Forums >General Running>Is Boston or CIM harder?
IIRC, Bay Breeze/Summer Breeze starts up in San Leandro near the Oakland Airport and heads south and yes very flat. Brazen has their Western Pacific race at quarry lakes, but I believe the course is slightly different. Western Pacific is certified, but I don't think the Breeze races are.
I understand what you are saying, I actually ran San Leandro course too - in August 2012. I do not know what happened in Feb 2013 but we ran the same course you mentioned but it was managed by Brazen Racing - I have no memories of why but I could guess that maybe San Leandro course was closed for some reason at the time? Anyway, you can check this Strava activity and see that it is exactly the same course you were referring too - https://www.strava.com/activities/166487891. Or you can check it here in the log, Feb 16 2013. I checked Brazen Racing results for Feb 2013 and yes, it was an event ran by them.
I actually almost ran HM by Zoom and led the race up to mile-6 but could not find any course markings and had to turn back in frustration somewhere at mile 5-6 and got pretty frustrated with organizers telling them a lot of "f" words when I came back to the start/finish line. Since then I never ran Zoom's races
paces PRs - 5K - 5:48 / 10K - 6:05 / HM - 6:14 / FM - 6:26 per mile
Don't know what happened in 2012, IIRC, we tried to register for Bay Breeze, but it was sold out. Did do Western Pacific and Summer Breeze that year, but I wasn't doing halfs quite yet then. I'm pretty familiar with Zoom's Halfs at Quarry Lakes (they do spring and winter there) and the course isn't the same, they are similar. You can see from my track in December that they are different. Brazen spends more time in the park itself and it is probably simpler then Zoom's. Both are certified, so pick which ever you're more comfortable with.
Yes, Wendell always says the course is well marked and it seems someone is always getting off course. To be fair, the courses are marked better these days. I would be hesitant to do an Inside trail run again after the fiasco at China Camp in 2018. Zoom/Coastal Trail Runs tend to be less expensive and given number of races we run in a year (~18/year) the costs start to add up. I like Brazen, but Zoom tends to fit my budget better.
Ray
I love bay breeze! Unfortunately, I do not believe the courses are full length.
It's not about beliefs - it's about numbers - and the course was measured as 13.21 with my GPS watch - absolutely legit number and my watch proved to be pretty accurate. Comparing to Livermore Half which I ran twice and both times the course was measured as 12.9 miles - that is the course that is way too short and both times I informed the organizers - I heard they fixed the issue. There was no issue with Bay Breeze half for sure and I didn't hear about any issues from other runners.