Jessica Johnson's Staging Area

Please note that I ran this race during covid, so things were limited and there were many precautions were in place. This was my first HA race. A friend and I planned to run it as it happened to be during a pre-planned bday trip, as well as wanting to go ahead and check off another state while we had the chance. Pre-race communications through email were plentiful. We got some sort of email from the director almost everyday regarding HA covid conditions, race confirmations, what to expect pre-race/post race etc. I gave production a 4, as I had reached out several times to sign up for the post race cruise and could never get a response. After awhile, I just stopped trying. It was kind of strange considering all the emails, but I believe this was a different contact person.
Packet pickup was very quick and efficient and they even had some race apparel for sale (shirts, tanks, hats). There was no swag, just the bib and the tech shirt. I think that this was due to covid?? I would have liked more. Race day was well organized and the waves went off without a hitch. The course was flat, but there was very little shade and only had a patch somewhere around mile 8ish. The course was relatively pretty, but it was nerve-wracking in some spots having cars zipping by and trying pass other runners with only 3 feet of space between the shoulder and the car lanes. The car honking kind of started getting annoying…although I’m sure they meant well. There were some good picture spots along the course, but also some homeless camps which I was NOT expecting to see. My performance was as expected due to 1) having a recent knee injury 2) coming from a climate with 35 degree temps and snow to 80+. I just wasn’t heat acclimated and I struggled a bit with the temp and no shade. The finish line was very cheerful though! They called your name as you came through the finish with a fun fact about you. The sprinklers were a welcome sight! I stood there for about 5 minutes in them. No post-race snacks or food. A banana, orange, or pretzels would have been great. The medal was awesome, very large and heavy!! All in all, I had fun, but this would probably be a one and done for me.

Spend your money elsewhere. I’m not even certain that there is an official charity associated with this event. No communication regarding course, race day, packet pickup, parking etc. Numerous emails and phone calls placed before race day with no reply. Medal given and medal shown were completely different than what was portrayed. It was essentially a generic with a sticker attached. I chose to run the 5k since this was an inaugural. Great thing I did, as we started 20 min late (it was HOT), the 10k and half participants ran out of water and some didn’t not recieve a medal…even to this day.