The course description I gave for last year's running is a good one. I'll just add that of the several suburban trails I've seen doing events like this, the Los … MORE
The course description I gave for last year’s running is a good one. I’ll just add that of the several suburban trails I’ve seen doing events like this, the Los Alamitos Creek Trail could be the nicest. My one, fairly minor in the context of the whole race, criticism from last year was fixed. How it came to be, I don’t know, but this year the little loop to the finish was clearly marked. Woo hoo!
The race T-shirt is very nice, similar to last year’s except being red instead blue, still with a white inset at the sides. The finisher’s medal is a good sized disc, custom designed. It has the race logo and information in pink, light green and dark blue characters on a sky blue background – pleasantly colorful. Neither will be favorites, but that’s a reflection on the context in the SF Bay Area, not anything like a criticism or “faint praise”. The T-shirt and medal are definitely nicer than what might be expected at a charity event organized by a local running club.
OneMile4OneChild is a great family-community event. Lots of outgoing people, lots of family participation, and volunteers were EVERYWHERE (recognizable by their distinctive T-shirts). The aid stations were well-staffed and beyond. The volunteers’ T-shirts were nicer than at least one race T-shirt I’ve seen this year. The recovery area food was plentiful and varied. I REALLY appreciated the recognition given to volunteers while I was recovering.
I wasn’t going for a particularly ambitious finish time, but did better than I hoped for. All in all this was a great race experience, as good or better than some professionally organized events in which I’ve participated. My 5-Shoe rating is well-earned!
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Great Charity Event!
The course description I gave for last year's running is a good one. I'll just add that of the several suburban trails I've seen doing events like this, the Los … MORE
The course description I gave for last year’s running is a good one. I’ll just add that of the several suburban trails I’ve seen doing events like this, the Los Alamitos Creek Trail could be the nicest. My one, fairly minor in the context of the whole race, criticism from last year was fixed. How it came to be, I don’t know, but this year the little loop to the finish was clearly marked. Woo hoo!
The race T-shirt is very nice, similar to last year’s except being red instead blue, still with a white inset at the sides. The finisher’s medal is a good sized disc, custom designed. It has the race logo and information in pink, light green and dark blue characters on a sky blue background – pleasantly colorful. Neither will be favorites, but that’s a reflection on the context in the SF Bay Area, not anything like a criticism or “faint praise”. The T-shirt and medal are definitely nicer than what might be expected at a charity event organized by a local running club.
OneMile4OneChild is a great family-community event. Lots of outgoing people, lots of family participation, and volunteers were EVERYWHERE (recognizable by their distinctive T-shirts). The aid stations were well-staffed and beyond. The volunteers’ T-shirts were nicer than at least one race T-shirt I’ve seen this year. The recovery area food was plentiful and varied. I REALLY appreciated the recognition given to volunteers while I was recovering.
I wasn’t going for a particularly ambitious finish time, but did better than I hoped for. All in all this was a great race experience, as good or better than some professionally organized events in which I’ve participated. My 5-Shoe rating is well-earned!
Well Organized, Nice Trail and People
Event & Course Description: OneMile4OneChild (OM4OC) is a charity race organized by the San Jose Vietnamese Running Club to support an orphanage in Vietnam. It starts and finishes at Almaden … MORE
Event & Course Description: OneMile4OneChild (OM4OC) is a charity race organized by the San Jose Vietnamese Running Club to support an orphanage in Vietnam. It starts and finishes at Almaden Lake Park in San Jose. There were two distances, 5K and 10K. The course for both distances is the same, out-and-back along the Los Alamitos Creek Trail, with different turn-around points. The 5K turn-around is a few 10s of yards before a steel frame wood plank bridge. The 10K turn-around is just before where the trail crosses Camden Avenue.
As the trail name suggests, it follows Los Alamitos Creek. The trail is entirely paved and is marked and wide enough for two-way bicycle use as well as runners and walkers. It’s relatively flat, but because the outbound leg is upstream, it is steadily but gently uphill, and, of course, gently downhill for the return leg. One side of the trail often has suburban neighborhoods, but much of the other side is a line of semi-rural hills, with a few homes dotted here and there. The trail is about 60-70% shaded – lots of trees. All in all it’s very pleasant.
Organization & Production: OM4OC is close to register-and-run. Pretty much everything a runner would need to get onto the trail and back is there. They even did wave starts (self-seeded) to separate the faster from the slower runners – nice! There were two water-only aid stations and course marshals and police where the 10K course crossed a significant street. I think the one point needing improvement is at the end where the course ran past the finish arch, passed a bridge, and did a loop around a lawn. Course marshals were definitely needed to direct runners past the arch and past the bridge, and also to steer people out of the last part of the course when runners were coming. I didn’t much mind the 10 or 20 seconds the confusion cost me but competitive runners might find it frustrating.
As a whole, though, OM4OC was really done well. Particularly noticeable – partly due to their fluorescent yellow T-shirts – were the really large number of helpful and encouraging volunteers. OM4OC was a really well-supported race!
Bib: The bib had three, alternating, blue and white stripes. The blue stripe at the top had the race logo. In the middle was the bib number, and at the bottom is the website of the running club.
T-Shirt: The race T-shirt is tech type, medium-dark blue. There are white insets at the sides, with three blue stripes. On the front are the race logo in yellow, orange, and white, the distances in white, and the date in yellow. On the back in white are the race and sponsors’ logos.
Finisher’s Medal: The medallion is round, with concentric circles of pink (center, large), yellow and dark blue (a thin border). Across the middle in blue silhouette are 5 running children. Above them are the distances, date, and location. Around the top in the yellow outer ring is the race name, and in the yellow ring below the children are the initials “SJVRC” (San Jose Vietnamese Running Club).
The ribbon is bright yellow, with the logo for the race, “2018”, and the logo of one of the sponsors.
Finish & Recovery Area: The only food I saw in the finish area was bananas (which, unfortunately, I do not like). But I was too exhausted to explore much. Soon after I sat down the volunteers were called for a “Thank you!” and to take their pictures – very cool!
My Results & Opinion of the Race: I was very happy with my finishing time, better than I’ve done on similar terrain in nearly two years. And I was spent at the end!
I have different expectations for races, depending on who is organizing it and for what. My expectations for a smallish, club/volunteer-organized charity race are pretty moderate, and OneMile4OneChild easily met and exceeded my expectations. My four-shoe rating is very strong, and with the few improvement I noted could easily be a five-shoe race. I will definitely consider OneMile4OneChild, and it was mentioned that adding a half marathon distance next year is being considered!