This is a point to point race, and you are required to drop off your run gear and bike the night before, which was fine. Directions are provided to the expo and form the expo to the bike drop off. The expo itself is super small — maybe three or four booths — but you have to remember that this is a super local race.
Race morning, your options are to get dropped off at the swim, or to park near the end and take a bus to the start. I chose the latter. If I thought the directions to get to the parking lot were confusing, the bus driver was more confused. It took some folks on the bus to get us to the start. Once there, things went smoothly. There was free water and bananas available, and T1 was adjacent to the public restrooms.
It’s a beach start for the swim, and the beach was quite rocky. The water itself was warm and smelled of gas. I’ve definitely swam in better locations. It’s a super short trot up the beach and into T1, where you have to put all of your gear in a designated bag and then race folks transport it to the end.
The bike course winds through Chula Vista on sometimes bumpy roads, especially going toward the water park. From there, it’s a hilly course that goes through Eastlake and ends at Salt Creek Parke, where grabbers are there to take your bike and hand you your running gear. This was the ebst part because you actually got to sit down and put your running shoes on and avoid the madness of racking of your bike.
The run was super hot. There is very little shade as the course winds through the surrounding area and onto the trails surrounding Otay Lakes. It was cool to run through the Olympic Village, but honestly, it’s pretty hot and hilly. Thankfully, there were plenty of aid stations.
The race ends in the park. You actually run on the grass through part of the park to the finish, so all of the little kids on the playground are there cheering you on. The part I like least is that you’ve finished this long, hot race, and you have to either walk up a bunch of stairs or go up a long winding ramp to get to the post race — and all they had was steak sandwiches and beer. Not ideal.
Overall, it’s a nice race because much of the course is pretty and it’s local, but if you don’t like hot weather and hills and want more post-race activities, this isn’t the race for you.