SeeCalifornia.com

Stunning vistas on the California coast are afforded those participating in the Big Sur Marathon.

Here are some fascinating U.S. facts from Running USA – runningusa.org

• 10% women | 90% men —  ran marathons in 1980
• 43% women | 57% men — ran marathons in 2013
• 57% women | 43% men — finished marathons in 2014
• 143,000 finishers in 1980 | 541,00o finishers in 2013 (all time high)
• 5K run has 8.3 million (44%) finishers in 2014
• Marathon has 550,600 (2%)  finishers in 2014
• The majority of runners are age 25-44 years
• Annual running events = 80,000 | 1,100 marathons | 28,000 – 5K runs |
• Marathon median time = 4:44:18 women |  4:19:27 men

Marathons in California 

• LONG BEACH — Blast the Beach, Blaze the Path, Cruise the Coast, etc. If you’re in Long Beach you can sign up (active.com) and get that 26.2 mile run most any Saturday or Sunday.
• FREMONT — Western Pacific (Trail) Marathon April 30 |  brazenracing.com
• SACRAMENTO — Pony Express Marathon starts at Capitol Mall  May 1 | ponyexpressmarathon.com
• WEOTT — Avenue of the Giants Marathon May 1 | theave.org
• NEWPORT BEACH — OC Marathon May 1 | ocmarathon.com
• STINSON BEACH — Muir Woods Marathon May 14 | raceroster.com
• SANTA CRUZ — Capitola Surfer’s Path Marathon May 22 | surferspathmarathon.com
• OJAI — Mountains 2 Beach Marathon May 29 | mountains2beachmarathon.com