John Hanson's Staging Area

the Vibha Dream Mile raises money for poor school children in India, so a good cause. The race has a DJ and the music keeps an energetic atmosphere. the course follows the Silvercreek trail, which has a nice set of small rolling bumps and turns. it is an out and back course, and this year it was re-routed due to flooding, which made the course better in my opinion, since the previous course had two out and backs. There are many age group awards, and Indian food trucks. I miss the voucher for free vegetarian food from years past.

O.C. always has a good crowd for this 5k, with a talented announcer and great bands. the course is a loop around the fairgrounds through the stadium and a perfect shakeout for the marathon or half the following day. for those of you who like to compete, there are always some fast runners ready to challenge you. I recommend keeping the 5k at easy pace if you are doing a Marathon the following day.

The rain made this cooler, which was nice, but the wait between the 1st and second waves was too long. I think setting up some pace range signs might help, it was very difficult to get around the walkers at the start of the second wave. there needed to be a little more traffic control, at one point a bicycle couple blocked the race route where it crossed a side street. All in all, it is a cute little 5k, and a good warm up for the Half the following day.

A mostly flat course with one hill, a loop through a nice park, Bands, great aid stations, and running along the ocean! I do this every year as part of the Beach Cities Challenge, where if you run Surf City, the O.C. and Long beach sequentially, you get a golden sea creature as an added bonus.

I ran this as part of a birthday party for a friend who turned 50. The course had a lot of climb, and was quite technical in places, but also had some very runnable sections. The course takes you through hoodoos, which are some of the coolest rock formations on the planet!
Vacation Races had excellent aid station support, with plenty of porta-potties, water and other beverages, and a really good selection of foods. (fruits, M&Ms, chips, etc.)
the main negative, was that the half marathon was going in the opposite direction on Single Track at the same time as we were going as slower 50k’ers this created a dangerous situation where we had to stop and let people by.
We were blessed with great weather on Saturday, with the start a chilly 26 F, but no snow, hail or rain. (which did hit the 100 miler runners who left on Friday.)
The Medal is pretty cool, with a relief of the letters, and a very substantial Ribbon with the distance and dates.
The shirts are also of very good quality.

This year, I went to just enjoy the run, and was happy to run the 5k a little faster and run the Half at an easy pace. the 5k was more like a 5.4 k, not sure why the course gets longer each year. There were some bicyclists out on the course trying to support a runner, but they were blocking the course and being very annoying. the medals were very good this year for the 10th Anniversary, I wish I could have run all the races so I could get the Marathon medal too. It seemed like they are losing crowd support over previous years.

This Course is more challenging for me than others that are supposed to be harder. I was feeling an extra amount of tendon soreness, but was able to hold on to beat Oprah’s time…(on the MCM when she turned 40.) The weather was probably the best ever, and the crowd energy was really positive. In a new procedure, this year they started the slower runners on the left, after the 4:05 group left the start, this was good, because there was less jostling than last year. I went out at a good pace, and kept to a 2:01 Half split, hoping to beat 4:08. I was happy to keep pain away by slowing as needed, since I was running Honolulu the following week. At the finish, Team RWB handed me a flag so I could finish carrying it, what an honor! (I am athletic director for the San Jose Chapter.) I still hope I can Break 4:00 at this course soon. Unfortunately, they chose to run 2019 on the Second Sunday of December, instead of the first, and that is ALWAYS Honolulu’s date. maybe 2020….

This is a very fun event, put on by the same folks as the Oakland Running Festival. Most people run in costume, and it also supports a kid’s running group. It supports slower runners and walkers, with a generous amount of time before the 1 aid station was picked up. The Medal was the same as last years, but with a new customized ribbon for this year’s event. it is a very cool “day of the dead” skull with glow-in-the-dark Eyes that are oak trees. The tee-shirt is also high quality with a large skull. There were a couple of negatives this year… A drum circle at the same location of the start / finish dominated the space, and did not allow for enjoyment of the music, or to hear the announcements. (The City of Oakland has to do a better job supporting permitted events! the Circle just needed to take a break for 3 hours.) There should have been 2 Police assigned at the more crowded parts of the Lake, so make it safer around Bicycles at the opposite end of Lake Merritt. I was most disappointed by the lack of timing, which just seemed cheap, since the bibs had a chip on them already. I now cannot count it toward my official races in Athlinks. I entered my Garmin time for my first 5k above. (I ran it a second time for fun. and ran the 10k in under my age in minutes…) There was beer, but not much for the non-drinkers. There is a Costume contest which is very good, with the winners being chosen by crowd cheering noise. I believe the first male and female finisher get a prize basket. However there were far too few snacks at the finish! Participants were allowed one cookie, and the oldest participant (over 80) asked for a second cookie, and they said “No” If you charge $50 for a 5k, and an 80 your old asks for 1 more cookie, you should give it to her!! I really hope they bring back timing next year.

I was very happy to be allowed to co-Pace the 2:15 group with East Bay Beer Runners. I was impressed with the many options to pick up my bib, more races should follow this example! the Bib, pins and shirt were well designed and great quality. The crowd had good energy going in, but due to a delay of about 15 minutes, people started getting uncomfortable. after it started the crowd got back to having fun, which I like! The delay is one of the main negative points of this year’s event. The weather was perfect, and the announcer was easy to hear. The course this year was flat the whole way, so it was fast but it went through a lot of industrial areas. I wish that races would try to go through more neighborhoods, so a better feel of the city is presented, but I am sure permits are very expensive…. at least we got to circle Lake Merritt, which is lovely. the other negative to this year’s race was that the course was very short. (Approximately 500 M) I believe the 6 mile marker was early, and stayed off from there. I have a Jones Counter, and wonder if many races use one, as is required for USATF certification. Our Pace group decided to stick to the Pace rather than finish the shorter course in 2:15. The results show a pace based on a full 13.1, which is about 14 sec / mile faster than reality. There were also some sections where we went on trail conditions, Dirt and rocks, rather than roadway. This should be avoided for road races… On the plus side, the Oakland PD always does a stellar job with traffic control. The Medal and Mason Jar given to finishers was really nice, and I appreciated not having more plastic bottles in the world, instead, they had large clean water tanks ready to refill the jars. There was some nice musical entertainment after the race, and beer for those over 21 who wanted it. All in all, I would definitely run this again, and hope they iron out the distance and start time issues.

I really enjoy the Atmosphere at Sasquatch Races. The Tick Trailblaze raises money for Lyme disease research and had a great fun run for the kids. the 5k course is challenging but very runnable, with beautiful views and wooded scenery. the Medal was one of the best with a little tick which can travel back and forth across the medal, which is also a multi-tool. the shirt is a high quality tech type with the Tick also present. Really great snacks and beverages including Beer on Tap available for after the race. RxBars showed up with samples as well. I really recommend this race for pure running enjoyment.

I would recommend getting into Jackson a day ahead, to acclimate to the elevation, and to account for any travel issues. (our plane was cancelled from Salt Lake City, and we ended up driving 4:50 to give us an hour of sleep before the race.) Vacation Races does a great job with course planning and marking and this course was a special last minute adjustment because a bridge washed out, and the resulting out and back course was relatively fast and easy. The start is at 5,800 ft, so definitely felt a lack of oxygen! They provided Gnarly sports drink at the aid stations, and although I hadn’t trained with it, it agreed with me. Even though I walked up one small section of hill, I ran fast enough to get 3rd in age group. The views along the course are breathtaking. I also appreciated the after race challenges: we hiked to Bradley Lake, which was also spectacular. I brought my 4 kids, and we all did the activities for the post race trifecta. the highlight of which was taking the tram to the top of Mt. Rendezvous. (Where we had waffles at 10,240 ft!)

It was a perfect day, and the trails were soft from rain but not muddy. This course has a lot of climb, but I stopped at the peak of Mount Diablo due to Shingles pain in my ear. I had a wonderful couple of miles with the amazing Catra Corbett and I missed one turn with a group of runners, but still give this course 5 stars since others were able to see the markings. (ok, only 4.98 stars, but I round up!) The RD gave me a half marathon medal since I ran 34.81 km on Garmin, and made it to Aid Station 4. I look forward to running this again next year!

This is a challenging course, with more up hill than the Race directors talk about. That being said, the rolling hills give you a chance to use different muscles. it is a fast course, and I recommend you really work on negative splits for this one the last half can be much faster! I really missed the Non-Alcoholic Beer at the finish in 2017.

Mt. Charleston Marathon in Las Vegas is a wonderful race to run your fastest!
The parking and shuttles to the start were organized and easy to deal with, and the ride up the mountain was comfortable.
The race is on all paved roads with a little uphill section at the start, winding down from the mountain to the city with a lot of 4% grade. It flattens out for the last 10 miles with an uphill at mile 24-25. The porta-potties were clean, stocked and plentiful. The water stops were also frequent, with Powerade and water, and many having gels too. The volunteers had great energy, which more than made up for a lack of crowds along the course. The Post race food included Pizza and Pie! (as well as bananas, bagels, and water.) Timing was very professional, with finish times and place provided immediately after finishing with an attractive printed card! There was a wait at the end for the shuttles to get back to the Parking lot, hopefully they can reduce the wait time going forward.
I almost forgot the goodies! A very high quality shirt, and running socks, disposable cotton gloves and a space blanket for the wait before the start of the run, and a delicious protein bar which I enjoyed after finishing.

I actually did the “run the Town Challenge, of both the 5k and then the half marathon. I came in 2nd in Age group for the combined time! (Hope the combined race can be added as a distance option?)
This 5k was a little long, so according to Garmin it was my PR on an Official 5k Race. Due to construction, the start and finish was moved to the Eastshore Park side of Lake Merritt. This had a fast, very slightly downhill start which allowed for an easier warm up. There was free Erdinger N/A Beer at the end, which I really enjoy as a recovery beverage. (They also had 2 types with alcohol as well.)

It is wonderful to live in a city that has a classic 5k which involves the commmunity. a great vibe, with support for both elites and families.