef jerky pouches, my kiddo literally tried to snatch it out of my hand.

Parking and Bathroom were both good. The only thing I would have liked to see the race protect the starting line, many races try to keep the faster runners in the front so they aren’t spending the first 1/4 mile weaving in and out of slower runners. Since a runner’s time doesn’t start till their chip goes across the sensor it doesn’t really matter when a person starts. More advanced runners will “jockey” off each other allowing the lead runner to set the pace and do the mental work.

This brings me to another suggestion of staggering the starts by having the 10k start 15-20 minutes before the 5k. This would not extend the race time and would allow runners in their given race to “jockey” off each other. In this race I didn’t know who was running the 5k or 10k so I didn’t really know who to pace with so many of the guys who took off past me ended up being in the 10k, so by the time I figured out who was in the 5k and 10k, I was luckily in a good enough position at the split to finish 3rd overall, but at that point it was very tough for me to be able to make a move up the ranks.

The Atmosphere, Post Race & Overall
The overall vibe and atmosphere were great! I got to make some connections with other runners. I am a little bias here but it would have been nice to do more for the overall finishers of the race. They did give out place trophies for the different teams but only gave a trophy to the first place overall finishers which seems a little backward to me.

In the end, this was a great community race supporting a great cause and I am very proud to have been a part of it.

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(2019)
"Expect nothing but the best from Carlsbad"
Overall
T-Shirts/SWAG
Aid Stations
Course Scenery
Expo Quality
Elevation Difficulty
Parking/Access
Race Management

Overview & Background
Carlsbad is a gorgeous beach community nestled in the northern part of San Diego County, and outside of Boston, I am not sure you will find a more run positive community. It’s home to the world’s fastest 5k the Carlsbad 5000 which has been the course for multiple world records since its inaugural race in 1986.

I am very familiar with Carlsbad growing up just down the road in Escondido, so it caught my eye immediately when I saw their Instagram ad. Carlsbad Marathon is run by InMotion Events a family owned and women-run business founded in 1981.

Pre Race
Unfortunately, Deanna and I did not make it to the health & lifestyle expo on Saturday because of LA traffic coming from a business retreat in Oxnard so we are not able to speak about it, however, if it was anything like what we saw when we picked up our bibs on race, and the post-race celebration it must have been awesome.

The race swag was definitely a place were Carlsbad Marathon separates itself from the pack! The pre-race giveaways were top notch they consisted of a beautiful gray long sleeve shirt, a 1/2 quarter jacket (with a different color for male and female), presented inside a drawstring tote bag. If you went to your local running store and purchased this you would probably spend close to what the race entry fee is.

The morning of the race was run so efficiently based on your own predicted time given at registration they put people into waves so you were with other runners of a similar level. This is smart for so many reasons because for bigger races you have individuals from all over the running spectrum. You have people that are looking to qualify for other races, you have people looking to PR, there are people that did this as part of a weight loss goal or people petrified if they will be able to finish. It may not be the best experience to put the person worried if they have what it takes to finish next to the elite runner hoping to shave a few minutes off their personal best. So big ups for the way the executed the waves.

Bathroom situation was good, and if you know race mornings at all, you’re aware of how important that can be. There was plenty of parking but you might end up being a good distance away if you are doing the half marathon because it is the last race of the day which means Full Marathon and Surf Sun Run 5K participants have probably already taken the prime parking spots. If you’re at all nervous about parking, Lyft and Uber are also great options, but we’re always early to races to allow for warm-up time.

Bag check was on point and frankly, I wish we had just checked the bag because the last thing anyone wants to do after running a half or full marathon is take a long trek looking for your car in a mall parking lot! One thing that must be highlighted is the giant heated tent that housed the expo, bib pickup, bag check etc. So smart, more races should do this!

The Course
No big surprise here, the course is amazing with 90% of the course running along the Pacific ocean! That said it is not an easy course by any stretch as it is pretty much rolling hill after rolling hill. The spectators brought some extra energy with all their clever signs and an unusual amount of “tap here to power up!” held by kids and adults alike that made the rough points at little more palatable. There were plenty of bathrooms on the course if needed. The support stations were energetic and enthusiastic.

At the end of the course, there was a train of supplies from bottles of water, astronaut blankets, chocolate milk, and someone handing a brown paper bag packed full of snacks!

The Atmosphere, Post Race & Overall
As I said in the intro Carlsbad is a run positive community and that showed through in everything that they did! This race was a runner’s paradise from the free Ballast Point beer, to the many photo stations with props whether you were a beginner or an elite runner this race left no one behind.

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(2018)
"Santa Clarita Marathon is an Inexpensive fast race."
Overall
T-Shirts/SWAG
Aid Stations
Course Scenery
Expo Quality
Elevation Difficulty
Parking/Access
Race Management

Overview & Background
Santa Clarita Marathon is a unique race in a few ways, first of all, it is one of the only marathons that I am aware of that is actually put on by the city that it is being held in. Now, I know there are plenty of marathons with the city in the title such as the Los Angeles Marathon but usually, the city/cities accommodate the organization running that race. So in the case of the Los Angeles Marathon the race is put on by Conqur Endurance Group which also runs LA Big 5k, Santa Monica Classic and Pasadena Half Marathon. Being run by a government agency gives Santa Clarita Marathon some extra benefits like lower costs for runners but also have some challenges in that part of the focus is about being a community event for public health. That is why there are additional events like the Mayor’s walk and final mile challenge (which my kiddo was able to participate in a few years back).

Full disclosure I live in Santa Clarita and worked for the City of Santa Clarita for 4ish years, Santa Clarita as a community was based on being a healthy city, and we have something around 80 miles of paseos and trails which are quite amazing, and something that Deanna and I took into account when moving — trail access is something we definitely consider.

So with that said let’s dive into it.

Pre Race
So I am just going to say right off that bat that this was probably the aspect that Santa Clarita Marathon could improve the most. So in my case, I trained for 7 months to run my first marathon. So when the bib pickup finally arrived I was chomping at the bit and it Friday night pick up was a little anti-climatic. We are walking distance from the starting line and it was a little awkward to get into the expo, we had to walk in the streets of the mall parking lot and the expo wasn’t lit very well so it was challenging to figure out where I needed to go. A couple of suggestions would be to have better lighting for the night pick up. Shortly after this race, we ran the Carlsbad Marathon, and really I liked what Carlsbad Marathon did with having a full tent over the expo and bonus points for it being heated but this allows you to have better lighting and takes out some issues if it rains. I would also recommend that they have people directing traffic and bonus for step and repeat or some backdrop for pre-race photos. Many people put a lot of work to get to these races these expos should feel like parties and be about celebrating all the hard work into getting here.

Race morning things were run very smoothly. Pre-race pep talk lacked, I think the 3rd largest city in Los Angeles County warrants getting someone a little more prominent than the city’s mayor, give me Justin Gallegos or Allyson Felix local Santa Clarita runners that know about what it takes to prepare for one of these races.

One other suggestion that I would have is to stagger the half and full marathons. This is more for the full marathon people than the half marathon because the full marathon is not just 2x harder than the half marathon it is like 8x harder so having marathon people trying to figure out their paces with people not in the same race can add an extra challenge. So start the Marathon at your regular time and start the Half 30-45 minutes later the halfers get a few extra winks and the marathoners can figure out their pace better AND bonus the race still ends at the same time.

The Course
What can I say about the course? I am run it often so I probably take it for granted. As I mentioned before Santa Clarita was designed for healthy living which means of the entire 26.2 miles probably less than 2 is on actual roads, the rest are on designated running/cycling paths and trails so it is nearly impossible to get lost on the course. The biggest hill will be in the first mile after that it is small hills and going under roads.

There are plenty of bathrooms on the course which unfortunately I had to use at mile 18. The rest areas were well run the only critique I would have in this area is the Powerade, I could break this down scientifically but I will just be blunt in saying Powerade and regular Gatorade suck for distance running especially runs over an hour. I would highly recommend the Santa Clarita Marathon look to Gatorade endurance (like LA Marathon), Nuun Hydration or Tailwind Nutrition, there are other so please forgive if I didn’t mention your favorite. I love all of these brands but I am a little bias being I am a Nuun Ambassador.

If you are looking for a fast course to possibly qualify for Boston this is not a bad one to go with. If you are a scrappy competitor but maybe not quite an elite this is a great race to possibly a race you could place overall or for your age/sex division.

The Atmosphere
I already covered this in the intro the Santa Clarita Marathon is a community event first so a lot of people know each other. I live here so it is difficult for me to probably give a proper description. I had many people ask me why I wanted Santa Clarita Marathon to be my first marathon and the answer was sorta simple since literally every book, podcast, article, and blog that I read said the same thing about marathon training which was to train with all the elements of the race is going to have a certain sport drink (please no Powerade) make sure you have done training with it, if they are going to offer a certain energy gel either train with it or bring your own. By choosing the Santa Clarita as my first marathon I limited so many question marks, I ran 75% of the course for my training, my bed was walking distance from the starting line so I didn’t have to deal with weird hotel beds, or parking. I also would have my people there cheering me on which is always an added energy boost.

Post Race & Overall
I think Santa Clarita mostly nailed post-race. I had a few question marks with the virtual swag bag which had local hotel deal after the race?!? This is a comment for all event people, in my experience hotel deals via an event website are never as good as booking via another source. Hotels should be looking to incentive the hotel rooms with something else, I pay retail for my hotel but I get a promo race shirt or cool swag bag with race stuff in it or something. Deanna and I look every time and every time it is cheaper to book via our Hilton account.

So one huge advantage of Santa Clarita Marathon is the cost vs. value because the Marathon is being put on by the city of Santa Clarita they are able to keep the cost of the race lower than other races. I only paid $78.11 for the full marathon once I used my friend Heather Stewart‘s ambassador code and I bought my tickets about a month out so it wasn’t one of those things where I purchased my entry 11 months out! To put that in perspective I paid $219 after ambassador code for an entry in the Los Angeles Marathon! One thing that I would love to see SC Marathon do which both Carlsbad Marathon and LA Marathon do is give a cheaper rate for purchasing all the photos of the race in advance!

Closing
Overall Santa Clarita Marathon is an excellent event. Over the years I have had the pleasure of running the 5k, Half & Full Marathon (both my first). Is Santa Clarita Marathon as sexy a race as the Honolulu Marathon? No, but you can do a lot worse AND they have historically always done this race the morning after the end of daylight savings times (fallback an hour) which is quite savvy in giving every runner an extra hour of sleep. Why waste that day on a big run when you could snag a medal, PR or BQ (Yes, it is a Boston qualifier) Go get some.

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