With the sunrise and the Bay Bridge over your shoulder, toe the line as you start your tour of San Francisco. Run along the bay through Fisherman’s Wharf, the Marina Green and Crissy Field on your way to the Golden Gate Bridge. Your first leg of the bridge ends with a one mile downhill toward Sausalito landing along the bay and heading out to Cavallo Point with amazing views of San Francisco across the bay. Head up and under the bridge to begin the journey back into San Francisco, through the Presidio and across the Richmond District neighborhood, into Golden Gate Park where the legendary Haight St. awaits you. Your journey continues across the city, through the Mission District, along newly developed Mission Bay and past the home of the Golden State Warriors and The San Francisco Giants. The Bay Bridge finish line awaits you where the cheering spectators are ready to celebrate your victory with you!
The San Francisco Marathon was the 12th largest marathon in the U.S. last year and was the 14th largest in 2022.
This year 3.7% of finishers qualified for the Boston Marathon and 3.8% of runners qualified for Boston in 2023.
This gives the San Francisco Marathon the 371st highest percentage of Boston Marathon qualifiers in the U.S. last year and the 318th highest percentage so far in 2024.
Its Course Score of 96.44 ranks it as the 391st fastest marathon course in the U.S. and the 29th fastest course in California.
The typical race time temperature and humidity levels are above the ideal range for optimal marathon performance. This, coupled with the Course Score, gives the San Francisco Marathon a PR Score of 95.59. This PR Score ranks it as the 380th fastest marathon in the U.S. and the 30th fastest in California.
Learn more about PR Scores and Course Scores on the FAQ page.
San Francisco Marathon Elevation Chart
Max Elevation: 306 feet (93m) Min Elevation: 5 feet (1m)
Like: iconic views of the San Francisco waterfront and other landmarks and running on Golden Gate Bridge and through Golden Gate Park
Dislike: Tame start line announcements and no anthem, not much to the finish line festival, for an expensive race like these they should be providing fresh hot food (take a hint from Ventura). Mile markers were quite off. 24th mile came at 23.45 and 25th came at 25.1 miles (more than a mile and half between the two markers). The second half runs concurrent with the full and demotivating for the full runners to contend with the half runners speed. Course often intersects traffic which is managed by city cops. There are several runner valves some of which use valve banners but there were some where non-official looking people were just telling you to go the other way.
Last but not the least, the course is very hilly. Their website and pdf course map don't agree on elevation gain, but I would estimate it to be more like 1600 ft or more. Definitely not a PR course.
Race Tips
Negative splits are going to be hard on this course with the second half deceptively more hilly than the first. The pace groups go out too fast in the first half, so they must know the right pacing strategy.
I've run SF 6 times and will be back! It's definitely the most scenic race I've ever done: the Embarcadero, the Golden Gate Bridge at sunrise, Marin, the Presidio and Golden Gate Park are all just lovely. It starts at 5:15am, so you have to get up EARLY and there aren't tons of spectators out and about. I've always found it to be super well organized and love running it every year.
Race Tips
I live in Berkeley and would recommend just Ubering to the start line if you can; the organizers run buses from a couple locations but they show up super early (my 4:05am bus form MacArthur bart arrived at 4:25, and I'm not someone who needs to warm up for an hour before a 5:15am race).
It's hilly but it's San Francisco, so it's supposed to be hilly! As others have said, once you're out of Golden Gates Park (around Mile 19 in 2024) you're pretty much done with the hills except a short one on 16th St in the Mission.
You can't beat running through the Golden Gate Bridge and the views from the different boroughs of SF.
The race was a bit chaotic in the corrals with pacers hidden throughout. There was also not much amp in the starting line, no national anthem or announcers calling out the corrals. Only way I knew it started was because the hoards of people started moving up. I even saw some running to catch up to their assigned corrala because of the early start time.
Not nearly enough portapotties, seemed like there was line no matter where you went. Overall lackluster with few crowds cheering you on and messy organization.
Race Tips
Just enjoy the views, the elevation gain isn't that bad with the great weather.
Get to your corrals very early and use the bathrooms in your hotel or home in order to avoid being late. Best to be in walking distance from the start as it's difficult to get dropped off.
AP's review of 2018 San Francisco Marathon.
2 /
5 Stars
Review
I liked the route and the sights and the challenge, but I *really hated* sharing the course with half marathoners starting 1 hr 15 min after me. I was in corral A and got 3:20. What's the point of those corrals if you're going to congest runners halfway through? I'm not used to crowded races because I'm typically in a fast-ish corral. I think I was slowed down at least a minute because of this nonsense. I had to make my way through that entire second half marathon field up until the group arriving at 1:55-2:00. This is most of them. The streets were big enough, but paths through GG park and aid stops were not. The race starts at 5:30am. Cities that aren't hostile to their marathons host the marathon at more spectator-friendly times of day. It's an extremely expensive marathon.
Race Tips
All of the hills are runnable. None of those 30%+ grade streets are among the hills. There is a mile or two total on packed-dirt/gravel so don't wear the shoes that always get pebbles inside.
4.3 Stars from 15 Reviews
