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Race Reports for California International Marathon

[1]
Reported by:
Race rating (5)
User photo
  • Organised?Yes
  • Events on time?Yes

  • Lots of volunteers to help?Yes
  • Plenty of drink stations?Yes

  • Post race activities? Good
  • Overall course based on my ability: Just right

  • Comments: AMAZING course. There are so many marathons I would like to run but I would totally do this one again.
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[2]
Reported by:
Race rating (4)
User photo
  • Organised?Yes
  • Events on time?Yes

  • Lots of volunteers to help?No
  • Plenty of drink stations?No

  • Post race activities? Average
  • Overall course based on my ability: Just right

  • Comments: This race was well organized despite the elements. There were a few aid stations that were not well staffed, but what can you expect with a big storm and an all-volunteer staff? I'd love to see this race during one of the good weather years, which I've heard is 90% of the time.
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[3]
Reported by:
Race rating (4)
User photo
  • Organised?Yes
  • Events on time?Yes

  • Lots of volunteers to help?Yes
  • Plenty of drink stations?Yes

  • Post race activities? Average
  • Overall course based on my ability: Just right

  • Comments: CIM does a very good job with this race. Plentiful volunteers, aid stations stocked and regularly spaced. Great post-race munchies and chocolate milk/tomato soup (not at once) were treats after the run. Final thoughts after several days post-marathon. I recovered quicker than I ever have after a 26.2. I was no where near as sore as I have been. I did fine. I'm not as disapointed in myself. I see what the mind was doing and I learned some things. I will do another stand alone marathon but the next one may be in another Ironman. They are very different. I'm okay with my run and accepting I didnt' do it for "time" but for the experience...and I had an experience. Check #4 off the list. Never in a million years thought I'd run one, let alone four. Thankful and grateful I can do this and I'm healthy and injury-free. Namaste
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[4]
Reported by:
Race rating (4)
User photo
  • Organised?Yes
  • Events on time?Yes

  • Lots of volunteers to help?Yes
  • Plenty of drink stations?Yes

  • Post race activities? Average
  • Overall course based on my ability: Just right

  • Comments: Loved the face for my first marathon. Great number (12,000ish including relay runners) great aid stations and volunteers. Only down side was the beer garden consisted of cans of bud light and coors.....really?
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[5]
Reported by:
Race rating (5)
User photo
  • Organised?Yes
  • Events on time?Yes

  • Lots of volunteers to help?Yes
  • Plenty of drink stations?Yes

  • Post race activities? Average
  • Overall course based on my ability: Too hard

  • Comments: Liked the course but this is my last marathon!
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[6]
Reported by:
Race rating (5)
User photo
  • Organised?Yes
  • Events on time?Yes

  • Lots of volunteers to help?Yes
  • Plenty of drink stations?Yes

  • Post race activities? Good
  • Overall course based on my ability: Just right

  • Comments: This is an awesome race! The Expo was fantastic, there were tons of volunteers at all the aid stations and great spectator support. I would do this race again in a heartbeat. My ONLY complaint (and this might just be me being a brat) were the relay runners. It was awful at mile 13 and especially mile 20 to have new relay runners join the race and be chatting to each other and being all bouncy and loud while the rest of us were in total and utter misery. I would have rather been running with just the marathoners. But oh well!
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[7]
Reported by:
Race rating (5)
User photo
  • Organised?Yes
  • Events on time?Yes

  • Lots of volunteers to help?Yes
  • Plenty of drink stations?Yes

  • Post race activities? Average
  • Overall course based on my ability: Just right

  • Comments: Great support on the course. Pace groups were great. A course really "made for runners"
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[8]
Reported by:
Race rating (4)
User photo
  • Organised?Yes
  • Events on time?Yes

  • Lots of volunteers to help?Yes
  • Plenty of drink stations?Yes

  • Post race activities? Good
  • Overall course based on my ability: Too easy

  • Comments: My first marathon so I don't have much to compare it to, other than triathlons or 5 and 10K's, but I thought it was very well organized and lots of community support and volunteer support. Only complaint was I had to find my medal. I will want to run another marathon and I do think I can BQ. I know what the pain/discomfort will be like. I didn't allow the pain-fear cycle to start. I realized I was in discomfort and that it could lead to fear, just as they coach in childbirth. I wasn't going to allow the fear to enter into the equation. I remembered to listen to my breath and think of my form and take in the sights of as many of the aspects of this, my first marathon, as I could. I'm trying to give myself some support and know that I did something only 1% or thereabouts of the population will do.
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[9]
Reported by:
Race rating (4)
User photo
  • Organised?Yes
  • Events on time?Yes

  • Lots of volunteers to help?Yes
  • Plenty of drink stations?Yes

  • Post race activities? Good
  • Overall course based on my ability: Just right

  • Comments: Great course with lots of music along the way. It was hard to get food at the end, the lines were crazy. Volunteers were awesome, they were all bundled up and then having to hand out cold cups of water, wow! I would definitely do this race again. Sure wish it were held in late October, but the cold is a good challenge.
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[10]
Reported by:
Race rating (4)
User photo
  • Organised?Yes
  • Events on time?Yes

  • Lots of volunteers to help?Yes
  • Plenty of drink stations?Yes

  • Post race activities? Average
  • Overall course based on my ability: Just right

  • Comments: Great race! It was incredibly well organized. Even with 6,000 runners and no corrals the start didn't feel chaotic at all. The course itself is awesome -- a great mix of rolling hills on nice, wide roads, with lots of great crowd support. Everyone from volunteers and supporters to the runnners themselves was nice and friendly. I can't say much about the post-race activities, since I didn't really partake much (I'm never hungry right after the race and I'd brought my own Gatorade to drink), but all of the other activities around the event were fun. I'd highly recommend this race.
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[11]
Reported by:
Race rating (4)
User photo
  • Organised?Yes
  • Events on time?Yes

  • Lots of volunteers to help?Yes
  • Plenty of drink stations?Yes

  • Post race activities? Good
  • Overall course based on my ability: Just right

  • Comments: Well organized and enthusiastic volunteers. This is a very good event and I highly recommend it.
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[12]
Reported by:
Race rating (5)
User photo
  • Organised?Yes
  • Events on time?Yes

  • Lots of volunteers to help?Yes
  • Plenty of drink stations?Yes

  • Post race activities? Average
  • Overall course based on my ability: Just right

  • Comments: Awesome race - from sign in to the finish, CIM took care of the runners, and did a great job.
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[13]
Reported by:
Race rating (4)
User photo
  • Organised?Yes
  • Events on time?Yes

  • Lots of volunteers to help?Yes
  • Plenty of drink stations?Yes

  • Post race activities? Good
  • Overall course based on my ability: Just right

  • Comments: Water tasted lie you were drinking from a pool - very chlorinated. Sports drinks was offered in tiny dixie cups - needed two at each stop to properly hydrate. It was not offered at every stop either. Otherwise this is a great race, on a FAST course, with some great scenery of the Sacramento area.
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[14]
Reported by:
Race rating (5)
User photo
  • Organised?Yes
  • Events on time?Yes

  • Lots of volunteers to help?Yes
  • Plenty of drink stations?Yes

  • Post race activities? Average
  • Overall course based on my ability: Just right

  • Comments: This was a big success. This is my first marathon in 20 years, and I've gone through a lot to get to it. I got to the starting line well prepared and healthy. I met my goal of finishing, wasn't even last overall or in my age group! I have clearly overcome most of the limitations of the disastrous failed foot surgery and botched treatment of my torn PT tendon in 2001, with my subsequent severe foot arthritis and RSD. I am proud of myself for 6 years of hard work in rehabilitation, and I'm grateful for the support of my family.
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[15]
Reported by:
Race rating (5)
User photo
  • Organised?Yes
  • Events on time?Yes

  • Lots of volunteers to help?Yes
  • Plenty of drink stations?Yes

  • Post race activities? Average
  • Overall course based on my ability: Just right

  • Comments: Great race for me. Perfect weather temperature a little windy at times, but after running the Napa marathon in 2006, 20mph winds and rain the whole time, CIM was a walk in the park.
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[16]
Reported by:
Race rating (4)
User photo
  • Organised?Yes
  • Events on time?Yes

  • Lots of volunteers to help?Yes
  • Plenty of drink stations?Yes

  • Post race activities? Average
  • Overall course based on my ability: Too hard

  • Comments: Excellent organization! The volunteers rocked. I certainly want to take another shot at this race!
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[17]
Reported by:
Race rating (4)
User photo
  • Organised?Yes
  • Events on time?Yes

  • Lots of volunteers to help?Yes
  • Plenty of drink stations?Yes

  • Post race activities? Good
  • Overall course based on my ability: Just right

  • Comments: CIM is a great race. World class athletes, lots of volunteers and crowds to cheer you on, and lots of places for your support crew to meet you on the course to cheer you on as well.
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[18]
Reported by:
Race rating (5)
User photo
  • Organised?Yes
  • Events on time?Yes

  • Lots of volunteers to help?Yes
  • Plenty of drink stations?Yes

  • Post race activities? Good
  • Overall course based on my ability: Just right

  • Comments: A great race not that I have any other marathon experince. The hardest thing I have ever done and I enjoyed all of the pain and the cheering. This was my first marathon but certanly not my last.
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[19]
Reported by:
Race rating (4)
User photo
  • Organised?Yes
  • Events on time?Yes

  • Lots of volunteers to help?Yes
  • Plenty of drink stations?

  • Post race activities? Good
  • Overall course based on my ability: Just right

  • Comments: This is a great race and a great course. I've run 11 marathons over the last 4 years and this one is one of the Best... Lots of support and a very nice course. I ran hard I and even though I blew up at mile 23, I am proud of myself for not walking. I really wanted to walk... A lot of very gifted runners were walking at this point (victim of the same aggressive start)and I willed myself to keep going. I was a bit disappointed by not reaching my goal, but at least I salvaged the day and still ran a PB.
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[20]
Reported by:
Race rating (4)
User photo
  • Organised?Yes
  • Events on time?Yes

  • Lots of volunteers to help?Yes
  • Plenty of drink stations?Yes

  • Post race activities? Good
  • Overall course based on my ability: Just right

  • Comments: Race was spectacularly pulled off. EVERYONE from expo door greeter to post-mary bag claim, was super friendly and helpful. Tons of drink stations; Gu, pretzels, oranges, candy canes. Delightful spectators all the way to the finish. I'll probably write more on this later, but this race gets a 10 for fun and organization. Speaking of fun--it's in my blog, but let's save the story for posterity: At the expo, I talked the t-shirt dude into giving me a men's shirt ... are they frikin' kidding me about trying to squeeze these puppies into a women's M ... he kept saying there were NO EXCHANGES until 5 o'clock, but I looked very sad and pointed at my boobs and said I'd had a sex change operation and it got botched, they made the boobs way too big, but I was really a man anyway, so could I please have a man's shirt? The t-shirt guy was laughing so hard tears came out of his eyes and he gave me a men's shirt. I like it much better and it fits well.
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[21]
Reported by:
Race rating (5)
User photo
  • Organised?Yes
  • Events on time?Yes

  • Lots of volunteers to help?Yes
  • Plenty of drink stations?Yes

  • Post race activities? Average
  • Overall course based on my ability: Just right

  • Comments: I would love to run this race again next year! It's just got a perfect vertical profile for me. I think on a purely flat race I would get more tired faster. Rolling hills work different mussles, and legs stay fresh longer. I am happy with the training I did for this - 5-6 consistent long runs really helped as well as speedwork. Even though I didn't log too many miles (a few sub 40 miles weeks even) truely it's the quality workouts that matter! Most importantly, I think I realized that I can do better! Sub 3:20 used to seem like something impossile, now I feel like 3:15 is somewhere close! Next time, if we pick a good course, especially with pacers, I might try for that. If I log a little more miles in training it's definitely possible!
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[22]
Reported by:
Race rating (5)
User photo
  • Organised?Yes
  • Events on time?Yes

  • Lots of volunteers to help?Yes
  • Plenty of drink stations?Yes

  • Post race activities? Average
  • Overall course based on my ability: Just right

  • Comments: Awesome race... not too big, but big... Could have used some beers at the finish
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