Connie Joylani's Staging Area

VR does an amazing job of putting on great races. The course was pretty basic though with little in the way of gorgeous scenery. We ran on rough roads full of potholes around farms of varying types such as fruit, vegetable, nurseries. The finish at the winery was through the back of the property, really not attractive, on rough dirt and unmowed trail. The parking area and start area was all unmowed with long grass. I was disappointed in the location for the race, but we were not far from the Everglades, although they were not visible at all from the winery. Then the winery charged a $10 cover charge for dinner or even going into the brewery after the race. I look forward to my next VR but will not return to the Everglades event.

I did the 5Km race. It was fast and flat. Course was through a residential area with great volunteers and staff. A portion of it was through ranchland and that was gorgeous.

The course was through a lovely neighborhood with a small portion next to a freeway, on a side road. The 10k was a double loop. The production was great. At roughly the half way point for the 5 K, there was a water station. They also passed out leis, which was fun. This is my second race with this company and it was a lot of fun. The course had a couple of gentle hills. The road was closed to traffic which was great.

This was my first time in MS, and the people were so wonderful. The race production team was great as well. My only concern, and this is because I’m heavily addicted, was that there was no coffee at the start. Seriously, I might die without it lol. The live music on the course was fantastic! The reason the race didn’t score higher, and they don’t have much control over this is that portions of the race were in pretty rough areas and the road conditions were really poor in spots. Like easy to wipe out onto your face poor, if you weren’t staring at the ground. The aid stations and cheer stations were AMAZING! All of the people in the city and related to the race were fantastic. Unfortunately, due to scheduling conflicts, there was no actual festival of blues at the completion of the race.

This half marathon was mostly through a huge park on hard packed dirt trails or gravel. The only downside to the course was the killer hill at the very end. But wow, what a beautiful race. The signs along the way were hilarious. The volunteers were so energized and dressed up to make us giggle. It was such a fun run and well produced. I absolutely loved it. The Blues festival was really great too.

5K Events did a fantastic job putting on this race. It was easy to register, well organized on race day & fun swag including a finisher’s medal. The course was out and back along north beach, on the paved trail. There was a small portion that took us through the zoo which was very cool. Only one hill, going up at the start and down to bring it home. We had an headwind for the first half, but I was still able to run a personal best. Great production, incredible location, lots of fun! Not a huge field, just 121 runners, which was perfect.

Vacation Races has put on wonderful events. I’ve participated in the Grand Quad Challenge and loved it. Wonderful staff & volunteers, great support and amazing course. I’ll definitely do more VR races.