Overall I really enjoyed this race but I'm not sure it was worth the price. I decided to run the race because it was focused on women and benefited a … MORE
Overall I really enjoyed this race but I’m not sure it was worth the price. I decided to run the race because it was focused on women and benefited a great charity. I chose the 10K because it was 2 weeks before the LA marathon and I didn’t want to risk getting injured in a half. I thought the price was kind of high for a 10K. For instance it was $10 to $20 more than the Santa Monica Classic and the LA Chinatown Firecracker 10Ks I had done previously this year and they were bigger and a little better produced. Since some of the money went to charity it made me feel a little better about the price tag. Parking was very easy and free and they gave clear instructions. Bib pick up also easy. This was a pretty small event compared to other runs I have done which made things smoother. I really liked the design of the shirt. It was tech quality and had a simple design with the name and date of the race on the front and an inspirational quote on the back. However the shirts ran about a size too large. They did offer to swap sizes but I don’t really mind my shirts being big. The race was nice through the park and across the dam and then you turn back and go over the dam again and a shorter run through the park to the finish line. But after having just ran across that dam twice for the SRLA 30K mentally it was tough to do it two more times. Something about that dam it just seems endless and has a slight incline so it is deceptively harder than it looks and there is no shade but luckily the temps were perfect today. One side of the dam has really pretty views of the mountains and the other side has ugly industrial views. I was happy with my finish time while I didn’t PR, I did run my second fastest 10K time. I actually finished third in my age group. I was disappointed because the website says there were age group prizes but the final instructions were that only top 3 overall got prizes. I understand it’s a little excessive for such a small race to give so many age group prizes but please change the website. Since the field is small this is a good race for moderately fast runners to place in the top 3. The finisher medal was fine with the WRLA logo, year and location. But they were not distance specific and the ribbon was plain. It was a good medal for a shorter distance race but I would have been disappointed with it if I ran the half. I enjoyed that they had free topo chico and cold brew oat milk lattes at the end (literally my 2 favorite drinks). They also had a food truck and a Papusa stand to purchase food from along with the usual free bananas, oranges and bagels. There were some other interesting booths to stop at. I’m happy I did the 10K over the half marathon since the half marathon didn’t really add anything except 6.9 miles since it was essentially running the 10K twice with a slightly further turn around spot and the shirts and medals were the same. Overall this was a good race and I probably would have given it 5 stars if it were $20 cheaper. I liked it enough to sign up for the 5K in Oxnard in May since I was planning to do a 5K that weekend anyway. I am moving out of California this summer but if I were staying I would do the 5K or 10K again but I don’t think I would do the half unless it fit perfectly into my marathon training.
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Two more times across the dam
Overall I really enjoyed this race but I'm not sure it was worth the price. I decided to run the race because it was focused on women and benefited a … MORE
Overall I really enjoyed this race but I’m not sure it was worth the price. I decided to run the race because it was focused on women and benefited a great charity. I chose the 10K because it was 2 weeks before the LA marathon and I didn’t want to risk getting injured in a half. I thought the price was kind of high for a 10K. For instance it was $10 to $20 more than the Santa Monica Classic and the LA Chinatown Firecracker 10Ks I had done previously this year and they were bigger and a little better produced. Since some of the money went to charity it made me feel a little better about the price tag. Parking was very easy and free and they gave clear instructions. Bib pick up also easy. This was a pretty small event compared to other runs I have done which made things smoother. I really liked the design of the shirt. It was tech quality and had a simple design with the name and date of the race on the front and an inspirational quote on the back. However the shirts ran about a size too large. They did offer to swap sizes but I don’t really mind my shirts being big. The race was nice through the park and across the dam and then you turn back and go over the dam again and a shorter run through the park to the finish line. But after having just ran across that dam twice for the SRLA 30K mentally it was tough to do it two more times. Something about that dam it just seems endless and has a slight incline so it is deceptively harder than it looks and there is no shade but luckily the temps were perfect today. One side of the dam has really pretty views of the mountains and the other side has ugly industrial views. I was happy with my finish time while I didn’t PR, I did run my second fastest 10K time. I actually finished third in my age group. I was disappointed because the website says there were age group prizes but the final instructions were that only top 3 overall got prizes. I understand it’s a little excessive for such a small race to give so many age group prizes but please change the website. Since the field is small this is a good race for moderately fast runners to place in the top 3. The finisher medal was fine with the WRLA logo, year and location. But they were not distance specific and the ribbon was plain. It was a good medal for a shorter distance race but I would have been disappointed with it if I ran the half. I enjoyed that they had free topo chico and cold brew oat milk lattes at the end (literally my 2 favorite drinks). They also had a food truck and a Papusa stand to purchase food from along with the usual free bananas, oranges and bagels. There were some other interesting booths to stop at. I’m happy I did the 10K over the half marathon since the half marathon didn’t really add anything except 6.9 miles since it was essentially running the 10K twice with a slightly further turn around spot and the shirts and medals were the same. Overall this was a good race and I probably would have given it 5 stars if it were $20 cheaper. I liked it enough to sign up for the 5K in Oxnard in May since I was planning to do a 5K that weekend anyway. I am moving out of California this summer but if I were staying I would do the 5K or 10K again but I don’t think I would do the half unless it fit perfectly into my marathon training.