Timothy Vassilakos's Staging Area

This race is pretty much as promised. The logistics are quite good and the scenes during the first 18 miles are serene. The downhill for me felt quite gradual, at no point were my quads or IT bands feeing stressed but everyone is different. The app was great (sans mid run advertisements for headphones and other sponsors — not a joke).

Two things to flag, one is likely perpetual the other is hopefully a 2022 concern. One, the last four miles are brutal. Not that it’s uphill, but visually you go from mountain scenes to desert suburbs. Found it tough and overall, a mundane way to end an otherwise beautiful race. Second, way worse and more critical, the water stations were the worst I’ve ever raced. I’m hoping this is a 2022 anomaly but mile 5 was nonexistent … this is a critical one to just have nothing. In the later miles, when it went past 70 degrees in the unforgiving sun, water stations were not ready for runners. One station at either 22 or 23, the attendant had his back turned to us and was filling cups, blocking the whole station. Missing that water station caught up to be badly the next mile as my HR spiked beyond control. Water tables were also packed tight so if you did not catch the ride stride, you only had about 20 feet to abruptly get over. Not ideal. I’d race Revel again but wouldn’t put my BQ hopes here.