Nola and I trekked west to San Diego to run in Sunday’s Half Marathon (August 16). It was an excellent event, with over 7000 runners, and well organized. The course is really spectacular. It starts at the Cabrillo Monument a little after sunrise and proceeds around the shore of San Diego Bay, into the heart of downtown San Diego, and then climbs the hills to finish in beautiful Balboa Park. For details of the main parts of this route, see our San Diego chapter in Fun on Foot in America’s Cities.
The course is mostly flat, with a downhill stretch near the start, and a very nasty uphill climb extending over a mile just before the finish. The latter feature makes the run quite challenging.
The weather, however, was just perfect, as San Diego’s weather almost always is. The temperature was in the low 70s and there was cloud cover hiding the sun for the first three-quarters of the route. On hearing from our friends how difficult the New York City Half (run the same day) turned out, with 90+ temperatures, we were very thankful that we had chosen to go west for that day’s race.
Both Nola and I were successful in our runs in San Diego, with both of us scoring PRs. What a fantastic event! We shall definitely keep it in mind for future years.