My Profile
@DonnieKilometer
Sun City, AZ Raving since 2023 Active 4 months, 1 week agoAbout Me
My Races
Organize, track & review your races and personal bests here.
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Half Marathon
Marathon
Ultramarathon
(Marathon or Ultra) + Half
Marathon + Ultra
Other
Future Races
Personal Bests (4)
| Race | Distance | Location | Date | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Javelina Jangover Night Runs | 25K | Scottsdale, AZ | 2023 | 2:51:53 |
| Mesa Marathon | Half Marathon | Mesa, AZ | Feb 4, 2023 | 1:48:48 |
| Mountain to Fountain 15K & 5K | 15K | Fountain Hills, AZ | Mar 1, 2020 | 1:13:48 |
| Mesa Marathon | 10K | Mesa, AZ | Feb 12, 2022 | 50:56 |
Future Races (2)
| Race | Distance | Location | Date | Paid |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Javelina Jangover Night Runs | 25K | Scottsdale, AZ | Sep 21, 2024 | |
| Javelina Jundred | 31K | Fountain Hills, AZ | Oct 26, 2024 |
Past Races (9)
| Race | Distance | Location | Date | Result | My Raves | My Performance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lost Dutchman Marathon | Marathon | Apache Junction, AZ | Feb 18, 2024 | |||
| Phoenix Wicked Half Marathon, 10K & 5K | Half Marathon | Peoria, AZ | Oct 29, 2023 | |||
| Chandler #AZ48 Half Marathon, 10K & 5K | Half Marathon | Chandler, AZ | Oct 22, 2023 | |||
| Adrenaline Night Runs | 25K | Scottsdale, AZ | May 20, 2023 | 2:53:48 |
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| Mesa Marathon | Half Marathon | Mesa, AZ | Feb 4, 2023 | 1:48:48 |
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| Javelina Jangover Night Runs | 25K | Scottsdale, AZ | 2023 | 2:51:53 |
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| Gilbert Half Marathon, 10K & 5K (aka Shun the Sun) | 10K | Gilbert, AZ | Nov 19, 2022 | 52:44 |
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| Mesa Marathon | 10K | Mesa, AZ | Feb 12, 2022 | 50:56 |
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| Mountain to Fountain 15K & 5K | 15K | Fountain Hills, AZ | Mar 1, 2020 | 1:13:48 |
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Adrenaline Night Runs
Fun Race On An Interesting Trail
Adrenaline Night Runs
This was my first trail run longer than about 6km. It was a lot to bite off, but it was doable. The first loop (15km outer trail) is much smoother … MORE
This was my first trail run longer than about 6km. It was a lot to bite off, but it was doable. The first loop (15km outer trail) is much smoother going than the second (10km inner trail). If I had the option of running in a different order, I’d make the smaller loop the first section for anyone 25km+ (except this brave 50km souls): I believe it would have improved my overall time. I locked up pretty bad around 19km, which was just past the 2nd peak. That made the last 6 quite difficult.
The people were great and there was lots of energy. I signed up very last minute (at the starting line), but it was easy to do. I had also emailed the organizers that morning and got a response fairly quickly, confirming they had spots.
Beautiful scenery, and the second loop was mostly just alone with the sights and sounds of running through the desert, after dark (not a bad thing).
All of the racers were awesome, friendly, and encouraging. Good people.
After the run was completed, they had a DJ set up, a decent recovery tent, and a beer garden. The energy was great, and it looked like a decent after-party. Sadly, for various reasons, I couldn’t stick around long to really enjoy this. A note on this: the race takes place in a regional park, with camping spaces. If you sign up beforehand, you may be able to snag a spot, which would make enjoying the festivities, scenery and experience far easier.
The swag: I liked that the shirts weren’t that Tek material as it stinks as soon as I start to sweat (which is pretty quickly). I didn’t like the “medal”… I’m not enjoying what appears to be a trend towards wooden, cricut style medals… I feel this detracts from the perceived value of the finisher medal. I would have also like to have seen some different designs for different distances/challenges. I did like that they also offered a glass, but it would have been better to offer both, considering the state or the medal. The beer garden and DJ were awesome; my only complaint is that there was no free beer for finishers. That was a fail in my opinion.
Overall, this was a pretty great experience: the trail was interesting and had some challenges, the scenery was cool, the people were awesome, and the swag was tolerable.
I’ll probably run this again next year.
Mesa Marathon
Same Great Race This Year, But...
Mesa Marathon
As with the last time I ran this race, it was by far the most well-organized race I've run. It is a big event, and everything reflects that from the … MORE
As with the last time I ran this race, it was by far the most well-organized race I’ve run. It is a big event, and everything reflects that from the race swag packet, to the directions and parking, to the expos before and day of.
The weather was again beautiful, as was the scenery running through Mesa. Strangely though, this time myself, and my son both ended up having some pretty bad knee pains that eventually become hip pains. Mine started around mile 5, his started sooner. This made at least half of the race not only more difficult than necessary, but actually quite painful to run.
I don’t know what caused it, but since then we have run other races of this distance and had no issues. So I can only assume it was either our gait that day, or this course puts a consistent pressure on the body that I had not trained for.
This definitely affected what was otherwise a positive experience for both of us.
One last other note: I didn’t use the bag check (which I should have). I had a cobra kai warm-up hoodie that I’d become quite attached to, as well as two brand new 3M knee braces I planned to wear. During the warm-up before the race, I realized this was not going to work. So I did what I could to hang onto these items, but eventually I started asking police and volunteers along the course how I could get them to the end of the race. I was instructed to leave them at a hydration station. I stopped and did so, confirming with the volunteers there that my items would get to the end of the race.
I was foolish and mistaken. My items are now lost, which represent at least $100 in gear. After a month or so of back and forth with the organizers, they finally told me these items cannot be found. We even waited after the race at the expo, tried to find the lost and found (which basically doesn’t exist), and eventually gave up after being told that I would have to wait until they unpacked the trailers after race day.
So that was another sour spot. I get that I could/should have used the bag check. However, whomever is telling volunteers that runners can leave their items at hydration stations is setting people up for disappointment and loss.
For the above reasons (the unexpected hip-down pain from this course), as well as my items getting lost; I’m not sure I’ll run this again next year.
Javelina Jangover Night Runs
Great Race In a Great Series
Javelina Jangover Night Runs
I've only been able to run 2 of the races in this series: the Adrenaline, and this one (Jangover). Both had a very similar set up. The organizers know what … MORE
I’ve only been able to run 2 of the races in this series: the Adrenaline, and this one (Jangover).
Both had a very similar set up. The organizers know what they are doing and the entire experience is pretty seamless, from registering, to packet pickup, to finding the course and parking, to running the race, and finally to enjoying the finish line.
The course is decently marked, although an observation I made after dark was that it seemed like there were a lot more markers on the straight aways then where you may need them during a turn on the trail. However, every time there was a fork with a sign, there was a marker within visual range to keep you on track.
My biggest gripe with Adrenaline was that it was 2 loops; the 2nd loop being much steeper and rocky. Personally, I didn’t enjoy that as I was already pretty gassed from running the first 2/3rd of the race. That was not the case here: the Pemberton trail is one big 25 km loop, so there was no repetition. It is also approx. 800′ up, then 800′ down. So, maybe a little hard on the knees simply handling each elevation direction pretty much all at once, but it was nice to know that just after halfway, it would be mostly downhill. The scenery, before sunset and after it got dark and quiet was great. The weather was perfect: warm to start, but near sunset it cooled down, with pockets of cold air hitting you.
The after party is really cool for these events. They have a DJ, a live food truck (pizza on this case), a fully stocked recovery area, a beer garden, and lots of people who are enjoying the vibe of the event. There is also camping available nearby, and next year I will definitely do that. For me, it was another hour commute back afterwards (both this and Adrenaline take place in McDowell Mountain Park), so I didn’t stick around for too long.
Regarding swag: I’m not a fan of wood cut metals, but they also had decent glasses as an alternative. The shirt was Tek material this time which, trust me, you don’t want to be around me if I’ve just run 25 km in that! But the lady at the registration desk was awesome and let me pick one of the previous year jangover shirts that was cotton. No beer ticket for this or jangover: if one wants a post race beer, you need to buy it.
All in all, I really enjoy this series, and I’ll be back for more next season!
Gilbert Half Marathon, 10K & 5K (aka Shun the Sun)
Fun Race Through A Beautiful City
Gilbert Half Marathon, 10K & 5K (aka Shun the Sun)
It was a beautiful day for a race. The course was pretty well-marked. It is a mix of walking trails (some very smooth gravel), and pavement. Gilbert is a beautiful … MORE
It was a beautiful day for a race. The course was pretty well-marked. It is a mix of walking trails (some very smooth gravel), and pavement.
Gilbert is a beautiful city, and there was a lot of good energy all around. After the race there was a small expo with all of the usual trappings.
My only complaint:
Getting to the starting line from the parking was a little confusing for many (as a group we all kind of figured it out using the GPS and following others).
I didn’t run my best time, but it wasn’t because of the course. The same goes for how far I had to drive to get my packet the day before (and then again the day of: not their fault I don’t live anywhere near Gilbert).
Mesa Marathon
Very Well Organized, Fun Race
Mesa Marathon
This is a very fast-paced course. It feels mostly slight downhill and is all road. It is by far the biggest, and most well-organized race I've run. The expo the … MORE
This is a very fast-paced course. It feels mostly slight downhill and is all road.
It is by far the biggest, and most well-organized race I’ve run. The expo the day before and day of is pretty huge. The day of the race, there is no question of where to go or how to get there. The volunteers were very good, and the course was well-stocked.
Mountain to Fountain 15K & 5K
Cool & Unique Course; Poorly Organized
Mountain to Fountain 15K & 5K
This is a very fun and challenging course with quite a bit of elevation change. It starts with a pretty aggressive downhill segment that lasts for quite a while before … MORE
This is a very fun and challenging course with quite a bit of elevation change. It starts with a pretty aggressive downhill segment that lasts for quite a while before leveling out to a more rolling hill style. There are some pretty tough uphill segments in this (one hill I nicknamed the killer as it drove me to walk for a reprieve).
It starts in the national park, then you run down quiet roads early morning with nothing but your fellow runners and some stunning scenery.
It ends up in the town where you can see the iconic fountain firing its spout at least 100ft into the air near the finish line.
The good:
– Very interesting course that was a great challenge.
– 5k option for runners such as my son who didn’t want the whole 15.
– Four Silos brewery was the free beer for this one. No beer garden, but they make excellent beer, so a can to take away was a nice bonus.
– Good volunteers.
The bad:
– The cancelled the race the 1st year I tried to run it… like the night before. They said it was due to a lack of police volunteers to deal with traffic.
– They rescheduled it for almost a year. When we went to pick up our bibs again, the person was surprised (and rude) about the fact that I hadn’t held onto my bib.
– The instructions for how, when, where on the website were awful. My son and I had to work with a screenshot of a google map from the website that was very low resolution (so low we could barely read it). Forget about signage altogether: no parking lot markings, almost no signs anywhere to tell you where to go and how to get there.
– They were just starting to set up the 5KM start/finish line like 45 minutes before the race. Clearly not well-organized.
– They had me in the wrong age group. I normally wouldn’t mention this, but after all of the other disorganization points, it seems relevant.
– Like a week after the race, I get an email telling me they need enough sign ups or they will cancel this years race: apparently they planned to go ahead and run the race again at the usual time, even though they had just put it on. Of course they didn’t get enough runners, and now there is no information on their site about the 2024 run.
– Their website still doesn’t show the results from this year… we ran this race months ago.
Would I run it again? Probably: myself and my son really had a good morning despite everything else. However, I really hope the people that organize the race take a page out of the many other race organizers books, and follow what is a pretty consistent formula for success.