Runners follow a dauting uphill climb for virtually the entire race at Santa Barbara’s Pier to Peak Half Marathon, which unfolds all the way from the Friendship Dolphins Fountain at the edge of Sterns Wharf on the water all the way up to La Cumbra Peak, which overlooks the city and the ocean from an elevation of nearly 4,000 feet above sea level. How difficult is it? It’s been often called the “world’s toughest half marathon.”
(MORE: Pier to Peak Half Marathon event details)