Chris Randle's Staging Area

This was my third Revel Series race as I’ve run their Rockies full and Big Cottonwood half and love the Revel races! Much improved transportation via nice buses (not school buses like in the Rockies) to the starting area. You just cannot not enjoy the scenery coming down the mountain with snow still surrounding the course. However, there was a section at the bottom as you left the mountain road that went through a construction area that was not the most pleasant and needs to be addressed in the future. Very steep decline at the top with a few unexpected short uphill portions that, thank goodness, were early in the race. Mostly a gradual descent after about mile 9 until some small rolling hills a few miles before the finish. Plenty of aid stations along the way, so you should not have any issues here.

I think some people have the idea that because of the elevation drop that this is a cheater course to BQ. Not even close as this presents a totally different challenge than a flat course. Luckily I’m a pretty slim guy, so the quad thrashing that was getting to quite a few folks at the bottom of the mountain was not so bad for me. Believe me when I say this: you will have difficulty once out of the mountains if you do not train and get acclimated to running down such a steep slope. I also learned from the Rockies race that you need to have a little extra room in the toe box of your shoes as your toes will be pressing hard against the front of your shoes during the upper/steeper portions of the race and, if you don’t have this room, it will be an excruciatingly painful last 6 miles for your feet.

I’m not a big swag guy, but you do get a really cool “ticket” to Boston if you BQ (yes, I did!). Glad I opted for the nicer tri-blend finisher’s shirt, and the medal with the turtle mascot on it is really nice, too. One thing I really like about the Revel Series of races is that everything is included in the cost of the entry fee: transportation to the starting line, swag, pictures AND a YouTube video to boot!

Great race experience and highly recommended.

From Dallas and was in town for the race. It’s an absolutely beautiful race course, one of the prettiest I’ve ever run. Running into the sunrise along the beach was very special and traversing around the CSULB campus was pretty cool, too! Pretty fast course with very few hills, and even those won’t slow you down too much. Could have been a more signage directing runners and cyclists to the proper starting areas and heard quite a few people asking for directions. Very impressed with the support shown by the locals when running through the residential areas. Came here to PB/BQ and was on pace to do so, but left with a personal worst due to a hamstring injury at mile 12. No matter, as this is a race that is worth the money to travel to.