Kieran Wong's Staging Area

I guess I need to post a disclaimer first: I live in Santa Clarita and am a City of SCV Parks, Recreation and Community Services Commissioner. Now that I’ve covered that, the race is great! I made a classic rookie mistake (although I’m not really a rookie) by deciding to run the half-marathon the day before the event, at 4:30pm on Saturday no less, with little to no recent training. Such is life.
The race start was great, with perfect weather, enthusiastic supporters and a full, but not crowded starting line. I ran into a friend at the start and we ran the whole race together, sharing stories along the way, until mile 13 where my body gave in and he took off to the finish line.
I’m not a fan of race t-shirts, as they’re usually chock full of all sorts of logos, but this one is a keeper! Gray with all the logos in white on the back and a cool California graphic on the front makes this one to hang on to.
The race support was really great! Lots of enthusiastic folks at every SAG stop as well as community supporters on the paseos throughout the course. Did I mention the paseos? Yeah, Santa Clarita has 38 miles of Class 1 bike paths plus 50 miles of multi-use trails connecting the entire valley. That’s 88 miles of off-street running heaven. The course is one I knew well with a mostly flat profile punctuated by a few small kickers where the path goes under an over-crossing.
The City folks put on a really well organized event, as they’ve done for many years, and are really dedicated to make this Boston qualifier one of the best races in the nation.
If you’re looking for a convenient race (with lots of hotel rooms virtually overlooking the start line and town center) that enjoys great weather and tremendous support, then this is it!

Fun race through Six Flags Magic Mountain in Santa Clarita. The holiday theme and all the costumes made it festive and fun. The attitude of the runners was pretty low-key as well, which made for a nice Saturday morning event.

The course begins by winding through the parking lot, which wasn’t the most scenic part, but it was a nice downhill warm-up. On the way back up and starting the second mile we entered the park. Apparently the park had promised the race director that they wouldn’t wash down the pavement, but I guess maintenance wasn’t told. It added a certain caution on the corners, but didn’t seem to be an issue in general.

The course was well marked along with volunteers directing races at all turns. But there was one section where we all yelled, “were do we go now?!” and then saw the course arrows.

The park is perched on top of a “hill” which had some of the runners walking up, but it isn’t so steep or long as to cause one to wonder why you signed up for the race. The final stretch is a nice downhill running around the carousel before entering the finish area. And there were a lot of spectators at the finish line to cheer you on and make you feel special.

Fun race, great location and supportive spectators. My family had a great time hanging out in the house we rented while I was off racing through the wine country.