Headsweats Giveaway!

Greetings!  A few weeks ago I ordered this awesome Headsweats Ugly Christmas Sweater Trucker Hat to complete the outfit for my upcoming holiday runs.  They accidentally sent me two of them and gave me their blessing to give away the extra instead of sending it back.  Check out the extra images below and then enter for a chance to win!  The raffle will last until Tuesday night and I will send it out priority mail to the winner on Wednesday.  Good Luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Revel Canyon City Marathon Recap

Greetings!  It's been a while since my last race recap.  Life was a little too hectic to type one up after the Lexus LaceUp 5K and the Rock 'n' Roll LA Half, but I'm back now!  With that being said, here's my recap of the Revel Canyon City Marathon from November 12th.

Registration:  I signed up almost a year before the event after hearing about it from my friend Becky.  It was pretty inexpensive and they had a few special discounts.  Registration for 2017 is already open at the Revel Canyon City Website and the early price runs all the way until April.  You can use the code CanyonCity17 for $10 off and if you link your Facebook profile, you get another $10 off.

Packet Pickup:  The event expo was fairly small, but it was extremely well organized.  It was only one day (Friday) and was held at a nearby warehouse with 10 or so vendors.  There were a few large backdrops with signs (26.2, 13.1, PR, BQ) that people could hold up for taking pictures, they had those at the finish festival as well.  I got in and out in 10 minutes so I could beat rush hour traffic back home.

"Swag" Bag:  I received my bag at the first table when getting the race bib, which had a timing chip attached to the back of it.  Also in the bag were a few flyers, a sample of vita gummies, mylar blanket, and gloves.  The next table had the race shirts and really nice cold weather hats with the race logo.  There was an option during registration to select long or short sleeve shirt.  I got the short sleeve, because SoCal.  There was also a shirt exchange table in case yours didn't fit.  

The Race:  This race series is known for its large elevation drop and this one did not disappoint.  Before the race, shuttles bused runners from around 600 feet elevation to over 5600 feet.  It took the bus just over an hour to get up the mountain and arrive at the start area located at Crystal Lake Recreation Area.  It wasn't as cold out as I was expecting it to be, but I still used the gloves and mylar blanket to keep warm.  Gear check was a little unorganized, they didn't have any volunteers at the gear check truck.  People were just tossing their bags in and walking off.  The race started right on time at 7 and the first mile was all downhill.  After that there was a very small climb to a turnaround sign, then the huge downhill section began.  The course was extremely scenic with awesome views of the San Gabriel Mountains.  As you can see by the map below, the course had a lot of twists and turns over the first 9 miles, which made it possible to see other runners far below.  Shortly after the halfway point, which I reached in 1:55, the steep downhill ended and a few rolling hills appeared.  This is when I hit the wall due to lack of training.  I walked the majority of the uphill climbs and ran easy on the downhills.  At mile 23.5, the course exited the mountain section and entered the city of Azusa.  There were a good amount of spectators out to cheer everyone on at this point.  This part of the race was mostly flat with a couple of turns that led to the finish line.  I finished in 4:37 which was good enough my third best marathon time, the downhill sections definitely helped.  The course as a whole was blazing fast while still presenting a challenge.  The aid stations were spaced out perfectly and were stocked with water/powerade.  A few of them had gels but I didn't use them since I had my own.  

Post-race:  Upon crossing the finish line I got my giant medal, a bottle of water, and half a bagel.  The race bib also had tear off tickets for pizza, pie, and aloe water.  I left those at home in the water bottle I'd originally planned to use, oops!  I waited in the short line to have the picture at the top of this post taken.  Even though race pics were free, I had someone take one with my phone for the mandatory post-race Instagram post.  On my way to the beer garden, I bumped to Melissa Williams.  We've followed each other on Instagram for a while and done a lot of the same races, but never actually met in person.  It's always great meeting up with online friends.  Retrieving my gear bag was lightning fast as they had people calling out bib numbers as runners approached.  The beer garden was right in front of where the band was playing and they were giving out Coors Light, blah.  That would be my only complaint about this event, but since MillerCoors was a silver level sponsor I understand.  I headed out after I had my two beers and changing into dry clothes.  

Results and Photos:  Results were immediately online and text message updates were also a free race perk.  Pictures started getting posted late Monday and all were available Tuesday evening, there was even an option to select 4 of them for a custom highlight video.  Free race pictures are definitely on of the best perks a race can have and they even had signs along the course when a photographer was upcoming!

Final Thoughts:  This is a race that I will do again for sure, possibly at some of their other locations as well.  For around $100 you get amazing views, a nice race shirt, a hat, a giant medal, pizza, pie, beer, and free pictures. It's hard to think of another event with that kind of value.  I look forward to returning November 4, 2017 for another crack at raising that PR sign!

LA Dodgers Foundation 5K/10K Recap

Hi there!  It's been a few weeks since my last race, but I was back at it again this past Sunday.  A couple of weeks ago, I decided that my calendar needed a race for this weekend and this looked like the perfect fit.  After hearing about it, I headed to their website for details.  They offered a 10K, 5K, or the option to run both.  When ever that's an option, I usually do it.  There was a 2-hour difference between starts, which meant plenty of recovery time.

I was initially going to pick up my packet on Saturday at Dodger Stadium after the LA Road Runners training run.  I didn't get much sleep Friday night, so I decided to skip LARR and get my packet on race morning.  I managed to get out of the bed Sunday morning around 4:45 and out of the house by 5:20.  Traffic should have been a breeze, but they are doing construction on the 101 and the exit to the 134 was closed, so my GPS had to re-route me and add 10 extra minutes to the drive.  I finally arrived at the stadium around 6:30 and had a half hour to get my t-shirt and bib before the 7:00 10K start.  The race shirt was a nice tech t with Dodgers 16 on the front and the race logo on the back.  After tossing the t-shirt in my car, I headed to the start line just in time for the pre-race instructions and national anthem, then we were off!    

5K and 10K course map

10K

The course started by going up the hill on the 3rd base side, then going through the parking lot area behind home.  After that, it was back down the hill on the first base side and out of the Academy Road gate towards Elysian Park.  There really isn't much to say about the course other than it was HILLY.  I did the LA Big 5K this year, so I knew it wasn't going to be easy.  I took it easy for the most part since both races were simply training runs and a good way to get some hill work in.  Once out of the park and back on stadium property, the course stayed in the parking lot with a small section of dirt road.  As you can see by the pictures below, it was a pretty average performance for me.  Volunteers were greeting runners at the finish with their medal.  The exit line of the finish area also had coconut water, giant bottles of Hawaiian Springs water, and kiwis.  I grabbed a few things and headed back to the car to cool off before the 9:00 5K start. 


 

5K

As I was heading back to the start area, I ran in to fellow Conqur Endurance Ambassador Tony Orozco.  We chatted for a quick minute before he ran off to get his packet.  I headed inside the stadium for a few minutes to get a few pictures and hang out on the warning track.  The 5K start was the same as the 10K.  They had a few Dodgers alum and the same lady sing the national anthem, which she knocked out of the park.  Since I was goofing off in the stadium, I didn't get a chance to line up near the front.  Big mistake!  The 5K had a large number of walkers and with the uphill start, I had to do a lot of weaving in and out.  With the exception of running out of the Academy Gate and through the Park, the course was identical to the 10K.  I took a couple of short walk breaks during the second half, there was nothing left in the tank after dealing with hills all morning.  My medal was in the storage compartment of my water bottle, so I just took it out once near the finish and put it back on.  There was nothing extra for doing both and no combined time either.  Hopefully, that is something they improve on next year.  Tony caught up with me afterward and we got a quick picture before heading out.  I ended up going to the Stone Brewing Company Store in Pasadena for a couple of beers and a growler fill.

Final Thoughts

This was a great last-minute addition to my race schedule and a good training run thanks to the hills.  The event is for a great cause (LA Dodgers Foundation) and very well organized.  Course support for both races was great with plenty of water stations.  If my race schedule is free when it takes place next year, I'll definitely do one of the races again, both if they add more for dual race runners.  Until next time, GO DODGERS!!!

Tony and me after the 5K

Ventura Adventure Race Recap

This past Sunday I completed step one of the Conqur LA Challenge at the Santa Monica Classic.  The day before, I ran in the Ventura Adventure Race.  I was originally signed up for the Ventura Marathon on Sept 11, but once I was selected to be a Conqur Endurance Ambassador, I opted to do the Conqur LA Challenge instead.  Luckily they offered a few events on Saturday that I could transfer my registration to.  Initially, I transferred to the 30-mile bike ride, then I noticed the adventure race and switched to that.

Packet pickup was on Friday near the Ventura Pier with the option to pickup on race morning, picked mine up Friday so I could sleep in a little.  The reusable bag came with race flyers, a tech shirt, a trucker hat (meh), a clif nut butter bar (yay), and a few other snacks.  The race was advertised as being chip timed, but they ended up doing manual timing.  Vendurance normally uses bib timing chips, so I imagine quite a few would've been destroyed or bent on obstacles.

Wave 1, I'm on the left in the light blue shirt

The race started at 9:30, so I got there around 8:30 to get a quick 1-mile warm-up in and stretch out a little.  They assigned people to one of 3 waves based on estimated pace, I was thrown in wave 1.  The start line was just south of the Ventura Pier and it was on the beach.  After race director Josh Spiker went over a quick course rundown and a few words on safety, wave 1 was off and running.  The first 1/3 mile was on the sand, way tougher than I imagined that would be and killed my initial pace.  After a quick right turn on to the bike path, the first obstacle finally appeared.  It was a short run through a maze of tires and a leap over a wall of tires, quick and easy.  The next 1/3 mile was along the bike path and then it was a short uphill jog in the sand back on to the beach where obstacle 2 was located.  They had a bunch of empty home depot buckets with blue tape about 1/4 way up from the bottom.  Volunteers instructed people to fill the bucket to the line and carry it about 200 meters to a turnaround sign and back.  Some people were filling the buckets by hand which seemed like would take a while, so I just dragged mine through the sand real quick.  After dumping the sand out of my bucket, the course stayed on the beach for almost a mile.  I tried to get as close to the ocean as possible where the sand wasn't as loose.  At this point, I was back near the start line for obstacle 3, a low crawl under some cables.  This is usually where some OCR events toss in some barbed wire.  Since there was none of that, I didn't worry about how much I hit the cable while crawling under them. 

Low crawl

After a short jog on the sand and under the pier, it was time for obstacle 4.  There were two large black tubes  that we had to jump over and then run another 200m before leaving the beach leading up to the promenade.

Dolphin Jump/Totally Tubular

  I tried to make up a little time since the course was finally back on the pavement before getting to obstacles 5-8.  The 5th was a jump over a 5-foot wall where obstacles 6-8 were ready to be tackled, I'll just let the pictures tell the story of those.

Once done with those obstacles, the course followed the same path back on the promenade down to the beach and the tubes from earlier.  This time, instead of jumping over them, I had to crawl through them.  After I was out of the second one, it was a short "sprint" in the sand to the finish line where my medal was waiting!  My finish time was 41:57, which put me 29th out of 119. 

Upon finishing I grabbed some water and headed down to the beach to cool off and clean the sand off.  The post race party had a live band and a beer garden run by local brewery MadeWest.  I used my free beer voucher to have a glass of their outstanding pale ale.  If you are ever in Ventura, definitely check their place out.

This was a really fun event and very well done considering it was the first time they have offered it.  Another perk of this event, free race pictures!  If it's part of Ventura Marathon weekend next year, I'll definitely sign up again! 

Santa Monica Classic Race Recap

Oh hi there!  I'm finally back to recapping all of the amazing races that I participate in.

 Let's start with the Santa Monica Classic!

This was my first time running this race, as it’s part of the inaugural ConqurLA Challenge. I registered for all 3 races at once through imAthlete.com, quick and painless. Pre-race information was communicated consistently via e-mail and Facebook. There was an option to pick up your bib the day before, but I opted against driving an hour for that. There was a one-hour window before the race(s) to pick it up and the lines were very short. I decided to park downtown near the pier where the finish line was, it was about a mile walk to the start which made for a good warm-up.  After getting my bib, I met up with my other Conqur Endurance Ambassadors to hang out and snap a few pictures.  Weather conditions were ideal for racing today, mid-60's, light breeze, and plenty of clouds.  The humidity was high, but it's near the beach.