Rosie Bogan's Staging Area

This a a fun concept and a nice place to run. I drove in the morning of from out of state and it was easy to park close to the start/finish and the porta potties were sufficient. There was no gear check – but because the car was so close that wasn’t a problem. The course was short about 0.4 mile – at first I thought I must have missed a turn, but then I heard lots of other runners commenting on it as well. There were about half the water stations I’m used to – but they were sufficient for me, just couldn’t skip any of them on a warm day, so carrying your own water might be a good idea. I wasn’t able to make packet pickup, so I arranged a same day pickup – if the race wants to grow they’ll need to figure out a mail option I think. All in all I think the race has lots of potential if they work out the kinks, but they weren’t there quite yet.

Built a family vacation in O’ahu around this race as I work towards doing a half in all 50 states, so chose the race over other 1/2’s on the islands mostly based on timing. So glad I did. Beautiful run with a well organized race. Packet pickup in a hotel was easy and low key (we stayed nearby so packet pickup and the start/finish line were walking distance. Park toilets at the start/finish meant real plumbing and that was a plus. Swag was modest, but the medal was perfect. Loved the sunrise over the ocean as we ran around the side of the island. There are some hills, but nothing devastating, if you’re taking it easy to enjoy the views it’s worth it. If you’re planning a trip for this one, the beaches, snorkeling, surfing, and Polynesian Cultural Center are all awesome. You should run this.

I’m not a fan of Rock ‘n’ Roll series races overall, but this one has the market cornered on running the strip at night and it was totally worth it.

Fantastic weather, nice course, not too challenging with great surroundings. Well run race experience. Starting and ending at a stadium means you can avoid port’a’johns.

The race was pleasant but small, totally flat and mostly through a golf course/gated community. It was a great weekend trip to Savannah though, and I’m very glad I chose it for my Georgia half. The only thing I’d do differently would be race-morning pickup. I didn’t know it was an option and we had to drive out of town to do packet pickup in a strip mall the day before, which ate up some of our time to enjoy being tourists.