Cambrian Schools 5K Run
San Jose, CA
- 5K
- Road (Paved)
- Official race website
The Cambrian Schools 5K Fun Run features a family-oriented run or walk through the streets of our community and a wellness fair to promote health and fitness. We’ll jog, walk, skip and jump through our beautiful neighborhood together. We’ll simply take a day to focus on wellness, community engagement and … MORE
Local Historical Weather (Mar 24):
| 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | |
| H (°F) | 61 | 56 | 57 | 68 | 67 |
| L (°F) | 45 | 46 | 53 | 46 | 50 |
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Great Family Fun Run
Event & Course Description: Cambrian Schools 5K Fun Run is done sort of school year annually. The previous running was in November, 2017, and in 2019 it was in March. … MORE
Event & Course Description: Cambrian Schools 5K Fun Run is done sort of school year annually. The previous running was in November, 2017, and in 2019 it was in March. The race benefits Cambrian School District (San Jose) schools. As best I can remember, the 2019 course was the reverse of the 2017 course. In 2019 the start and finish was at Ida Price Middle school, and the turn-around was a loop around Steindorf STEAM School.
The course is entirely on streets in the Cambrian area of San Jose. Cambrian is a Baby Boom era neighborhood, with a hill at the corner of Huh? Street and Not Here! Avenue. It’s flat. It has a good number of mature trees – decent shade – but isn’t exactly scenic. March weather is pretty variable. Race day 2019 was clear but chilly, but two days earlier there was rain, and rain is forecast for the next day.
Organization & Production: Instead of their own webpage, Cambrian gave relevant information to RaceRoster, the registration service company. It was fairly complete, though it did not include a course map, nor mention that there would be pre-race-day pick-up. The information for the latter was in the pre-race email, however, and a course map was in the bag received at packet pick-up.
The course was copiously marked with Route Arrows, orange traffic cones, and volunteers. And street intersections were blocked by San Jose PD. One would have to work really hard to go off course! There were 3 water stations. In a 5K! That seems kind of odd, but families are a BIG THING in this run! And they saw to it that staying hydrated would be easy. And then there was a fourth, unofficial, water station set up by a local Realtor at the curb in front of their personal home.
Race timing was done by South Valley Endurance. I didn’t time it, but they had my finish time posted online within an hour of my finish.
Bib: The top ~40% of the bib is a red stripe with logos of the district at the corners and the T-shirt artwork in a white diamond in the middle. The middle 50% has the bib number. In a narrow black stripe across the bottom is the url for the district’s website.
T-Shirt: The T-shirt is red cotton. The front features a turtle running ahead of a rabbit. In an arc above the turtle is “Cambrian Schools”, and in an arc below the turtle is “5K Fun Run”, with the year below it. The back has the logos for the sponsors. All the graphics are in white. It’s not a spectacular race T-shirt, but it is really nice.
Finisher’s Medal: The previous running, 2017, did not have finisher’s medals. I was fine with that, because this race benefits the district’s schools. And that is what I expected for 2019. But medals were given to finishers, a golden disc with “5K” on a red, white, and blue striped ribbon. My guess is that it was decided that because this event is an important, somewhat unique, family experience a tangible memento of the event would be nice.
Finish & Recovery Area: The finish area had tables with pavilions for several sponsors, and tables with bottled water, apples, pears, and Kellogg protein bars (that I can remember). The finish area was an athletic field, so there were no tables or chairs.
My Results & Opinion of the Race: This was a very well done basic 5K. The biggest impression I came away with was that the emphasis was on family, and LOTS of students ran the race (the first four finishers were students), many in family groups. There were also a lot of preschoolers and toddlers (the latter mostly in strollers) with their Moms and Dads. So while the neighborhood scenery was pretty bland, the family “scenery” was a lot of fun.
The race is really well done, the start/finish areas about 10 minutes’ (or less) drive, and the pre-race packet pick-up is at the district office in my neighborhood. So I’ll be watching for this 5K again next “year” (whether fall 2019 or spring 2020).
Welcome to My Neighborhood
Event & Course Description: As the race name suggests, this 5K benefits Cambrian School District schools in San Jose. I live in the district and the race was run just … MORE
Event & Course Description: As the race name suggests, this 5K benefits Cambrian School District schools in San Jose. I live in the district and the race was run just a couple of miles from my home. “Cambrian” is the name of an area of San Jose that was developed not long after World War 2 (Hello, Baby-Boomers!).
The race started and finished at Steindorff STEAM school. The course was an out-and-back that used neighborhood streets and a trail through Doerr Park, with a turn-around at Ida Price Middle School. The course was paved (AKA “Streets”), and being a mature neighborhood, had a fair amount of shade. The weather was clear with temperatures in the upper 40s to low 50s, so shade wasn’t exactly critical, though appreciated.
Organization & Production: Small- and medium-scale races (this race had 538 finishers) benefiting a local cause are not like large-scale commercial races or medium-sized trail races organized by for-profit companies. And I adjust my expectations accordingly.
With that preface … the website information and pre-race email for this race were quite complete, everything a runner would need to know to get there, know where to park, and what to expect. A no worries race experience is pretty much a fundamental requirement in my view, and this race delivered it. Packet pick-up was in my neighborhood (how cool is that?!).
While the start/finish arch was on Foxworthy Avenue, the adjacent school play area had pavilions for the various district schools, a local charity, a sponsor, and for race day registration and packet pick-up. The registration and pick-up table could have been located better, or signs could have been posted to direct people there (several people asked me where it was). The race was started about 20 minutes late. I didn’t hear any explanation, but I saw quite a few people arriving late. Some might not yet have picked up their bib and Tee. So I’m guessing the delay was to accommodate them.
Self-corraling was kind of marginal, so faster runners should make sure they get toward the front. There were lots of parents with small children and strollers, enough that I finished mid-pack (an unusual experience for me), and I found myself threading through families and strollers. I consider this to be inherent to the nature of this race. A large number of the runners were families with children in the district’s schools. No doubt some have had experience with races (and I did see some Tees from other races), but for many it was probably their first race of any distance. So the idea of self-corraling would be unfamiliar to them. Getting families out there running together was the purpose of the race (besides being a fundraiser), so I was fine with that.
The course was through nice suburban streets, pleasant but not unlike the street I live on. The neighborhood is in the district. San Jose Police had closed down the streets all along the course, so there was no traffic to worry about. There were student volunteer course marshals positioned along the route, though there was one turn that probably should have had one but did not (I saw a dad and son go off-course there). There were water stations (on both sides of the street) about a half mile from the turn-around point. There was a first aid and information table right near the turn-around.
Bib: This was a small pleasant (visually) surprise. “Normal”, in my experience is a plain white bib with a number and maybe the charity’s name or logo in a color different from that of the bib number. The top of this bib has a sky blue background stripe, with the Cambrian School District logo and the race logo, which includes the name and original date (see below for more about that). About half the bib is a white stripe in the middle with the bib number. Across the bottom is a thin yellow stripe with the url for the district. All in all, a much nicer bib than I would expect. I wonder if a district parent does graphic design and a sponsor did the printing (i.e. smart organizing!).
T-Shirt: I’m a T-shirt snob. I like the feel of tech-type T-shirts. Reality is that cotton Tees are the norm for 5K and 10K races, and this race is no exception. It benefits schools, so being careful with their money is a good thing! That said, it is a custom design, a running shoe with the mascot logos of the various district schools around the shoe. The artwork was done by a district student, very cool! Above the shoe is the name of the race, and below it the original date. The Tee itself is fluorescent green, a very practical color for runners who run on streets in the evening (good thinking!).
Finisher’s Medal: There was no finisher’s medal, a budgetary choice with which I am entirely fine. The race benefits the district schools. ‘Nuff said.
My Results & Opinion of the Race: I’m fine with my finish time. I worked for it, and it was what I could do. I finished vertical,which is a good thing.
All in all, this was a pleasant race experience; in job performance review terms, it “Exceeded Expectations”. This race was originally scheduled to run October 15, 2017, but that was the week of the big fires in the North Bay. There was enough smoke in San Jose air, even though the fires were a hundred miles away, that the school district decided to postpone the race due to poor air quality. That took a lot of flexibility on the part of the district, organizing committee, and volunteers. The only visible artifacts of the change were the original date being on the race T-shirt and the bib. These had probably been printed before the fires had even started.
Basically I did this race because the weekend was open, and the novelty of the packet pick-up being at the district office in my neighborhood. I can’t speak for next year at this point, but I would definitely consider doing it again.