Event & Course Description: No Foolin' Foot Race was run in the city of San Carlos to benefit the parks department and trails maintenance. It could be called, "A Tale … MORE
Event & Course Description: No Foolin’ Foot Race was run in the city of San Carlos to benefit the parks department and trails maintenance. It could be called, “A Tale of Three Parks”. The start/finish area was in Crestview Park, which is basically a soccer field plus a few picnic tables and a small children’s play area. Two distances were run, 10K and 5K. Both sets of runners wound their way around the hilly trails of Big Canyon Park. 5K runners then returned to the finish. 10K runners coursed around the hilly trails of Eaton park and returned to the finish using Brittan Avenue and Crestview Drive.
Bay Area weather can get quite warm in the summer, but race day 2023 was very pleasant and overcast. The 5K course was fairly shaded, though I didn’t much notice. There were several nice panoramic overlooks, plus some nice views of wooded ravines. Other than short sections on streets and in circling the soccer field in Crestview Park, the courses were mostly single-track dirt, with several short bridges over small seasonal run-off ravines and sets of steps down short steep places. Did I mention that the course was hilly?
Organization & Production: As I mentioned in my title, the 2023 running was billed as the first annual. But for that billing, it probably would not have been apparent that it was a first-time effort. It was that well done. Necessary information was on the event webpages, including course maps with elevation profiles. Check-in was race day. Volunteers in the start/finish area and on-course were friendly and encouraging. The course was well marked with color-coded flags, signs, and course marshals. There wasn’t an aid station on the 5K course, and there may not have been one for 10K runners. In the two parks the trails were single track and hilly, so there wasn’t room for an aid station or to schlep in a table and water and etc.. The finish area had water, coffee, coffee cake, bananas, and oranges, that I know of. There were several picnic tables and seats for the soccer field for those wanting to sit. Race Tees were given out at the finish.
Bib: The bibs were distance color-coded: white background was for 5K runners; green background was for 10K. The bib number is in the center, with the event logo to the left of the number. The date is at the top, sponsor logos are at the bottom, and the distance is in the bottom right corner.
T-Shirt: The race Tee is white, tech type. The front has the circular event logo, two runners running through green hills, with the location and date above them, and the beneficiary below. Encircling this is a purple ring with the event name at the top and the parks department slogan at the bottom. The back has sponsors’ logos. The Tee might not quite be favorites-grade – I am spoiled by some organizers’ designs – but it is really really nice. There was no finisher’s medal.
My Results and Opinion of the Event: If I haven’t mentioned it already, the 5K course was really hilly. The website, as mentioned above, does include the elevation profiles with the course maps. I didn’t look at the profile carefully enough, so I was quite under-prepared. It is a challenging course. I kept on chugging and finished, but the last 10K runner’s finish time was 6 minutes faster than my 5K finish time. I’m not trying to discourage anyone from doing the event, but runners should be prepared for a good – and beautiful – challenge. Would I do No Foolin’ Foot Race again? If I believed I could handle the challenge (maybe do it a little better), I would definitely consider it.
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Well Done "First Annual"
Event & Course Description: No Foolin' Foot Race was run in the city of San Carlos to benefit the parks department and trails maintenance. It could be called, "A Tale … MORE
Event & Course Description: No Foolin’ Foot Race was run in the city of San Carlos to benefit the parks department and trails maintenance. It could be called, “A Tale of Three Parks”. The start/finish area was in Crestview Park, which is basically a soccer field plus a few picnic tables and a small children’s play area. Two distances were run, 10K and 5K. Both sets of runners wound their way around the hilly trails of Big Canyon Park. 5K runners then returned to the finish. 10K runners coursed around the hilly trails of Eaton park and returned to the finish using Brittan Avenue and Crestview Drive.
Bay Area weather can get quite warm in the summer, but race day 2023 was very pleasant and overcast. The 5K course was fairly shaded, though I didn’t much notice. There were several nice panoramic overlooks, plus some nice views of wooded ravines. Other than short sections on streets and in circling the soccer field in Crestview Park, the courses were mostly single-track dirt, with several short bridges over small seasonal run-off ravines and sets of steps down short steep places. Did I mention that the course was hilly?
Organization & Production: As I mentioned in my title, the 2023 running was billed as the first annual. But for that billing, it probably would not have been apparent that it was a first-time effort. It was that well done. Necessary information was on the event webpages, including course maps with elevation profiles. Check-in was race day. Volunteers in the start/finish area and on-course were friendly and encouraging. The course was well marked with color-coded flags, signs, and course marshals. There wasn’t an aid station on the 5K course, and there may not have been one for 10K runners. In the two parks the trails were single track and hilly, so there wasn’t room for an aid station or to schlep in a table and water and etc.. The finish area had water, coffee, coffee cake, bananas, and oranges, that I know of. There were several picnic tables and seats for the soccer field for those wanting to sit. Race Tees were given out at the finish.
Bib: The bibs were distance color-coded: white background was for 5K runners; green background was for 10K. The bib number is in the center, with the event logo to the left of the number. The date is at the top, sponsor logos are at the bottom, and the distance is in the bottom right corner.
T-Shirt: The race Tee is white, tech type. The front has the circular event logo, two runners running through green hills, with the location and date above them, and the beneficiary below. Encircling this is a purple ring with the event name at the top and the parks department slogan at the bottom. The back has sponsors’ logos. The Tee might not quite be favorites-grade – I am spoiled by some organizers’ designs – but it is really really nice. There was no finisher’s medal.
My Results and Opinion of the Event: If I haven’t mentioned it already, the 5K course was really hilly. The website, as mentioned above, does include the elevation profiles with the course maps. I didn’t look at the profile carefully enough, so I was quite under-prepared. It is a challenging course. I kept on chugging and finished, but the last 10K runner’s finish time was 6 minutes faster than my 5K finish time. I’m not trying to discourage anyone from doing the event, but runners should be prepared for a good – and beautiful – challenge. Would I do No Foolin’ Foot Race again? If I believed I could handle the challenge (maybe do it a little better), I would definitely consider it.