The Big Sur Half Marathon drew thousands of runners to Monterey's Window-on-the-Bay Park last weekend. But several hundred more people gathered in the park for a very different reason.

From about 10am-noon on Saturday, Nov. 13, peace activists demonstrated on Window-on-the-Bay and waved signs along Del Monte Boulevard, calling on President Obama to end the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

"We issue a challenge to the American people, to oppose the costs, in blood and money, of these endless wars," read a statement from the event's sponsor, Peace Coalition of Monterey County. "We seek to rebuild and sustain our own economy, with peace and justice."

Speakers included Assemblyman Bill Monning, Global Majority board member Rita Cameron-Wedding, David Henderson of Libertarians for Peace, CSU-Monterey Bay student activist Christy Khoshaba, Peace Resource Center President Joyce Vandevere and Phil Butler of Veterans for Peace.

Activist Bill Weigle estimates the crowd at several hundred.

"In the two hours we were standing on the sidewalk waving our peace signs, there must have been 200 or more cars that honked in support," he says. "It was by far the best rally we have had yet. The speakers were diverse, articulate, and passionate about ending the war and related items concerning all of us."