I love races in San Diego. As much as I hate having to wake up at 3am to make the drive up to SD, its very rewarding. I have run several races this year in SD. (Carlsbad 5000, America’s Finest City, San Diego Holiday Half, Crown City Classic 5k,TriRock triathlon). It seems like San Diego has more number of races throughout the year, and each one is unique and beautiful. Also, they have more point to point races than OC Area. (Surfcity race as beautiful as it is , you can only look at the ocean for so long… but I still like local races!).

I originally got inspired to do half marathon, when my bf, and his friend Shannon and I went to cheer our friend Priscilla who was doing La Jolla Half Marathon last year. IT was kind of tradition for her to do that race, so we went and did the 5k ( with no da*n medals, but I hear this year there will be finisher medals for 5k!). Just to see these amazing runners finish through the final mile/finish line, wanted me to run a half marathon, and I signed up and did the laguna HIlls Memorial Day Half few weeks after!

All that story is to tell you how much I like San Diego races!

Half Marathon Triple Crown Series is a series of 3 half marathons around San Diego Area. The first of the challenge is Carlsbad Half Marathon(Or Marathon) which takes place in January 15, 2017. The next one is La Jolla Half Marathon in April 23, 2017. The last one is Americas Finest City in San Diego in August 20th. Unlike Orange County’s Beach Cities challenge, where you can finish Long Beach/SurfCity and OC in any sequence (wtart with any but finish 3 in a row), those that want the Triple Crown Series medal need to complete the half marathons all in the same calendar year. with January 15th fast approaching, you have almost 11 days to make a decision as to whether you want to get in on Triple Crown Series Challenge!

I ran the America’s Finest City Half Marathon as my 2nd half marathon, and it was beautiful! Its a point to point course, with amazing scenery, and good people, a very fine finisher medal! After last year’s AFC, I immediately signed up for AFC for 2017 as the price was cheap few months ago. Since then I have signed up for all the 3 of the races (half marathons) so I can also get in on TriCrown series challenge. I did get to see my friend Ashley’s Triple Crown Medal last year, so I am super excited to run all the 3 and get the Triple Crown Medal at AFC in August!

Registration:

1. (Jan 15) Carlsbad Half Marathon is 130$ right now.Register here. (they also have a full marathon at $150 which qualifies for this series challenge) (check my note on how to save $20)
2. (April 23) La Jolla Half Marathon – 100$ right now. Register here. 
3. (August 20) America’s Finest Half Marathon is  99$. Register here.  (read about my race recap)

These races hardly issue any discount code, and infact, they usually sell out. I don’t have any discount codes for these races. But if I do find any I will sure update this post with discount codes, but I highly doubt that would be the case.

Carlsbad Half – Option to save $20 –

If anyone is still looking for a better price for Carlsbad Half Marathon (Jan 15) I have an offer. A friend of ours is looking to transfer her half marathon bib that she got for $120 and offer to transfer it to anyone for $120. she will take care of transfer fee. Its a really good deal, as the current price for Carslbad Half is $140 ( $130 + processing fee of $10). A $20 savings. If anyone is interested message me. mahesh3566 at yahoo.com

La Jolla and America’s Finest City are point to point races, and absolutely beautiful courses for sure. I never ran Carslbad Half Marathon, so I am kind of curious and excited to find out how this race is.

If you are already doing Beach Cities Challenge in OC, be assured the dates aren’t overlapping, so you will be just fine trying to do both challenges!

Good luck with TriCrown and see you at Carlsbad!