Jennifer Holland's Staging Area

Two months back, I was searching for a July half-marathon and was delighted to see one along the coast in beautiful Ventura. I’ve run that stretch several times and it is some of the most gorgeous landscape coastal CA has to offer. My runs always fly by and I feel complete joy watching the waves crash, families play and dogs chase frisbees. What a perfect location for a half! Without question, this would be the race for me and I trained accordingly. I made travel plans and arranged to be in Ventura the weekend of the race.

And then…at the last minute…the race organizer emailed everyone and announced that due to the “skyrocketing costs” of permits, the race would be changed to the Ojai bike path. UGH! Are you kidding me? I’ve already run a half there and it really wasn’t my favorite. The path is narrow, meaning that passing people can be tough and you have cyclists to contend with. The path runs along some sketchy parts of the area (I always smell pot there).

The race was brought 8 miles inland, off the coast, which meant (in a blistering SoCAL July) that the race was hot and humid. Really unpleasant!

When I sign up for a race, I expect only minimal changes to the course. This organizer materially changed the course of the run after collecting everyone’s entrance fees. Unbelievable. Don’t sign up for this race unless you are flexible with running a mystery course.

I should mentioned that the organizer never apologized for the change in course.

I added one “shoe” to my score because the volunteers were sweet and there was water, gatorade, and potties every 1-1.5 miles as promised. Also, the other runners were really cool…good etiquette and very friendly types. Everyone honored the “waved start” recommendations.