I did this last year under the old name of Ojai to Ocean marathon. Ojai is a quiet little town, we stayed near the start to avoid the busses transporting people to the start. Although I did not take the busses, I heard there were some issues with that. Having said that, all marathon runners were at the start of the race. The race was delayed about 10 minutes for reason unknown to me. There were plenty of PO’J’s at the start, although they were located directly at the start and the line had to form into the street. I read they are changing this.
The course was beautiful, the path is narrow in some spots, but it never felt crowded, passing could be a challenge for someone impatient. Water stops were plentiful and only the first one was having trouble keeping up with demand. Around mile 23 though there was no water for 2 miles and this was a rough spot for a lot of people, it was very warm and water was definitely needed every mile at that point ( I also read they were fixing this too). The course itself is slightly downhill up to about mile 20 where it flattens out for the remainder. You pass the back of the finish area where there is a lot of crowd support that’s nice since running the path there is not much room for spectators. Pacers were great, I used the 3:35 and she had us on target the entire time, grabbing several waters at the stops for anyone. Can’t say enough good things about her. Finish line located right next to the ocean, was hopping with music and a general good feeling, there was a big grassy area to stretch out and relax. Medals were cool bottle openers in a rustic metal. I liked it, but I heard people complain. T shirt was a nice tech v-neck. No busses back to the start that I remember, not a problem for me that day.
I’m hoping to do again this year if I can get the miles in this month, wish me luck.
