Nov 8, 2024

☰

Premium Listings

Verified Accounts

Free Race Organizer Account

Become An Advertiser

Marathon Details - The San Francisco Marathon

North America Marathons > USA > CA > San Francisco > The San Francisco Marathon

The San Francisco Marathon

The San Francisco Marathon & Ultra, Half Marathon, 10K, 5K

San Francisco, CA USA

July 27, 2025

http://www.thesfmarathon.com

News

Marathon Results

By Year:

2024 2023 2022 2021 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 Top 3 Finishers

Race Details

Run the Golden Gate Bridge on the USAT&F Certified loop course that highlights the best of San Francisco. San Francisco's blend of natural beauty, big city charm and perfect running temperatures, make marathon running in San Francisco a truly magical experience.

Register for the only race to run on the roadbed of the Golden Gate Bridge. All net proceeds benefit Youth Run4Fun, an urban youth running program that operates in San Francisco.

Contact Information

Name:
Address:	The San Francisco Marathon 548 Market St PMB 65516 San Francisco, California 94104
Phone Number:	888-958-6668
Email:	Email the organizers

Race Organizer

Get Psyched for 2014! (1/16/14)

Race Director

The 37th running of The San Francisco Marathon will take place on Sunday, July 27, 2014. Known for its scenic views, this USA Track & Field-certified Boston Marathon qualifier race starts at the Ferry Building, runs along the Embarcadero, over the Bridge, along the coastline, through Golden Gate Park and the Haight-Ashbury District and past AT&T Park before finishing in front of Cupid's Arrow. Marathon events include a Full Marathon, two Half Marathons and a 5K run.

Runner Reviews (503)

Course 4.3

Organization 3.6

Spectators 2.6

Write a review

Number of comments: 503 [displaying comments 1 to 11]

More Comments: [ < 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 .. 51 > ]

M. F. from Los Angeles, CA (7/31/2020) "Tough Course with Limited Support" (about: 2019) 3 previous marathons COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 1 Chose this marathon for my BQ, not recommended. First the good - early start so temp is great for most of the race. If you're shooting for anywhere near 3:00 the course will be wide open at the start.. But that changes halfway thorough. More to come on that.. The views out there at the front of the pack are incredible, it was a special moment to cross the golden gate and see the sunrise over the city. The bad... Crazy climbs/decent from miles 6-21 before it mellows out, but thats to be expected with this race. They served this UCaan drink in 2019 which tore up my stomach. Literally no people on the course. Probably due to the early start and general lack of popularity of a race. The medal looked cheap and cheesy. The race entry was NOT worth over $200. However, this race is absolutely ruined by the second half marathon, which starts just as you hit mile 14 in Golden Gardens. You quickly go from an open course to dodge and weave around significantly slower runners. No idea why the Race Director would choose to set the course up this way - staggering the start by 45mins would solve this. Steer clear if you're shooting for a specific time. Hit my time but barely - and that's after hitting one doozy of a wall at mile 25 and struggling home.
I. M. from Athens, Greece (4/10/2019) "Beautiful city, mediocre race" (about: 2018) 11-50 previous marathons \| 1 The San Francisco Marathon COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 1 It's a shame that such a beautiful city has such a disappointing (and expensive) 42K. Running along the slippery pedestrian walkway of the bridge, start time in the wee hours of the morning although temperatures are low all day long at this time of the year, fast 42K runners merging with slower 21K crowds mid-race, nonexistent spectators etc make this a race I would avoid. SF is beautiful so try visiting it later in autumn and run somewhere else, it's just not worth the effort, especially if you're travelling from afar.
B. B. from Ohio (8/10/2018) "Great Views, Poor Execution, Lack of Security" (about: 2018) 11-50 previous marathons \| 1 The San Francisco Marathon COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 1 FANS: 2 The Expo: The expo was in a good space. Not huge but like most marathons bib pickup was in the back. Plenty of vendors The Race: As far a weather goes it was in the low 50s which is perfect marathoning weather. It begins to get tough when you are running up to golden gate bridge and then doesn't let up until 17ish. A change this year was running on the sidewalk rather than the bridge. I talked to a few people and the said both are not ideal due to the wind and the fog. The sidewalks do have metal pads that were slick in the fog. The worst part of the marathon was catching the half marathon runners around 16. I ran a 3:20 marathon and was zig zaging through lots of slow runners, walkers at water stops, and people that were running probably 2:15-2:30 halfs. Not ideal and lots of wasted energy doing so. Also there was lots of confusion with the alternate routes. Multiple times I had a fully open road to run because they diverted us but the first two times I thought I was going the wrong way. Very confusing initially. Water stops were good but crowded at the end. Also, they used Nuun at this marathon instead of Gatorade/Powerade. I'm a big fan of Nuun outside of races for hydration but it tasted awful during the marathon. I actually had my buddy give me a Gatorade at mile 20 because I couldn't stand the taste. Minus the logistics, this race is tough and full of hills but very scenic and low temps. Would pass on running it again. Post Race: Lack of security..... As far as races go and keeping runners separated from spectators well that was out of the window. There were spectators that had walked up the exit and were almost at the finish line. For a race that cancelled us running on the bridge because of concern, I thought this would be translated to the finish. It was not. I started to stretch on a fork truck right before I left the finish line and as I was stretching some guy came and pulled the keys out. Talk about lack of security. If you were worried about something happening why were there keys in 2 fork trucks in the finish line corral??! It was honestly tougher to get into the beer garden then where the racers finished.....
P. R. from Washington, DC (8/3/2018) "Tougher course, still beautiful, bad planning." (about: 2018) 11-50 previous marathons \| 6+ The San Francisco Marathons COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 1 FANS: 2 2018 was a my seventh time running the SF Marathon. I travel from the East Coast for it because... well, the temperature is 55 degrees in late July, and the course is gorgeous. That said, there were two significant changes to the course this year... 1. They didn't shut down the bridge. After you climb up the bridge (the hardest part of the race), you have to use the pedestrian sidewalks (which contain slippery metal grates and have some tight corners)to cross it. Then, once on the other side of the bridge, you have to go down, cross under it, then climb back up. This means you have to climb up to Golden Gate twice. It's not the hardest thing in the world, but it really zaps your legs. 2. In contrast, the second change was truly inexcusable. They started the second half marathon (which runs the same course as the back half of whole marathon) too early. For context, I ran a little under a 3:10. At mile 16, the full merged with the second half. The problem was that we merged into 2:00+ half marathon runners. So, for 10 miles, I had expend energy moving left and right to pass people. Not just a little. A lot. They fed us into a sea of half marathon runner. There is zero chance that it didn't effect my time. Just awful planning. I love this course, but these two changes are definitely disincentives. Aside from that, I thought they did a nice job with water this year - felt like more stops, with bigger cups. It's a bummer they didn't keep the medal coaster tradition alive.
J. S. from Illinois (8/3/2018) "Beautiful City, Poor Organization" (about: 2018) 11-50 previous marathons \| 1 The San Francisco Marathon COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 1 FANS: 1 San Francisco was a beautify city to run in. The course was challenging and interesting, so the miles seemed to just tick away. The organization was very poor. Us full marathoners weren't notified of the changes to the GG bridge this year (no lane closures - runners on the sidewalk); I found out after reading about it in the news in the days leading up to the event. Certain spots on the course seemed downright dangerous (the trail that wraps around the visitor's center on the other side of the bridge, with no rail separating runners from a very steep fall). Water stations were few and far between, and were generally only on one side of the course. The biggest problem with organization was that the 2nd halfers were squeezed into the course with the full runners in the later miles of the course. Those of us running a faster pace found ourselves having to weave around slower half runners at the most difficult stages of the race. Those runners were not mindful of this and would spread across the full length of the course. I missed several water stops because the halfers would bunch up at the water station and walk through. Unless they find another way to integrate the two groups, I would highly discourage people from running the full.
Jeff Wang from Humble, Texas (7/29/2018) "New sponsor, new changes" (about: 2018) 11-50 previous marathons \| 6+ The San Francisco Marathons COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 2 This is my 16th SF marathon and possibly my last year. Changes were the major reason. The main issue is what had happened to San Francisco, with increased cost of everything for travelers, significant worsened problem with homeless and drugs, and safety-for the first time, I got some goosebumps walking my usual 1.5 miles from my hotel to the start with the homeless sleeping and loitering. Maybe the city officials will hear my complaint and do something to make San Francisco's beautiful again. As for the race, it has a new sponsor. With that, there are some changes, big and small. The biggest change for me is a change of course. They split half marathoners and full marathoners at much more places. First half marathoners had Golden Gate Bridge taken out, which is actually great for full marathoners, as it decongested the bridge traffic. They also made the runners run on the pedestrian sidewalk instead of closing 3 lanes in the bridge, which I thought would be terrible but not too bad. On the other hand, the re-routed Chrissy Field and Vista Point so there are 3 areas of trail run. Trail run? Yep, gravel and crushed concrete and all, while you are going down 30-40 degrees at Vista Piint below Golden Gate Bridge and the up trail at Presideo. That also added extra 100 feet heel but add more great view of Bridge as well as shaved off 1 mile or so, which they took away in Golden Gate Park. I missed running around the same ponds that I have run past years after after, where I called my wife to let her know I am ok at mile 18. Other major change was the medal. No more round coaster medal, now it is hexagonal and non-coaster. So ended my 14 years of coaster medal collection. Corral system worked better this year, as they rushed 2 corrals our every 4 minutes, so much less wait. Water station was scant at first 10 miles but too many at last 6 miles. Expos is still good. It was pretty well run, just the unexpected change. Gone are the American flags lining the running path, firefighters with ladders and flags, and silly signs that distract me as I run. As for Challenge, there is still no recognition for veterans that ran 10+ years. Another reason for me to reconsider spending $1000+ to come to California to run. Hills are still challenging. It is still a beautiful marathon, and I still will recommend it. As for me, I really need to think about what my future of running here over next 52 weeks.
T. C. from NJ (9/2/2017) "1st Time San Francisco" (about: 2017) 6-10 previous marathons \| 1 The San Francisco Marathon COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 2 I took the shuttle bus to the expo and that worked well. The expo was disappointing and except for getting my shirt and number was a waste of time. Around the city you would not have even known that there was a marathon about to be run. There is no excitement at all. The race weather was perfect. Overcast for more than 1/2 and when the sun came out it wasn't to bad. The bridge is more of a hassle then something special. Foggy, windy and slippery. The hills were very manageable if you trained for them. I actually enjoyed them. There are almost no spectators along the course. It was a bit congested when the marathon merged with the 2nd half marathoners. Overall I enjoyed the course. As others mentioned the water at the stops barely was enough for 1 gulp. The run seems pretty well organized but not something anyone is putting much time into.
R. M. from Salt Lake City, UT (8/13/2017) "Poor Race all around" (about: 2017) 11-50 previous marathons \| 1 The San Francisco Marathon COURSE: 2 ORGANIZATION: 2 FANS: 1 The course gets 2 stars not because of the hills, because that's obvious when you sign up for this race but because it wasn't a great course to run. The first few miles are solid. The run over the bridge is not good as runners have one lane of traffic each way and it is VERY crowded. Anyone from SF will tell you that you aren't going to see a darn thing on the bridge because it is covered in fog at that time of the morning and it just made for a very wet and windy portion of the race. There were several portions in the race where the course narrowed to a bike path or had significant bottlenecks. The roads are in terrible condition with lots of potholes in SF (not the races fault but a factor nonetheless). The second half marathon starts too late so you have the lead runners from that race barreling through the full marathoners which was annoying. Food after the race was bad. It was bananas and gross Dole fruit cups and that's it. No bagels, oranges, chocolate milk etc... There wasn't even any cold water or sports drink afterward. I asked why and they said 'ice costs money' The medal is a lightweight. Only do this race if you want an excuse to visit SF. If you need a good summer marathon go to Missoula or Grandma's. The pacer I ran with was great and he got me in right on my time which was great for such a hilly course.
V. k. from California USA (8/7/2017) "Over advertised and disappointing" (about: 2017) 6-10 previous marathons \| 1 The San Francisco Marathon COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 1 FANS: 1 Expo - Location of Expo is ok and managed to get parking, was held inside a big Shed with no proper lighting or ventilation. Being Over crowd was not issue to me. Seeing so many people and energy level was good. Race day transportation - they have limited slots for Bus service from few popular location. I went on Saturday afternoon to pick up bib. by the time I went all the slots were filled. so I have use their official app to purchase parking for my car. which costed me 45$. Parking lot for 1.75 miles from Start/End point. Crazy :-( Race/course: Race course, those Hills are no joke and kind of punishment which you paid for. This is not a PR course. 1st half has hills very steep and hard to run. 2nd half has a lot of rolling hills. You will need a lot hill workouts for this course. They started in Corals, even Coral has 10 min wait time and is mix of Half and Full marathon runners. Make it very crowded. Nuun drinks and medical station were located very offen(each mile) - no problem. Chews were provided at 6th miles after crossing the bridge itself and never provided later. So Stock up. Gels were given at regular intervals. On course - entertainment was literally Zero (nothing compared to LA or any Rock and Roll series races). No cheering or support. Medal - Most Disappointed with the design and material of this Medal. Shows low quality and lack of interested in designing this medal. Worst medal I have yet. Few good things : Running on the Bridge, Climate, high energy crowd.
Athanasia Markidi from Athens, Greece (8/4/2017) "Fantastic route but water in cups" (about: 2017) 3 previous marathons \| 1 The San Francisco Marathon COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 3 This was my first marathon after 15 years and I enjoyed it very much. The early start, even if it seems hard, is the first good thing as you won't be running in the sun for too long. This year the weather was excellent for running, fogy misty till the 30km which was at the end of the park. The course is fantastic, especially for someone who lives abroad. Every mile, every corner, every street and there was something new to see, The Bridge looked like a dream place in the fog. The park was amazing, you get to see all of it in one run! Lakes, birds, trees, wide streets, secret paths. When exiting the park we faced a totally different weather, sunny, a bit hot but people cheering. We passed the most iconic places of the city. The only drawback was the water that was in small cups. You should stop completely in order to drink or fill in your bottle and that caused a lot of time wasted and that's why a gave a 4 in the organization. The volunteers were great. Thank you San Francisco for a great experience!

More Comments: [ < 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 .. 51 > ]



Getting ready for this event? Get a personalized adaptive training plan and 1:1 coach assistance.	Get Your Plan

Quick Links

Marathon Search
Upcoming US Marathons
Upcoming International Marathons
Search Marathon Results
Latest Running News
Recent Newsletters
Race Director Tools

Calendars

US/Canada

International

World Marathon Majors

M. F. from Los Angeles, CA (7/31/2020) "Tough Course with Limited Support" (about: 2019) 3 previous marathons COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 1 Chose this marathon for my BQ, not recommended. First the good - early start so temp is great for most of the race. If you're shooting for anywhere near 3:00 the course will be wide open at the start.. But that changes halfway thorough. More to come on that.. The views out there at the front of the pack are incredible, it was a special moment to cross the golden gate and see the sunrise over the city. The bad... Crazy climbs/decent from miles 6-21 before it mellows out, but thats to be expected with this race. They served this UCaan drink in 2019 which tore up my stomach. Literally no people on the course. Probably due to the early start and general lack of popularity of a race. The medal looked cheap and cheesy. The race entry was NOT worth over $200. However, this race is absolutely ruined by the second half marathon, which starts just as you hit mile 14 in Golden Gardens. You quickly go from an open course to dodge and weave around significantly slower runners. No idea why the Race Director would choose to set the course up this way - staggering the start by 45mins would solve this. Steer clear if you're shooting for a specific time. Hit my time but barely - and that's after hitting one doozy of a wall at mile 25 and struggling home.
I. M. from Athens, Greece (4/10/2019) "Beautiful city, mediocre race" (about: 2018) 11-50 previous marathons \| 1 The San Francisco Marathon COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 1 It's a shame that such a beautiful city has such a disappointing (and expensive) 42K. Running along the slippery pedestrian walkway of the bridge, start time in the wee hours of the morning although temperatures are low all day long at this time of the year, fast 42K runners merging with slower 21K crowds mid-race, nonexistent spectators etc make this a race I would avoid. SF is beautiful so try visiting it later in autumn and run somewhere else, it's just not worth the effort, especially if you're travelling from afar.
B. B. from Ohio (8/10/2018) "Great Views, Poor Execution, Lack of Security" (about: 2018) 11-50 previous marathons \| 1 The San Francisco Marathon COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 1 FANS: 2 The Expo: The expo was in a good space. Not huge but like most marathons bib pickup was in the back. Plenty of vendors The Race: As far a weather goes it was in the low 50s which is perfect marathoning weather. It begins to get tough when you are running up to golden gate bridge and then doesn't let up until 17ish. A change this year was running on the sidewalk rather than the bridge. I talked to a few people and the said both are not ideal due to the wind and the fog. The sidewalks do have metal pads that were slick in the fog. The worst part of the marathon was catching the half marathon runners around 16. I ran a 3:20 marathon and was zig zaging through lots of slow runners, walkers at water stops, and people that were running probably 2:15-2:30 halfs. Not ideal and lots of wasted energy doing so. Also there was lots of confusion with the alternate routes. Multiple times I had a fully open road to run because they diverted us but the first two times I thought I was going the wrong way. Very confusing initially. Water stops were good but crowded at the end. Also, they used Nuun at this marathon instead of Gatorade/Powerade. I'm a big fan of Nuun outside of races for hydration but it tasted awful during the marathon. I actually had my buddy give me a Gatorade at mile 20 because I couldn't stand the taste. Minus the logistics, this race is tough and full of hills but very scenic and low temps. Would pass on running it again. Post Race: Lack of security..... As far as races go and keeping runners separated from spectators well that was out of the window. There were spectators that had walked up the exit and were almost at the finish line. For a race that cancelled us running on the bridge because of concern, I thought this would be translated to the finish. It was not. I started to stretch on a fork truck right before I left the finish line and as I was stretching some guy came and pulled the keys out. Talk about lack of security. If you were worried about something happening why were there keys in 2 fork trucks in the finish line corral??! It was honestly tougher to get into the beer garden then where the racers finished.....
P. R. from Washington, DC (8/3/2018) "Tougher course, still beautiful, bad planning." (about: 2018) 11-50 previous marathons \| 6+ The San Francisco Marathons COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 1 FANS: 2 2018 was a my seventh time running the SF Marathon. I travel from the East Coast for it because... well, the temperature is 55 degrees in late July, and the course is gorgeous. That said, there were two significant changes to the course this year... 1. They didn't shut down the bridge. After you climb up the bridge (the hardest part of the race), you have to use the pedestrian sidewalks (which contain slippery metal grates and have some tight corners)to cross it. Then, once on the other side of the bridge, you have to go down, cross under it, then climb back up. This means you have to climb up to Golden Gate twice. It's not the hardest thing in the world, but it really zaps your legs. 2. In contrast, the second change was truly inexcusable. They started the second half marathon (which runs the same course as the back half of whole marathon) too early. For context, I ran a little under a 3:10. At mile 16, the full merged with the second half. The problem was that we merged into 2:00+ half marathon runners. So, for 10 miles, I had expend energy moving left and right to pass people. Not just a little. A lot. They fed us into a sea of half marathon runner. There is zero chance that it didn't effect my time. Just awful planning. I love this course, but these two changes are definitely disincentives. Aside from that, I thought they did a nice job with water this year - felt like more stops, with bigger cups. It's a bummer they didn't keep the medal coaster tradition alive.
J. S. from Illinois (8/3/2018) "Beautiful City, Poor Organization" (about: 2018) 11-50 previous marathons \| 1 The San Francisco Marathon COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 1 FANS: 1 San Francisco was a beautify city to run in. The course was challenging and interesting, so the miles seemed to just tick away. The organization was very poor. Us full marathoners weren't notified of the changes to the GG bridge this year (no lane closures - runners on the sidewalk); I found out after reading about it in the news in the days leading up to the event. Certain spots on the course seemed downright dangerous (the trail that wraps around the visitor's center on the other side of the bridge, with no rail separating runners from a very steep fall). Water stations were few and far between, and were generally only on one side of the course. The biggest problem with organization was that the 2nd halfers were squeezed into the course with the full runners in the later miles of the course. Those of us running a faster pace found ourselves having to weave around slower half runners at the most difficult stages of the race. Those runners were not mindful of this and would spread across the full length of the course. I missed several water stops because the halfers would bunch up at the water station and walk through. Unless they find another way to integrate the two groups, I would highly discourage people from running the full.
Jeff Wang from Humble, Texas (7/29/2018) "New sponsor, new changes" (about: 2018) 11-50 previous marathons \| 6+ The San Francisco Marathons COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 2 This is my 16th SF marathon and possibly my last year. Changes were the major reason. The main issue is what had happened to San Francisco, with increased cost of everything for travelers, significant worsened problem with homeless and drugs, and safety-for the first time, I got some goosebumps walking my usual 1.5 miles from my hotel to the start with the homeless sleeping and loitering. Maybe the city officials will hear my complaint and do something to make San Francisco's beautiful again. As for the race, it has a new sponsor. With that, there are some changes, big and small. The biggest change for me is a change of course. They split half marathoners and full marathoners at much more places. First half marathoners had Golden Gate Bridge taken out, which is actually great for full marathoners, as it decongested the bridge traffic. They also made the runners run on the pedestrian sidewalk instead of closing 3 lanes in the bridge, which I thought would be terrible but not too bad. On the other hand, the re-routed Chrissy Field and Vista Point so there are 3 areas of trail run. Trail run? Yep, gravel and crushed concrete and all, while you are going down 30-40 degrees at Vista Piint below Golden Gate Bridge and the up trail at Presideo. That also added extra 100 feet heel but add more great view of Bridge as well as shaved off 1 mile or so, which they took away in Golden Gate Park. I missed running around the same ponds that I have run past years after after, where I called my wife to let her know I am ok at mile 18. Other major change was the medal. No more round coaster medal, now it is hexagonal and non-coaster. So ended my 14 years of coaster medal collection. Corral system worked better this year, as they rushed 2 corrals our every 4 minutes, so much less wait. Water station was scant at first 10 miles but too many at last 6 miles. Expos is still good. It was pretty well run, just the unexpected change. Gone are the American flags lining the running path, firefighters with ladders and flags, and silly signs that distract me as I run. As for Challenge, there is still no recognition for veterans that ran 10+ years. Another reason for me to reconsider spending $1000+ to come to California to run. Hills are still challenging. It is still a beautiful marathon, and I still will recommend it. As for me, I really need to think about what my future of running here over next 52 weeks.
T. C. from NJ (9/2/2017) "1st Time San Francisco" (about: 2017) 6-10 previous marathons \| 1 The San Francisco Marathon COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 2 I took the shuttle bus to the expo and that worked well. The expo was disappointing and except for getting my shirt and number was a waste of time. Around the city you would not have even known that there was a marathon about to be run. There is no excitement at all. The race weather was perfect. Overcast for more than 1/2 and when the sun came out it wasn't to bad. The bridge is more of a hassle then something special. Foggy, windy and slippery. The hills were very manageable if you trained for them. I actually enjoyed them. There are almost no spectators along the course. It was a bit congested when the marathon merged with the 2nd half marathoners. Overall I enjoyed the course. As others mentioned the water at the stops barely was enough for 1 gulp. The run seems pretty well organized but not something anyone is putting much time into.
R. M. from Salt Lake City, UT (8/13/2017) "Poor Race all around" (about: 2017) 11-50 previous marathons \| 1 The San Francisco Marathon COURSE: 2 ORGANIZATION: 2 FANS: 1 The course gets 2 stars not because of the hills, because that's obvious when you sign up for this race but because it wasn't a great course to run. The first few miles are solid. The run over the bridge is not good as runners have one lane of traffic each way and it is VERY crowded. Anyone from SF will tell you that you aren't going to see a darn thing on the bridge because it is covered in fog at that time of the morning and it just made for a very wet and windy portion of the race. There were several portions in the race where the course narrowed to a bike path or had significant bottlenecks. The roads are in terrible condition with lots of potholes in SF (not the races fault but a factor nonetheless). The second half marathon starts too late so you have the lead runners from that race barreling through the full marathoners which was annoying. Food after the race was bad. It was bananas and gross Dole fruit cups and that's it. No bagels, oranges, chocolate milk etc... There wasn't even any cold water or sports drink afterward. I asked why and they said 'ice costs money' The medal is a lightweight. Only do this race if you want an excuse to visit SF. If you need a good summer marathon go to Missoula or Grandma's. The pacer I ran with was great and he got me in right on my time which was great for such a hilly course.
V. k. from California USA (8/7/2017) "Over advertised and disappointing" (about: 2017) 6-10 previous marathons \| 1 The San Francisco Marathon COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 1 FANS: 1 Expo - Location of Expo is ok and managed to get parking, was held inside a big Shed with no proper lighting or ventilation. Being Over crowd was not issue to me. Seeing so many people and energy level was good. Race day transportation - they have limited slots for Bus service from few popular location. I went on Saturday afternoon to pick up bib. by the time I went all the slots were filled. so I have use their official app to purchase parking for my car. which costed me 45$. Parking lot for 1.75 miles from Start/End point. Crazy :-( Race/course: Race course, those Hills are no joke and kind of punishment which you paid for. This is not a PR course. 1st half has hills very steep and hard to run. 2nd half has a lot of rolling hills. You will need a lot hill workouts for this course. They started in Corals, even Coral has 10 min wait time and is mix of Half and Full marathon runners. Make it very crowded. Nuun drinks and medical station were located very offen(each mile) - no problem. Chews were provided at 6th miles after crossing the bridge itself and never provided later. So Stock up. Gels were given at regular intervals. On course - entertainment was literally Zero (nothing compared to LA or any Rock and Roll series races). No cheering or support. Medal - Most Disappointed with the design and material of this Medal. Shows low quality and lack of interested in designing this medal. Worst medal I have yet. Few good things : Running on the Bridge, Climate, high energy crowd.
Athanasia Markidi from Athens, Greece (8/4/2017) "Fantastic route but water in cups" (about: 2017) 3 previous marathons \| 1 The San Francisco Marathon COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 3 This was my first marathon after 15 years and I enjoyed it very much. The early start, even if it seems hard, is the first good thing as you won't be running in the sun for too long. This year the weather was excellent for running, fogy misty till the 30km which was at the end of the park. The course is fantastic, especially for someone who lives abroad. Every mile, every corner, every street and there was something new to see, The Bridge looked like a dream place in the fog. The park was amazing, you get to see all of it in one run! Lakes, birds, trees, wide streets, secret paths. When exiting the park we faced a totally different weather, sunny, a bit hot but people cheering. We passed the most iconic places of the city. The only drawback was the water that was in small cups. You should stop completely in order to drink or fill in your bottle and that caused a lot of time wasted and that's why a gave a 4 in the organization. The volunteers were great. Thank you San Francisco for a great experience!

Become a better runner

Marathon Details - The San Francisco Marathon