The San Diego (Carlsbad) Half and Full Marathon

Carlsbad is a very pretty Southern California beach town. It's the home of Legoland (which I've never visited) and has good surfing, nice bicycling paths, and decent restaurants. It's a short drive from San Diego.

Quick Tips:

Other than Legoland, Carlsbad doesn't seem like a tourist town. If you need a lot of excitement and things to do, schedule your visit around an event like the Half Marathon/Marathon.

Best Way To Get Around:

If you stay in or near the village, you can get by with walking to nearby restaurants, the beach, etc. Bring or borrow a bike and take advantage of the bike route paralleling the coast.

To get to Carlsbad, drive. You'll have the mobility to visit other beach towns and/or San Diego.

I've had the pleasure of staying at the Pelican Cove Inn (the only bed-and-breakfast in Carlsbad) several times for nearby conferences. This trip was the first time that my husband and I traveled to Carlsbad for fun, and I knew the Pelican Cove Inn would be the best choice for us.

The inn was, I believe, specifically built as such; it's not a remodeled house or old building. As such, the architecture lacks some of the charm of older buildings. However, there's a nice parlour for afternoon cookies and breakfast in the morning, and the rooms themselves are comfortable and have some nice antique pieces.

Dave and I stayed in the Carlsbad room. The star of this room is the Captain's bed, a huge bed that, if you're my height (5'5"), you have to hop into or use the little step. A small settee and coffee table was off to one side near the gas fireplace. Nancy had the fireplace going before we checked in. All the beds have wonderful feather beds and down comforters. A small container of chocolates was located on the mantle.

The bathroom was small, with a shower/tub combo and a bunch of fluffy towels.

Breakfast is the star here--my favorite is Nancy's Decadent French Toast (made with croissants), served with fruit and Canadian bacon. Delicious! We had that Saturday morning.

Most of the guests staying this weekend were either participating in (or supporting someone) the marathon or half marathon. Nancy got up early Sunday morning (day of the event) and had coffee, various Power Bars and similar bars, fruit, juice, etc. She made us some toasted English muffins with peanut butter (a great snack prior to the race!). She was also very accommodating regarding late check-out.

Pelican Cove Inn Website

Our innkeeper, Nancy, recommended Le Passage--we were looking for good, well-prepared, but simple, food, and French bistro food sounded great.

The restaurant is walking distance from the Pelican Cove Inn, located on State Street along with a variety of other restaurants and boutiques. We chose to sit outside in their back patio, a small brick-walled enclosure with a huge tree hung with white lights in the center. The heaters kept us warm enough during the cool evening.

We were immediately served bread with an aioli dipping sauce (scrumptious) and asked for our drink order. We shared a bottle of sparkling water (then later switched to tap). I also ordered a glass of wine from their decent list.

It was hard to choose what to order--so many things sounded delicious! We ended up sharing a mixed salad, a very generous serving, to start.

I finally chose the lavender grilled chicken breast, served with little potato croquettes and veggies. The sauce for the chicken was delicious and unique and the lavender was apparent but not overwhelming. The chicken was moist and tasty.

Dave ordered the lobster ravioli in a light cream sauce. He enjoyed it.

We had enough room for dessert and shared a very nice apple tart, served with ice cream and fresh strawberries--tasty but not too heavy.

The waitress was very welcoming and helpful, as was the rest of the staff. We liked it well enough to consider going back the next night (though we ended up carbo-loading at an Italian restaurant!).

Le Passage Website

Saturday night was nominally our carbo-loading night. As such, we were going for pasta. But we wanted good pasta, not just plain spaghetti with Bolognese sauce (which I do quite well at home, thank you!), but something tasty and filling that I don’t normally cook.

Nancy pointed us to Vigilucci’s Cucina (a few storefronts north of Le Passage) on State Street. (Carlsbad has quite few choices for Italian; Nancy had a stack of menus I forged through, and this sounded better than most of the others.)

The restaurant was busy (we only got reservations thanks to Nancy), with tables (no booths that I saw), a full bar with a TV tuned to a football game, and cheerful waiters. The atmosphere was warm and inviting, though a bit loud.

We were served bread quickly. The wine menu looked okay, but since we were running the next day, we skipped ordering any. Dave and I shared a mixed salad (tasty but not tremendously memorable). Mel and Dave ordered the same dish--tri-colored farfalle with chicken. I order spaghetti Carbonara (pancetta, eggs, and peas), which was very tasty. Overall, the food was good, with portions larger than adequate.

We skipped dessert (because we’d already HAD dessert, an afternoon foray to my favorite patisserie, Extraordinary Desserts in San Diego!).

Would we go back? I'd rather try another of the Italian restaurants that also sounded tasty... or go back to Le Passage.

Vigilucci’s Website

Like all good triathletes, we brought our bikes with us in hopes of going for a ride Saturday. We'd heard mixed things about the weather (rain!) but woke up to a lovely, sunny morning.

The Pelican Cove Inn is located a couple small blocks from the ocean. We rode our bikes to Carlsbad Boulevard and decided to go south (paralleling the beach). There's a decent bike lane and it appears that cars (well, their drivers) are used to bicyclists--I never felt any of the fear I occasionally feel while biking on the streets near my house.

The route was scenic, with a few rolling hills (a little more challenge than I wanted the day prior to the half marathon, but that's primarily because I'm still rotten at hills). There were a fair amount of other bicyclists as well.

We noticed the mile markers painted on the road and realized that we were biking part of the race route, a nice preview for Sunday.

We rode till we got to Leucadia (our bike path disappeared and the road went a bit inland from the ocean at this point). We turned around and then decided, when we were nearing our turnoff for the Inn, that we wanted to go a bit farther. We ended up riding north on Carlsbad Boulevard through part of downtown and into Oceanside (at which point our bike path disappeared and we decided to turn around).

The total distance was about 17 miles.

Advice: ALWAYS have (and wear, on your head, not your handlebars) your helmet and a patch/repair kit--we passed someone fixing their flat tire. Be prepared for the hills--they weren't huge, but if you're not used to bicycling all the time, you will notice them!

We picked up our race packets on Saturday from the expo site (a high-tech local gym with some really nifty water wall fountains/sculptures--I'm thinking we could've snuck in workouts if we'd wanted; if nothing else, we had day passes in our goody bags).

The expo was set up in several rooms throughout the gym, which seemed a little strange but apparently was the only way to really set it up at that location.

The usual suspects were there--local businesses, the same running clothes/paraphernalia vendors, energy bar dealers, and various charities.

RoadRunner Sports (who has a storefront in San Diego in addition to their mail order business) did have a booth with $40 running shoes (once-worn demos) that was packed, plus they were giving away really nice, free running hats (which I sorely needed, my RunnerGirl hat being completely disreputable).

Clif was sampling their Clif Blocks but not selling them. I love those things in the strawberry flavor. The only vendor selling them unfortunately had only lemon/lime. Clif offered to trade flavors, but by the time I made it back to the vendor, they’d sold out. If you have not tried these, they’re great, like Gummi Bears with electrolytes.

One nice touch was the series of inspirational posters made up with bios on some of the athletes and why they were racing, with a lot of touching stories to humble and inspire you.

The race started and finished at a local mall. We arrived in time to easily get parking, but that meant we had about an hour or more before the start. We followed some people into the mall (I felt like an extra from Dawn of the Dead) and found the only open bathrooms, which were much better than port-a-potties. After waiting in line, using the facilities, and making our way to the start, we’d used up all our extra time.

The course starts off with a slight uphill to the overpass for the freeway and then continues down through a neighborhood. There weren’t a lot of spectators, but those out were decidedly enthusiastic --always appreciated!

Around mile two, you go up over another overpass and head into downtown Carlsbad Village. At this point you’re on Carlsbad Boulevard and you continue south through town, then paralleling the beach till the turnaround.

Expect mostly flat terrain, with some rolling hills. It's actually easier on the way back because of how the divided road was engineered/built (basically, the hills really aren’t as steep on the way back).

The course is a there-and-back route, so the finish is mostly downhill--great to look forward to!

There’s no tent with bagels and water like at most races; instead, you’re handed a bag with some packaged snacks (Nutri-Grain Bars, etc.) and a banana.

Sign up at Carlsbad Marathon.

I’d definitely do this race again…it’s a nice course, well organized, and a good excuse to visit Carlsbad!