Half marathons in California, 2026-27

23 of the 62 courses list a net drop of zero: the start and finish are at the same elevation on the certificate. They are Upper Newport Bay Half Marathon, ZombieRunner Halloween Half Marathon, Silver Strand Veterans Day Half Marathon, Santa Clarita Marathon, Davis Turkey Trot Half Marathon, Citrus Heritage Run Half Marathon, Rotary Mission Ten Half Marathon, Run GPR Griffith Park Half Marathon, Palm Desert 1/2 Marathon & 5K, Davis Stampede Half Marathon, Livermore Valley Half Marathon, Oakland Half Marathon, Modesto Half Marathon, Nail the Rail Half Marathon, Napa Spring Half Marathon, Lighthouse Half Marathon, Humboldt Bay Half Marathon, Santa Rosa Half Marathon, Urban Cow Half Marathon, End of the Trail Half Marathon, American River Parkway Half Marathon, Noyo Headlands Race (½ Marathon) and Lions Turtle Bay Run Half Marathon.

The biggest net drop on the list belongs to REVEL Big Bear: up to 3,170 ft (966 m).

Net drop compares only the start and the finish. It says nothing about the hills in between, so a zero-drop course can still climb.

10 of the 62 races are in Los Angeles and Orange County.

• Upper Newport Bay Half Marathon, Newport Beach: Oct 18, 2026; net drop 0 ft
• Nike After Dark Los Angeles 13.1, Redondo Beach: Oct 24, 2026 (sold out); net drop 0 to 3 ft
• Santa Clarita Marathon, Santa Clarita: Nov 15, 2026; net drop 0 ft
• Rose Bowl Half Marathon & 5K, Pasadena: Jan 17, 2027; net drop -1 to 0 ft
• Run GPR Griffith Park Half Marathon, Los Angeles: Feb 6, 2027; net drop 0 ft
• Surf City Half Marathon, Huntington Beach: Feb 7, 2027; net drop -9 ft
• OC Half Marathon, Newport Beach: May 2, 2027; net drop 105 ft
• Lighthouse Half Marathon, Long Beach: May 23, 2027; net drop 0 ft
• LBS Financial Long Beach Classic Half Marathon, Long Beach: Jun 6, 2027; net drop 1 ft
• 2XU Long Beach Half Marathon, Long Beach: October (next date TBA); net drop -10 ft

8 of the 62 races are in San Diego County.

• Silver Strand Veterans Day Half Marathon, Coronado: Nov 8, 2026; net drop 0 ft
• Kaiser Permanente Thrive Half Marathon, San Diego: Nov 14, 2026; net drop -4 ft
• Carlsbad Half Marathon, Carlsbad: Jan 17, 2027; net drop 2 ft
• GOVX San Diego Half Marathon & 5K, San Diego: Mar 21, 2027; net drop -2 to 2 ft
• San Diego Beach & Bay Half Marathon, San Diego: Apr 10, 2027; net drop 7 ft
• Rock 'n' Roll San Diego, San Diego: Jun 6, 2027; net drop 282 ft
• America's Finest City Half Marathon, San Diego: Aug 15, 2027; net drop 112 ft
• Wicked Fast Half Marathon San Diego, Alpine: June (date TBA); net drop 1,167 ft

15 of the 62 races are in the San Francisco Bay Area (including Napa and Sonoma counties).

• ZombieRunner Halloween Half Marathon, San Jose: Oct 31, 2026; net drop 0 ft
• Golden Gate Half Marathon, San Francisco: Nov 1, 2026; net drop -6 to 9 ft
• ZombieRunner Quarry Lakes, Fremont: Nov 14, 2026; net drop -10 ft
• The Berkeley Half Marathon, Berkeley: Nov 15, 2026; net drop 10 ft
• San Francisco Half Marathon & 5K Presented by Sutter Health, San Francisco: Feb 7, 2027; net drop 174 ft
• Napa Valley Half Marathon, Napa: Mar 7, 2027; net drop 121 ft
• Livermore Valley Half Marathon, Livermore: Mar 7, 2027; net drop 0 ft
• Oakland Half Marathon, Oakland: Mar 21, 2027; net drop 0 ft
• Napa Spring Half Marathon, Napa: Apr 25, 2027; net drop 0 ft
• San Jose Half Marathon, San Jose: Jun 6, 2027; net drop -25 ft
• Napa to Sonoma Wine Country Half Marathon, Napa: Jul 18, 2027; net drop 49 ft
• China Airlines Bridge Half Marathon, San Francisco: Jul 25, 2027; net drop -240 to -203 ft
• 2nd Half Marathon - "The City Half", San Francisco: Jul 25, 2027; net drop 6 to 233 ft
• Santa Rosa Half Marathon, Santa Rosa: Aug 22, 2027; net drop 0 ft
• Rock 'n' Roll San Jose, San Jose: Oct 3, 2027; net drop -6 to 217 ft

6 of the 62 races are in the Sacramento area.

• Clarksburg Country Run Half Marathon, Clarksburg: Nov 1, 2026; net drop 0 to 3 ft
• Davis Turkey Trot Half Marathon, Davis: Nov 21, 2026; net drop 0 ft
• Davis Stampede Half Marathon, Davis: Feb 28, 2027; net drop 0 ft
• Shamrock'n Half Marathon, West Sacramento: Mar 14, 2027; net drop -4 to 9 ft
• Urban Cow Half Marathon, Sacramento: Sep 26, 2027; net drop 0 ft
• American River Parkway Half Marathon, Carmichael: April (date TBA); net drop 0 ft

3 of the 62 races are in Ventura County.

• Run Malibu Half Marathon, Camarillo: Nov 8, 2026; net drop -4 ft
• Ventura Half Marathon, Ojai: Feb 21, 2027; net drop 14 to 708 ft
• Mountains 2 Beach Half-Marathon, Oak View: Apr 18, 2027; net drop 389 ft

The USATF database also lists active half marathon certificates for these events, but we could not confirm a current race on an official site, so they are not in the table. Names are as the certificates give them.

• High Tide Run Half Marathon 2024 - Long Beach (Long Beach)
• High Tide Run Half Marathon 2024 - Santa Monica (Santa Monica)
• 2017 Blue Angels Half Marathon (El Centro)
• Dream Mile - Bay Area Half Marathon (San Jose)
• John Srand Half Marathon (Cerritos)
• La River Half Marathon (Los Angeles)
• Run 4 Layla Half Marathon (San Dimas)
• Morgan Hill Half Marathon 2017 (Morgan Hill)

Some California half marathons are missing because their certificates have lapsed. On October 11, 2026 the database held no active half marathon certificate for these events; the newest one listed expired in the year shown: La Jolla Half Marathon, San Diego (2024); Revel Canyon City Half Marathon, Azusa (2025); Lake Tahoe Half Marathon, South Lake Tahoe (2025); Run Rocklin Half Marathon, Rocklin (2025); California Classic Half Marathon 2014, Fresno (2024); Pleasanton Run for Education Half Marathon, Pleasanton (2024). Ask the race whether the current course is certified.

USATF lists 170 active half marathon course certificates in California, covering 97 events. We list the races we could confirm, sorted by date, with each course's net drop from start to finish. The 8 certified events we could not tie to a current race are named at the end.

We started from the USATF course certification database: every course in California certified at the half marathon distance with an active status, searched on October 11, 2026. We grouped the 170 certificates into 97 events, then opened each race's official website for its name, city and next date. A race is listed only when its official site shows a half marathon in its current or most recent edition. Dates come from the official sites; where a site has not published the next date, the table shows the month of the last edition.

A certified half marathon course is accurately measured, so a time run on it is a true half marathon time. Certification codes and drops are facts from the USATF database (certifiedroadraces.com), which the USATF Road Running Technical Council maintains. Race directors can change courses, so confirm with the race before you build a season around one.