Melissa Sims's Staging Area

This race is basically a “fun run” unless you are an elite runner or possibly in the first corral. There were more walkers than I have ever seen at a race before. This is great that there is so much participation, but there was definitely a bottleneck for about the first mile, and an obstacle course to get around the walkers for the entire course. There were corrals, but I don’t think most people paid attention to their corral numbers. I would have appreciated if the walkers had been in the last corral because this definitely slowed runners down. The course was nice. Lots of very pretty views and a combination of flat road and small hills. Lots of locals cheering the runners along, and several bands providing music. There was a definite lack of race etiquette along the course, with walkers blocking the entire width of the road at points, and lots of people not paying attention to runners around them and either stopping right in front of them or cutting them off. Having said that, this is an iconic Nor Cal run, and I’m really glad I participated for the first time this year. If I repeat this race, I will definitely try to get in the front corral, and I will park my car in Capitola and take a ride-share to the start line in Santa Cruz so that I don’t have to wait for the bus after the race to get back to my car. This was about a 30 minute wait just to get on the bus, and then with traffic it took about another 30 minutes to get back to parking lot at the start. Overall, a great experience, but expect it to be a long day. No race medal but a very cool shirt for finishers and a goody bag full of treats such as power bar, apple juice, trail mix.

There were lots of runners at this race so great energy. Very well organized from the gear check to the post race goodies. I really enjoyed this race – the course was mostly flat, and there were plenty of aid stations along the route. The weather was perfect – not too hot, and not humid. For me it was fun to run in a new city – I was visiting schools in Boston with my daughter and we did the race together. I hope to have the opportunity to do this one again in the future!

This was a fun race, part of the Giant Race series that takes place in several venues (Scottsdale, Sacramento, San Jose and San Francisco). This is the first time I have participated. Lots of Giants fans at the race, so great spirit at the start line. Course was flat and not the most scenic, but it did take you through parts of Happy Hollow park which for me brought back some fun memories. Cute medal shaped like a Giants jersey. I’ll probably do the San Francisco one for fun as well.

This was my very first 10K race so I was a little nervous but it turned out to be great. The course was mostly flat – just a couple of hills on an overpass. The scenery was suprisingly nice considering it was in downtown San Jose. This race was very well organized and the course was lined with volunteers cheering you along and keeping you on course. There was also music at a couple of spots along the way. I enjoyed this much more than the 5K the day before which was in the afternoon so really hot. This was perfect with an 8AM start. I enjoyed this race, and the 10K distance so I will definitely do it again!

This local race takes you from the SCU campus to Avaya Stadium and back. Scenery not the best, but the race is well managed and there is lots of food at the end of the race. I always appreciate a race close to home, so I am a fan of this one and will run again in the future.

I wanted to run this race because of the ocean side course. It was stunning – perfect weather and my best running buddy (my daughter) made for a standout race. Course was flat, it was not too crowded, and the cute surfboard medal doubles as a bottle opener :-).

My favorite thing about this run was the views. Also very organized with buses, bag check, etc. The only thing that I didn’t like was the bottleneck at the start of the race – the narrow wooden paths meant I had to walk at the beginning for awhile which was a bummer for my time. Fun race anyway with great weather.

This race supports families of fallen officers. All bay area runners should consider participating in this race – it’s family friendly and they have a police helicoptor land at the end, and mounted police on their horses. It’s really fun and different. The course through the park is nice, mostly trail. I actually got an age group win here which was fun :-).