Willow Glen 5K

Event & Course Description: The Willow Glen 5K is a family-oriented event that benefits the Willow Glen School District. As the event name suggests, it is run/walked in the Willow Glen neighborhood of San Jose. The run starts on Lincoln Avenue, a main street, by Willow Glen Elementary School. It runs about a quarter mile through a downtown-like area, and then turns to wend its way around residential neighborhoods, returning to and finishing in the school courtyard.

Willow Glen is an older neighborhood, with very nice homes (some possibly about a century old) and lots of mature trees – very pleasant, and lots of shade. The course is all paved streets. The weather on event day 2022 was cool and overcast, near perfect (IMO), but 2 or 3 days previous had been sunny and warmer.

Organization & Production: The district has been running this event for quite a few years, and it is well organized. It’s basically register-and-run. The school courtyard was used for race-day registration and check-in, recovery area, and sponsors’ tables. The course is clearly marshaled, with SJPD and volunteers, and two water-only aid stations (in a 5K!). Runners self-seeded at the start, and parents with strollers did keep toward the back of the pack.

Bib: The bib has the T-shirt artwork at the top, and below that, the bib number in white on a green background.

T-Shirt: The T-shirt is navy blue, tech-type, with artwork in front and sponsors’ logos on the back and on the left sleeve. The artwork is not easily described. It has the race name and date, of course, worked into it, but had abstract drawings of a sunrise, a house with a garden, a fountain, willow trees, a person (?), a theater marquee, and a swimming pool … I think. The cumulative effect is way better than my poor guesscription. It’s a really nice T-shirt, much nicer than one might expect from a charity run.

Finish & Recovery Area: The finish area was pretty minimal. A lot of cut up bananas, bottled water handed out at the finish line, plus whatever was left of a bunch of Starbucks coffee that had been available before the run. There wasn’t any seating, but there were a couple of raised planters whose concrete walls served reasonably well.

My Opinion of the Race: I generally moderate my expectations for charity events, because I want them to use their funds as prudently as they think necessary. Other than being no-medal, this event, however, was on par with professionally organized running events.

As I mentioned, the school district has been doing this event for quite a while, but being a school district, they’ve probably had a lot of experienced people move on through the years, with new people in their place. I was particularly impressed by there being an aid station every mile, very family-friendly. Because this event is near me, ~15 minutes’ drive on streets, it will be a consideration in 2023.

Event & Course Description: The course for the Willow Glen 5K is sort of sort of a crescent-shaped loop. It runs through the streets of the Willow Glen neighborhood of San Jose. The 70-100+ year-old homes aren’t exactly upscale, but they are very nice and well maintained. The neighborhood being as old as it is, most of the trees are very mature and tall. I still prefer trails, but it is a very pretty neighborhood.

The start was at the intersection of Lincoln and Minnesota Avenues, near Willow Glen Elementary School, and the finish was in the elementary school grounds. The race was a benefit for the schools in that district. The course was paved streets, except for the last 80 or 100 yards. I’d estimate the course was 40%-50% shade, and the temperature while I was on the course went from about 65F to 70F.

Organization & Production: This was a pretty basic “Register-N-Run” race. Necessary information was on the website, including several available parking lots. Registration was easy. The course was well marked and marshaled (lots of encouraging cheerful volunteers!) and there were water stations (lots of volunteers!) at about 1 1/4 and 2 1/4 miles. There were markers for each mile. There were some residents who came out to cheer people on (one had strawberries for children!). There were people cheering at the finish and volunteers who handed out chilled bottles of water.

Swag & Goodies: Bagels, bananas, apples and coffee were available at pavilions in the check-in and recovery area. There was also a pancake breakfast for finishers put on by Kiwanis, free (I assume they had a jar or can for donations).

Bib: The bib is a dark teal green, with the bib number in yellow. Across the top is the race logo (see below), and across the bottom are “5K Run/Walk” and the website.

T-Shirt: The race T-shirt is navy blue cotton. The front has the race logo in front: “WG” in white letters and “5K” in green, with a red apple with a green leaf in between; under that is a thin light blue line; blow the line, in white letters, is “WILLOW GLEN”; below that are a small red, a medium-sized green, and a large light blue running triangles, with “2018” in the green one and “RUN/WALK” in the light blue one. On the right sleeve is the logo for a sponsor in yellow and white, and there are sponsors’ logos on the back. I don’t get the running triangles, but it’s a pretty nice race T-shirt.

Finisher’s Medal: This race didn’t have finishers medals. There were medals for age group places (I was 20th in the 60-90 group, so no medal for me) and for male and female over-all winners.

Finish & Recovery Area: Besides the food mentioned above there was a pavilion for post-run massages and places one could sit to rest sore feet. There was also a games area for younger children, during and after the race. This was a very family friendly event, with lots of children running and “running” (= in strollers and being carried) the race.

My Results & Opinion of the Race: It needs to be understood – as I discovered in the first 1/4-1/2 mile – that the Willow Glen 5K is a community fun run. In more “serious” races (does that sound stuffy?) most people self-seed, faster runners to the front, walkers and parents with strollers toward the back. It isn’t done rigidly and unerringly, but it’s a commonly done courtesy and safety measure. I’m sure some did this, especially the faster runners. I took my usual place among the walkers, just ahead of those with strollers. At the starting horn or signal what usually happens is that the whole mass walks forward, and as people reach the timing mats they start running. The large crowd in front of me just kept walking, to the point that it was a quarter mile or more before they were spread out enough for me to walk at full speed. At many races I would have been annoyed and frustrated by this, but the Willow Glen 5K just isn’t that kind of race. It had some fast runners – quite a few of the fastest people had finish times under 20 minutes. But it’s a primarily families and groups of friends doing a fun run/walk to tour the neighborhood, have fun, and support Willow Glen schools.

IOW, unless you’re fast enough to belong toward the front of the starting pack, this probably isn’t a PR race. I’m not anywhere near the front of the pack class. So while I had hoped to have a finish time under 50 minutes, my time was 42 seconds under 55 minutes and I’m happy with it. The initial pack slowed me down, it was getting warmish in the last mile or so (9 AM start), which affects my performance, and I decided not to be more aggressive. I just felt running/walking more aggressively just wasn’t in the spirit of the event.

Would I do the Willow Glen 5K again? Probably, since it’s close to me and supports local schools. It’s not quite a, “I want to do that race,” kind of event, but it’s pretty close.