Overall
Pre-race
Course
Post-race
Submitted by rharnois
March 18, 2014
Review
I believe the entire thing can be summed up by something I heard someone say as we ran by (completely safely passing I might add).. “Obviously this isn’t the place to run.” While there is plenty of space to safely pass people, this is not an event for runners. Even run walkers… It’s a lot of families and groups of women slowly walking 5 or 6 deep.
There was no pre-race that I saw.. it was waiting for over an hour to be sent out with 2 insanely annoying egotistical men trying to get everyone pumped up I get it.. they’re just trying to do their jobs.. but they were terrible. The last wave said it was to go out by 10:10 at the latest. I believe we went out a little after 11, and there was still TONS of people behind us. Which is fine, I imagine it would have clogged up the course but don’t advertise it as 10..
The theme was also confusing. It was “Christmas” themed, but took place before Thanksgiving. I wouldn’t have signed up had I known it was Christmas themed. I believe there was a little pink or yellow on the course though.
The course was the great park… so you know.. it’s the great park… it was in the parking lot and roads to the old hangers pretty much the entire time, but you get some nice views of the mountains. Lots of pot holes and bad ground to be running on at times. The course is wide so you can easily pass but it’s nothing but weaving and getting blocked up.
Overall, I’m sure it’s a fun event for a family or group of friends.. just not for me. While I commend there run or dye and color runs for what they are doing, getting a lot of people out there doing events that wouldn’t normally excise, I wouldn’t recommend them to anyone remotely serious about running, unless you’re in it just for a fun walk.
Overall
Pre-race
Course
Post-race
Submitted by runningbear
November 27, 2013
Review
Pre-race: packet pick up was a bit of a circus and I stood in line for 15 minutes, but they did wise up after about 10 and started involving the crowd in games and trivia and free stuff. Swag bag didn’t have many ads or info about other races which was kind of a bummer because I like to see what else is going on. Cotton t-shirt was great for the run though! The race did not start on time and was about 15 minutes late. They did waves, which was really nice, but it took a really long time to actually get to the starting line and I had lined up 35 minutes before supposed start time. For the first 2-3 waves, they were really good about throwing out free stuff to the crowd, but could only throw about 10 people deep in the wave about the run. I was in the 4th or 5th wave and they were hardly throwing anything 🙁 It was starting to get hot at 9a so starting on time would have been nice!
Course: I know it’s a rather informal, non-timed race, but they could have at least had mile markers. I heard many people saying they had no clue how far they’d run or how much they had left. it was a bit confusing because since we were running on an old air force base, there were runway markers and as one point we saw a “3” and got excited thinking it was s third mile marker, but it was for runway 3! Some of the dye throwing people weren’t very good at throwing it away from your face. I got it in the ear several times! Also could have done without the white dye, as it looked like bird poop. I saw one photog along the course and there weren’t any snapping shots of people crossing the finish line
Post-race: Seemed lacking from other races I’ve been at. Just a couple tents and some food trucks you could buy food from. Just seemed lacking in usual post-race tents and activities. There was a stage with a “concert” going on but it didn’t look that appealing.
Overall: It was a different experience but I am not sure I’d do it again. But then again there is much room for improvement so who knows! Maybe they should serve irish coffees beforehand… that would liven things up a bit! This was supposed to be “Christmas Themed” too (barf to that since it’s before Thanksgiving!) so I would have expected more red and green dye and more Christmas decor but there was none of that. Most of the dye was yellow and white with some pink mixed in. Seriously though, skip the white dye for future races!! Everyone wears white shirts and if it gets on your hat or pants it looks like bird poop.
