Linda Fulmer's Staging Area

Swag: Full-zip tech jacket, no hood (different color accents and styles each year) and medal for 15k finishers
Finish: Hot chocolate with a finisher’s mug of melted chocolate, banana, and all kinds of dippable items: pretzels, cookies, marshmallow. Heaven!
Course: regular urban scenery
No issues with bib pick up, expo good sized, well organized overall

This was the second race and the second time I ran it. Great improvement in the water situation over the inaugural event. It was very cold at the start, 29°F, and started snowing as I finished. The course is a trail and a bit bumpy in places. I fell about mile 12, just getting tired and not picking up my feet high enough over a tree root. Great snack boxes, again. I beat my previous course time by 6 seconds, it was a good day.

Swag: full-zip hoodie with zipping pockets, *NEW* finisher’s medal for 15k finishers
Finish: Hot chocolate with a finisher’s mug of melted chocolate, banana, and all kinds of dippable items: pretzels, cookies, marshmallow. Heaven!
Course: regular urban scenery
No issues with bib pick up, expo good sized, well organized overall

This was my second race with Vacation Races (VR) and excited to experience the Grand Canyon with a trail run. VR was very explicit about the race NOT being in the national park and that was okay. It gave me a reason to finally visit the Grand Canyon and explore on my own. Being an inaugural race, there’s bound to be some glitches. Not a fast runner, there were plenty of runners ahead of me. Unfortunately, some of those runners filled up their own water containers at the middle aid stations. Those aid stations and stations towards the end of the course soon ran out of water. Runners at the back of the pack were very disappointed. The only way to get more water to those aid stations was on the trail the runners were using. VR owned up to the problem right away and offered “compensation” which I declined. Being a young company, there are always lessons to learn and I didn’t want that to impact them financially. My lesson learned, don’t depend on others for my hydration and I started carrying a hydropack at later runs. Did this deter me from running the next Grand Canyon event with VR? No, everyone deserves a second chance and I ran again in 2015.
I really like that VR runs a cupless race providing a hydropouch with registration. It is amazing how not seeing the cup trash really makes the experience more enjoyable. The small staff at VR work hard to put on a good event and are very friendly and helpful. The bib pick up was a quick process. I like that they keep the races small and well-organized.

This was my first race with Vacation Races (VR) and excited to visit Zion National Park. VR is very explicit about the race location not being within the boundaries of the National Park. The scenery along the course, especially at sunrise, was amazing. Who cares that it was uphill? My time was satisfactory to me even though I stopped to take many pictures. The snack boxes were great, glad they had a trade table for unwanted snacks. I love the cupless, hydropouch system. It is much prettier without the cup trash along the route. VR organized everything well, from the expo and bib pick up to parking at the start to the finish line activities. The volunteers work hard to help make it an enjoyable experience.

Swag: pullover hooded wicking jacket (the style changes each subsequent year)
Finish: Hot chocolate with a finisher’s mug of melted chocolate, banana, and all kinds of dippable items: pretzels, cookies, marshmallow. Heaven!
Course: regular urban scenery
No issues with bib pick up, expo good sized, well organized overall