One of my favorite marathon events is taking place this weekend in San Diego: the Rock 'n' Roll Marathon, which will have more than 25,000 participants. Fun fact: this worldwide run series actually originated right here in San Diego in 1998.
Being a runner myself, I've ran both the half and full marathon courses here in San Diego. I especially love that the course runs through my hood in North Park. And if you're like me and the course runs through or near your neighborhood, you know about the road closures and traffic that come with that.
You can find the course maps here. The half and full start together at 6:15am Sunday morning near Balboa Park and run through Hillcrest, North Park, Normal Heights and back to North Park where the half splits off to eventually run down Pershing and down into downtown where they finish their 13.1 mile run near Waterfront Park. The full continues on from North Park, back through Hillcrest, into Mission Hills, looping around the bay and into Mission Valley, then taking the aptly-named "Highway to Hill" run on the 163 (I legitimately cried on this part of the run- it's miles 22-24 and mostly uphill) all the way into downtown and Waterfront Park to finish their 26.2 miles.
Let's get into the road closures. Portions of the south and north 163 will be closed. North 163 will be closed from A Street to Friars Road and south 163 will be closed from Park Blvd to A Street. University Ave will be closed from 6th Ave to 32nd St. The full closure list is here.
From the RnR site: "most road closures and detours on Sunday will be in effect between the hours of 5:30am and 3:30pm. At 5:30am, Police and event personnel will implement a soft closure along the entire race route." It also states that "streets will reopen on a rolling basis as soon as the last participant has passed and all course support materials have been removed."
And definitely make sure you pay attention to any official "No Parking" signage around the course routes before you go to sleep tonight. A few years ago on the night before the RnR, I was at the Bluefoot Bar in North Park when the DJ made an announcement that everyone parked outside was getting towed. This was at either midnight or 1am. Tow trucks everywhere, clearing the street on Upas. So- read the signs and don't get towed!
Good luck to all of the runners tomorrow!