I was online researching protein bars. I used to live off of those and it kind of scared me at the thought of consuming one but the ones from 1st Phorm looked so delicious to me. As I was about to make my purchase I saw an ad pop up for this marathon. On a whim I registered. I ended up not buying the protein bars. I was then excited for this half marathon instead. I do not run. I am a little on the heavier side based on my height. I also have a lung condition due to the smoke inhalation from the house-fire. The run is 7 days away. Doing a half marathon was always something I wanted to try and do. I figured since I will turn 37 in 2 weeks why not just do it? I can run, jog, and walk. As long as I show up and finish... Received my bib, backpack, and fleece sweater the day before. The process went very smoothly. Kudos to all the volunteers and event coordinators! On the day of the event you do not need to come as early as I did. I saw "check in" at 6-6:30 and decided to get there around 5:45. If you need to check your belongings otherwise getting to the area 30 min. prior to the start is plenty. I don't care if the run is scenic or not. I just want to hurry up and finish. The first mile was painful but my 2nd mile to the 9th was relatively easy. Everything after my 10th mile started to become "oh my god"... but I finished and received my medal at the end. I loved the community-feel to this because we were all cheering for one another. Everyone. I did not drink any water or refuel w/ electrolytes during my run but great job to the folks handing them out and for cleaning the mess after. I had a blast!!! I worked out the next day and even got into running on Wednesday.. just 3 days after completing 13.1 miles. I am very happy that I did it and cannot wait to do another one again!!! read more

I didn't run the marathon but my husband did. It was his first ever full marathon and he enjoyed it very much. The course was fairly easy he said. My review is for the staff. See... I misplaced the shirt my husband got after registering and because it had sentimental value I contacted the site asking if there was any way I could purchase the shirt for him. I got an email response from Scott literally 2 minutes after I sent the email. He was kind enough to ship me a new shirt for free! All I had to do was send a self addressed envelope to the address he gave me in SF. I got the shirt right before Christmas :) Thanks again Scott! read more

2009 Dean Karnazas Silicon Valley Marathon was great. I ran this event last year, and wasn't really that impressed. But having a second chance to run the same event and knowing what to expect, and furthermore noting the many improvements they made this year, I have to say, the overall personal experience was pretty ideal. And here's why: The Sports Expo may not have been as big as the Health Expo (expo for the Rock n Roll San Jose Half Marathon), but then again, there's only a fraction of the participants. This is the only Boston qualifier marathon in San Jose, so people who don't want to travel far have a convenient race to run. The price was dropped this year. Hope it stays way. They let you use MP3 players. Not all full marathons allow them. There are tons of water stations, especially near the beginning (which also means near the end since this is a out-and-back course). The volunteers were hardcore. Some prepared bananas pre-cut, orange slices, apple slices, strawberries. It's a quiet run, which I realize some folks don't like. But with many folks serious about qualifying, it definitely had a more pure running lean than the more fun running events hosted around the bay. I kinda like the quiet run. San Jose Rock 'n Roll has it's charms too. I guess I like each for these differences. And don't get me wrong, DKSVM had some fun too, including an announcer calling out your name as you finish, and RnR had some seriousness too, including separated start times to ensure that faster runners got to start earlier to avoid bumping into slower runners, and of course, there were some pretty hard core pro runners and some just for practice/fun runners at both events. The course is very well laid out, with tons of cones to make sure you stay on track. They close a lot of streets down, and those they don't have police officers, controlling traffic, always giving runners priority. Much of the run is along the Los Gatos Creek, which may not be the most scenic view in the world, but considering the course starts ultra-conveniently right outside the Hilton on Almaden, the relatively scenic Los Gatos course and the end in the park was a creative compromise. And the finish line had more food than the RnR half marathon. And of course...it was a full marathon vs. just a half with the RnR San Jose event. ---------------- On to some personal notes: Walter P, was tres cool, meeting me at the finish line. No one has ever been there for me at the finish, and that's a great feeling, let me tell ya. After experiencing this, I'm definitely all for supporting my friends if they run in local events by being at the finish for them, it's a jolt of energy and a quick smile and mood setter. Thanks again bro! PS. I thought I was doing pretty good this year, until some really old Asian lady, looked in her 60's easy, maybe 70's, cruised on past me. She couldn't've been more than 4'10, if that. But she blew the pants off me! Hahaha, guess I need more training. read more

I ran the full Silicon Valley Marathon last year. This year I ran the half. The only reason why I decided to run the half was because my dear friend Ron was going to run it. Unfortunately, he had the flu and was hacking up a lung, so he didn't make it. So sad. When I ran the full last year, I was drudging along because there are times when you are just running on your own. Mainly its the second half of the race that gets you. The second half of the race is the time when you want people running somewhere in your perimeter and you want to see signs of life on the side lines. Running through the neighborhoods alone in the second half was boring. I appreciated the course for the half marathon, so I'm glad I decided to give the Silicon Valley Marathon a second chance. There was always company when running the half and estimated 85% of the course winds you through Los Gatos Creek Park. Which is serene and peaceful in the morning. The people at the Aid stations were awesome both years. They are constantly cheering you on and a couple of Aid stations had funny slogans like "Don't think. Just run like a horse!" Or "You are a rocket!" Or my personal favorite a sign that said, "I bet 1 million you would cross the finish line cause I know you can do it!" If you don't want to do the full, definitely do the half! read more

I'm pretty shocked how poorly organized this event is. I know it's not as big as the SJ Rock N' Roll or Livestrong, but cmon inside the SJ Hilton? It was SO hard to get anything, everything was a mad dash for shirts, freebies, and coupons. First of all, I hate having to park in that lot and pay to come get my stuff. Then you have to look up your own number on a set of papers where the font is 8-point Arial and you're craning your neck to see over the other people with poor eyesight. Fortunately my new LASIK eyes gave me eagle vision. The run was OK. Nothing spectacular. I just did most of SJ RnR a few weeks ago so with that fresh in my mind this was something of a letdown. The worst part is the timing chip. It's this large thing about the size of a Zippo lighter but not as thick. It ain't disposable, people. Apparently if you forget to return it like I do, you had better send it in to the address on your packet or you could get charged $30. Seriously, that's just a big hassle and to be honest it wasn't really that noticeable on the envelope. I bet a lot of people miss that. I bet they count on that to charge people through the nose. Probably not doing this one again. Now I'm really looking forward to the SV Turkey Trot in 4 weeks. read more

Really 3.5 stars. Impressed at how they bundled a 5k, 1/2 Marathon and Full marathon into one race. It is definitely one of the smaller, more "intimate" races. I'm a no frills kinda guy, and this race is definitely a no frills. I only ran the half and there were plenty of water stations with both water and energy drinks available. Not sure how it was on the way back though (you run the course in reverse for the Full). The course is really just the Los Gatos creek trail and you will see many non-racers along the trail as well. Being that there aren't that many runners, it isn't too crowded. However, it may have been annoying for the Full Marathoners as many unaware Halfers were crowding both sides of the trail. How rude! There was only 1 bus to transport Halfers back to the start. 2 would have been nice. The expo was small. Besides Wahoos, bananas, Noah's bagels, and some freebies from Whole Foods there was not much else. This is totally *not* like the Rock n Roll series. This is what a race was like before they became big-time productions (and cost an arm and a leg). Spongebob awesomeness: Dean Karnazes (the race namesake) was present and taking autographs. He's an inspirational guy and has an amazing running history. Racing *can* be fun, but it isn't supposed to be. Dean Karnazes' coach, "If it felt good, you didn't push hard enough. It's supposed to hurt like hell." read more

Update! I ran again this year. Having a major sponsor such as North Face has really turned this race around. It looked like there were a few more racers this year. Some things from this year that I noticed: 1. Registration was much less unruly. I recommend parking in the Hilton to avoid any towage, or all day fees, and parking meter mad-dashes. 2. Super friendly volunteers this year. It seems that it's mostly sport clubs that run the waterstops, and there's really no consistency to them. 3. Acclerade was the drink of choice. It's not my favorite for running (too heavy) 4. Lots of runners do not wear deodorant as part of their daily hygene. Try to start a little farther back from the pack to avoid this... Whew! 5. Big name Dean Karnazes actually ran this year. Not sure if he ran the full or the half, but I think that is really awesome! 6. Finishing village was a little bigger than last year at the full. All in all I've changed my yelp from a 1 star to a 3 star. Hopefully this race keeps getting better! read more

Did the half this year, and while I still think it's a decent race I don't think I'll be back again. The end of the half is very, very disorganized. The only water available was in small cups at the end of a very long line. Appreciated the bananas and bagels at the end but I really needed something to drink! Also, it's not clear where the shuttle buses are and the line gets very long very fast. There needs to be a few volunteers assigned to that area to direct finishers and help the bus drivers get people on the buses. The area where the buses pull up is right where the full marathon runners are running, which seems very dangerous. I heard a number of runners participating in the full marathon say that they weren't sure where they were supposed to go around the halfway mark. There was also no water at the end of the full marathon, only gatorade. I appreciated the free plate of Wahoo's fish tacos at the end, though! This is a fairly small event, there are lots of aid stations and it's very flat and mostly on a paved trail (no cars). I still think this is a good course for your first marathon, especially if you live in the area and can wake up in your own bed. Thanks to all the enthusiastic volunteers on the course, especially for all the good cheer at the aid stations! read more

I thought this was going to be a fun one, since it's the only full marathon available locally. So I went out and drank myself sh*t-faced the night before, getting only 30 minutes sleep and not knowing wher I was when I woke up. I got to the strat line with 1 minute to spare. It is not as crowded as the Rock N' Roll Half Marathon. It starts in the same area, but it's dreary. Everyone is quiet. There isn't a lot of noise and motivation. Then you end up on the boring and long Los Gatos Creek trail. Which, in my opinion, is a very boring run. A lot of the people that choose to do thise race are also very serious runners, so you aren't going to have that party atmosphere that comes with the Rock N' Roll Marathons. ZZZZZZZ. Boring. read more

I ran the 2010 marathon. It was my first full marathon ever. I would highly recommend this race if you want an easier marathon and don't want to take a bus shuttle back to the start line (you begin and finish at the same spot). The course is fairly flat. The course's elevation map makes it look harder than it is... People say the first half of the race is a slight incline, but you won't notice it because it looks flat when you're actually running it. With that detail, the largest climb is at the half way point (after the half marathon runners finish at the high school track field). There's a hill you have to climb but it's not that steep or long. It's not the most exciting course as you run 12+ miles of the race on the Los Gatos Creek Trail. But again, the course is great for beginners. As for the finish line activities, there's not much. Though I was way too tired to care. There's no photo op area where you stand in front of a screen so a photographer can take a picture with your medal. The marathon medal is impressively large. Dean Karnazes is a really nice guy. I talked to him at the expo, and he actually runs the race and chats with the runners. read more

Ran the full this year on Halloween. The event was better organized than expected based on reviews from past years. A lot smaller than the R&R Half Marathon and with a lot less cheering. Pretty solitary run along a narrow path and a lot more uphill than expected. I don't consider it flat and I've run the full Big Sur! It's a steady slight uphill. Had to ask for directions once but it didn't cut into my time. Nice village at the end. Great hearing my name as I crossed the finish line. Thanks to all the volunteers and cheerers for coming out!! read more

This was my second half marathon, the first being the SJ Rock and Roll. The look and feel of this one was very different than the other. What I loved: - Very organized event! - Expo was easy to find, got everything I needed, and from a logistics standpoint, felt very prepared. - Awesome course! Most of the half marathon was done through the Los Gatos trail and it was a lot more challenging than the Rock and Roll course. - Great support along the way - water station that had both water and energy drinks! - The timing chip on our shoe also allowed an announcer to call out our names during the final turn, which in turn prompted the supportive friends and family at the finish line to cheer us on! - Tons of fruits and food at the finish line. - Buses to take the half marathoners back to the start line. - Results were available within the hour of completion. As for cons, I can't say that I have any for this race. There was so much energy at the start line, great motivational/send-off speeches, and perfect weather to boot. Overall, I had an AMAZING time and will definitely do this again. read more

It's a pretty boring course, but still a decent marathon. The fact that it's a flat course is great for first time marathoners though. My biggest complain is the hose water they use for the water stations... INVEST a little more of the entrants money into better water.. 13.1 and 26.2 miles is a long distance for first timers and better water would be great! read more

All my marathons, with the exception of Anchorage, have been big city marathons, so I may be lambasting the DKSV Marathon too harshly. With that being said... I'm never participating in a long distance event where they serve up sugar free salinated kool aid (Ultima) again. For crissakes, when people run marathons, they need energy! Why are you serving cheap sugar free "replenishers"? The trail was nice, and if you did the half, you saw everything there was to see. If you did the full though, you doubled back to the same path and saw things twice. It was nice and flat but there was quite a few obstacles as it isn't closed off to the public during the race. And while DKSV had nothing to do with it, the weather was pretty nice. The cops were very helpful during the few miles of road running, and the volunteers at the aid station were very cheerful. Apart from that there was literally zero energy from non org spectators because there were literally so very few. I mean, the biggest crowd I saw outside of the finish line was a group of 6 people. Lastly, the medals. What a cheap, unimaginative piece of junk!!! I am looking at the past DKSV medals and this by far is the absolute worst, and in general, worse of every event I've particiated in. It is literally a cheap circular flat metal with the event engraved on it (not press printed) and a phrase saying "version 12.0". Even the ribbon was a cheap and plain. It was such a let down. I know it's superficial, but I don't have hundreds of these medals and I try to cherish each one I earn. This one seemed tomock my efforts. The medal was so bad that it actually kept me from enjoying the free Wahoo fish tacos they served. I am sorry to have participated in this event and I think the $80+ would have been better spent in another race. I'm definitely not doing this again unless I hear massive improvements. read more

It was a warm early September summer while I sat at Starbucks, reviewing my GMAT material as a friend studied C data structures. We were making small talk, and the topic drifted to a friend running the San Francisco Half Marathon (which I ended up running with her. Instead of writing two different reviews, I will compare and contrast the SF Nike WOmen's Marathon with the DK SVC Marathon, so be prepared for a lot of comparisons). The conversation sort of went like this: Me: "Hey... you wanna run a marathon? It's always been something I wanted to do before I die." My friend: "Sure, me too!" Thus we signed up for the Silcon Valley Marathon. Brief training history: We only had roughly two months to train for this event, starting in Early-Mid September and ending on Halloween. I am an ex-cross country runner and my friend is an ex-track and field runner, so we jumped into a quick routine of 3 miles, every other day, increasing 2 mileage each week. Diet consisted of high carbohydrate food, plenty of refueling liquids (juice, Gatorade, water), and sleep (8-9 hrs a day). Some trails I trained on: Los Gatos Creek Trail, San Joaquin Trail, Nike Women's Marathon (Unregistered), Highway 9 Big Basin. Because Sports Authority had their "Free $10 Upon Check in" deal going for Foursquare, I got a a couple pairs of Dry-Fit socks and kinesiology tape for my shin splints and knees. I also recommend a smartphone app "RunKeeper" that tracks your pace, route, splits, elevation, and distance via GPS. We decided a 6 MPH avg would be good over 26.2 miles. Race Day: Showing at 6AM, the SCV Marathon had a crowd (~4000 people) compared to the MONSTER MOB of SF (~20,000 people). Mr. Karnzes gave an inspirational speech, and we were off through the streets of downtown San Jose. SVC took us 4 seconds to start running; we had to wait 10 minutes to start moving in SF. Crazy. The route is pretty straightfoward as it runs through downtown SJ and spits us out on the Los Gatos Creek Trail, ends at Los G. The route was quiet with sporadic volunteers and family members/friends cheering whereas in SF there were audiences EVERYWHERE, cheerleaders, band members, numerous volunteer orgs, and local San Franciscians. Definitely more pumped to run in SF than in San Jose. The trail in SVC is relatively boring as it runs through the backroads of suburbia, with occasional views of Vasona Lake and bridge overpasses. In SF you were rewarded with the breathtaking view of the Golden Gate Bridge, Sutra Baths, Alcatraz, and the bay. SF also had powersongs pumping and blasting the air (think "Don't Stop Believing") whereas SVC was quiet and peaceful. The aid stations were modestly staffed and I had no problem getting the water. I do NOT recommend the "Accelerade", that is a NASTY form of powerdered energy drink. However, I do recommend the "AccelGel", easy to 'eat' and gave my hungry body some much needed energy. Nike Women's Marathon gave out much better goodies though, such as bananas, Chocolate, Luna bars, Gatorade, and other goodies. The half-marathon route ends at Los Gatos High, and the full-marathon loops back to downtown San Jose, so I saw everything 2x. Since our marathon lasted 6 hours, many morning joggers joined us on the road and I felt like I was running by myself on the trail. Instead of the runners 'thinning out', SF had a crowd no matter the length of the run. Overall, this was a mediocre run, but a good experience. After shin splints, knee problems for 2 weeks, and generally excrutiating lower body pain, I will hold off long distance running for a while. Good luck to those who decide to try it! read more

This was my first time running a half marathon, and I decided to run it two weeks prior to the event, so the disclaimer here is that I'm not an avid runner, nor do I know what to normally expect from these types of events. I ran the event with my fiancee, and the only reason I signed up for it was because she wanted some support (everyone else would either not be awake on Sunday morning or at church), and I didn't know if they'd allow non-racers to run alongside the participants (turns out they do), and I didn't want to just pop out at random points along the race and yell "Go Vicky!" and let that be it... so I ran it. Here's my review! Organization: I thought the event was pretty well-organized. The day before the race, we went down to a Hilton near the starting area to pick up some race information, as well as our timing chips, bib number, and a free shirt. Whole Foods was a sponsor and they passed out free grocery bags. The shirt was nice! I was expecting a screen-printed cotton T-shirt, but this was made of cotton/poly blend like those Nike Dri-fit shirts. My fiancee ended up running the race with it. Start: They told us that there would be free parking, but the lot we parked in was charging $7 for parking. People were really confused; some people said it was "supposed to" be free, but many of us weren't too willing to trust someone else's word when a sign pointed out otherwise. Better to pay $7 than risk a far more expensive parking ticket, anyway. Bummer. It was pretty cold in the early morning, but luckily UPS was one of the sponsors of the event and let us store our jackets/sweats in their trucks, giving them back to us at the finish line. There was an announcer on a microphone saying some motivational stuff, but overall I didn't really get the sense that people were all that pumped up for this event -- crowd seemed kind of dead. I thought runners were morning people. :P I kind of wish they would have started people in waves, since the first two miles were kind of crowded, and indeed when we checked the watch we were running those at a 13-minute clip instead of the 10-minute pace like I usually do. The actual race: The weather was awesome that day, and the overall course was had a lot of shade, although starting at 7am certainly helps. I never really got hot since there were only brief moments of sunshine. The entire run was pretty scenic, going through various San Jose neighborhoods, the Los Gatos Creek trail, and a park whose name currently escapes me but has a large lake. They had police blocking traffic, giving runners priority, so that was nice too. The finish: Those timing chips I mentioned above are pretty neat. I guess they're keyed to your bib number and allow the computers to record your name and start/end time. As you round the corner of mile 13 and step on the timing pads (to trigger the chip), the announcer calls out your name, which I barely heard over my headphones (thankfully this race allows mp3 players; I've read that some don't). However, I was kind of confused because I thought that was the end of the race, so I let up a little and was like "WHAT THERE'S MORE?" -- keep in mind that I was pretty gassed at that point and had sprinted the last quarter-mile toward what I had thought was the finish line. Meh, ultimately it wasn't that bad, just a little confusion. At the finish line they were handing out medals to us, although I missed mine since a guy was calling out to me to cut the timing chip off my shoe; I don't know why he was in such a hurry. There were also tents set up to pass out bagels and bananas, but what I REALLY needed was WATER, and for awhile I could not find it! Turns out the water station under a tent, but was some 150 feet from the finishing area, out on some table. After finishing the race, all you want to do is just go home, but the Silicon Valley Marathon is an out-and-back race, which means we half marathoners finished 13.1 miles away from the start line and the festivities. We wound up having to wait for a bus for about 40 minutes before we finally were able to get back to the main post-race party. This, and the thing I wrote above about not being able to find water, was what led me to subtract a star. It was great when we finally got there, though. They gave us a free taco with rice/beans and a bottle of gatorade, and you could sit and relax while watching the full marathoners finish, which is a very inspiring sight. Overall, I really enjoyed this race and, at the risk of my legs calling it quits and walking out on me, would consider doing it again. read more

This was my first half-marathon. I like the course, but when you get on the trail, it gets a little tight to pass people. There were plenty of water and gu stations along the way, but there wasn't enough water at the end of the half-marathon. We also had to wait in a very long line for the port-a-johns right before the race start. My major complaint is that they didn't have us finish on the track. It was very confusing. They had the race censors and announcer on the track, so I sprinted to the censor. Then the announcer told me to keep going after I crossed what I thought was the finish. You turn the corner and there is about 100 more meters to the "real" finish. So, I had to muster up energy to sprint again : (. read more

I ran the 1/2 marathon this year on Halloween. It was my first time running this race and I thought the course was beautiful and on the easy side. I kept waiting for huge hills to show up. They didn't and I was grateful. Plenty of water spots along the way. The only thing I would change is more porta potties along the way. They had 2 at most water spots but there were long lines. I wasn't going for time but I felt bad for those who were and had to wait. We stayed at the Fairmont the night before and it was very close to the start line. read more