I was looking for a local marathon to ramp up my miles for the NYC marathon. I was happy to find…read morethat LivingSocial had a deal for $40 to the NorCal Full Marathon (regularly $80). The marathon course itself was ok, I would give it 3 stars. It starts off as small loop in downtown San Jose. But the majority of the marathon is on the Guadalupe River Trail. I've ran on Guadalupe before with SJ Fit and it is a great trail for training. But on race day with all the extra runners, it was dusty and crowded. Also, since I've trained on Guadalupe before, the marathon felt longer and boring. What made me give NorCal Marathon 4 stars was the volunteers! The volunteers were awesome and they were constantly cheering, clapping, and dispensing much needed water. At one point the gels were gone but one volunteer told me to hold on and ran to her personal stash to get one for me. That was freaking awesome and much appreciated. The post-race area was nice, they were dispensing burritos and awarding prizes to the fastest runners in every age category. I discovered one of the runners I had been pacing for a few miles was 75 years old! Overall the marathon was very well organized and the volunteers were great. Only thing I would recommend is changing up the course.

Inaugural Northern California (NorCal) Marathon and Half scheduled September 18, 2011…read more The fast course begins and ends at the Arena Green, adjacent to the HP Pavilion Arena. Starting on Santa Clara Street right in front of the HP Pavilion runners and walkers will be treated with fantastic support. Route: Heading down the Alameda, then making a large loop you will head back into downtown San Jose. You will proceed north eventually entering the Guadalupe Trail system. Heading North the Half will turn around and make a straight shot back to the finish line. The Full course will continue North near Alviso, turning south working its way back to the Arena. Both courses finish together! Updates to come for the 1/2 marathon.

You're from Orange County, Craig. Isn't a 6-hour drive to San Jose a little much to simply run a…read more5-mile or 5K? Yes, it is. And it isn't, for many reasons... First, if you're a die-hard San Francisco Giants fan, there'd be no question: you'd be there, just as many, many others were, dressed proudly in orange and ready to run. (The San Jose Giants, by the way, are the San Francisco Giants' farm team.) Registering for San Jose's Great Race, now in its 4th year, you'd not only receive free tickets for the SJ Giants' evening game, you'd not only collect a custom SFG World Champions replica ring, but you'd also be able to take your picture with SFG's 2010, 2012, and 2014 World Champions Trophies! So that's a pretty cool reason to run. Second, by running both San Jose's and San Francisco's Giant Races (any distance), you'll be handed the "Turn Two Award": a Runner's Armband/Phone Case, the San Jose Giants logo and San Francisco Giants 2014 World Champions logo on the side. And third, there's the 2015 Three Bagger Award! I want this! You must finish both San Jose and San Francisco, and your third race is your choice: the 2016 Scottsdale Giant Race (SFG's spring training camp in Arizona), or Sacramento Training Run on 7/12/15. I'll be traveling to Arizona! Then the Three Bagger will be mine: a super sparkly mega medal commemorating not only the three Giant Races, but also the three-time World Champions on the field. No, I'm not a huge Giants fan. But my pops is, and so are my nephews. (I guess that makes me a fan by association.) Nevertheless, I am a medals fan, and I love running. So to answer your question, whether or not driving six hours out of my way is a bit excessive... Well, I got another sweet medal, didn't I? =]

This year was a bit disappointing. I've completed all 5 years and they've been pretty organized…read moreuntil this year. I did the 5 mile and the organizers didn't seem to care about a large group who finished around the 1:20 mark. We had to ask cops which way to go as there were no guides for the last mile, NO medals and nobody was handing out water. Apparently they only cared about the 5K folks and anyone who finished in 15 min. Turns out, after about 10 min of standing around, a box of medals was left in SF. Just disappointing. The shirts are another thing. Why bother asking for our size, only to run out? The race was also short by .3 or .4 of a mile. I remember last year the route was a true 5 miles. Not this year.

This is my review on my run!…read more Hmm...driving to pick up my bid and packet the day before the event was useless. WHatda waste of gas! Next year, if I do the race, I will just pick up my packet the day of. There was practically no one picking up their packet the day of. Just be there about 15 minutes early, and you will save yourself the drive to pick up the bid. Yea, no water stations or mile marker. I like how the run took place in Great America for the first .75 miles, but I thought the entire run should've take place in GA. We ran the 2.25 miles around the parking lot. That part was definitely not fun! =( At the end of the race, they passed out medal and water bottle. Bagels, and banana, fruit snacks, and oranges were served. Not too bad! $25 (family pack) goes directly to charity and they feed you, give you a medal, freebies (playing cards, and pens/pencil), water bottles (which they sell at great America for $4), a shirt, free parking, and a ticket to go into GA to bond with your friends and family. Can't ask for more=)

This is the first time I've done a run at Great America. Though it was fun to run inside the park,…read moreonce we got outside it was rather quite boring as all we were doing was running in the parking lot. Two thirds of the run was in the parking lot and it was easy to cut the corners in the parking lot, so in the end the distance didn't even end up being close to 3.1 miles. They only had one mile marker at mile one, and it was at least 1/3 mile off, and there were no water stations. Packet pick-up was the day before at one end of the Key Point Credit Union. There was only one sign to direct people to where that location is. My friend picked up his packet in the morning shorty after 9am, and he said they were completely disorganized. They were still stuffing the bags when he got there. By the time I got there they had gotten their act together. Unfortunately the only "goodies" I got in my bag were just flyers, which I ended up throwing in the recycling bin. The only thing worth keeping was the 10% off sports basement coupon. I did like that entrance into Great America was included in our registration as well as free parking before 7:30am. We got a finisher's medal after crossing the finish line. They gave us a bottle of water at the end of the run, but it wasn't even cold. There was slices of oranges, bananas and bagels available for us at the end, but no napkins. This is only the second year Mission City has done this run, so hopefully it will get better as the years go on.

This is the 2019 run on a super wet day. Rain just let up a minute ago. It's a comin' back!…read more I almost didn't come, but decided I'd could always back out if Mother Nature proved too playful with the category 2 storm today. A small but enthusiastic crowd is here today. I think I'm one of the most heavily clothed participant here. I come from a family that fully believes in layers. We are like onions in that respect. The layers of shirts and sweaters are unending.

i had heard of this event in the past, and even coached a friend for the 5k, but never had a chance…read moreto participate myself since i always had a conflicting race or training run on super bowl sunday. i cleared my schedule this year since i had heard good things about this race and wanted to run this portion of the lower guadalupe river trail. for this particular event, there was a choice of 2 distances: 1. 10k (6.2 miles) 2. 5k (3.1 miles) i signed up for the 10k so that i could burn more calories, since i knew that i'd be pigging out at a super bowl party later that afternoon! the pros: -REASONABLE race fees, $40 for the 5k and $45 for the 10k if you register during the early bird period -takes place at ARENA GREEN, just outside downtown san jose, next to the lower guadalupe river trailhead and just off highway 87. -CLEAR MILE MARKERS for both both 5k & 10k, as well as marker & volunteer at the respective turnaround points (to ensure you don't run further than you signed up for!) -ACCURATELY MEASURED DISTANCE, as my garmin read 6.22 miles immediately after crossing the finish line which is pretty much spot on with the official 10k race distance of 6.2 miles. -FRIENDLY VOLUNTEERS assisting at the registration/information booths, handing out water at aid stations along the course, and handing out snacks at the refreshments' tables post-race. -FREE and EASY PARKING in multiple parking areas, all within a 1/2 mile from the start/finish area. i actually got lucky and found street parking a block from the start! -PORTA-POTTIES at the start/finish area, along with portable hand washing stations with soap, water and paper towels. -COMPLIMENTARY BAG CHECK at the finish area with volunteers to guard your bags until after the race -VERY FAMILY FRIENDLY, perfect for families, small children, and strollers what you get: *choice of PACKET PICKUP @ the guadalupe river park conservancy, wednesday-friday prior to the race, or on site pick up the morning of. *green, technical FINISHER'S SHIRT *several AID STATIONS with volunteers handing out cups of water *POST-RACE FOOD & DRINKS, including tortilla chips, guacamole, clementines and water *custom FINISHER MEDAL for each participant *official RESULTS posted online the afternoon following the race *RACE PHOTOS posted online within 48 hrs of the race bonuses for top finishers: *customized guadalupe conservancy beer glasses for the top 3 men and top 3 women in each age group for both distances. since i was 2nd in my age group, i got to take home one of these beer glasses and partake in the post-race awards ceremony. the cons: -both 5k & 10k courses were out and back, and had a slight uphill on the return trip as well as strong headwind. not the race organizer's fault, but this definitely made for a tougher finish (and difficulty in negative-splitting) for all runners. -this course was not very scenic since we ran next to san jose airport for most of the race. only a small portion was in the guadalupe river park, but there wasn't anything interesting to see. -i ran the 10k, and was one of the earliest finishers, but by the time i got to the refreshments' table, they had run out of tortilla chips! tons of guacamole left, but no tortilla chips!?!?! -wish they had more carbs available, maybe bagels or muffins or granola bars, since those who ran the 10k would need a bit more sustenance after a longer effort. thank you, to on your mark events, for putting on this terrific event, and to the guadalupe river park conservancy for being the title sponsor!

Attended the Walk to End Alzheimer's on 10/10/2015 and it was a great experience! The energy of the…read morevolunteers and the other people in the walk was infectious and I really enjoyed walking with everyone. Registration was handled efficiently by last name lookup split up into several different lines and an easy way to make additional donations. The pre-event in Arena Green was decorated nicely and the shows beforehand included a martial arts performance as well as a zumba warm-up that had even the awkward uncoordinated dancers (like me) on their feet and having a good time. Overall I had a great morning helping awareness and raising money for a good cause! I am already looking forward to next year's walk!

I have participated in this walk for the past 2 years now & it's a great walk to do! I work with…read morethe frail elderly population so this is something dear to my heart. You can choose to do the kids 1-mile loop or the 5K. I love how this walk has grown just in the 2 years I've gone. However, it does come with it's own growing pains as it took my group 30 minutes this year to get to the half mile mark. I'm sure they'll work out that kink for next year though. Be sure to grab a flower to represent your reason at the walk! All the money donated will go to funds to research/find a cure. If you reach your goal of $100, you get a shirt! Each walker gets a free water bottle :)

WONDERFUL EXPERIENCE. a fun, festive race to kickstart ur holiday szn. love that it's not as packed…read moreas the thanksgiving turkey trot. ROUTE IS OUT AND BACK, two lil road hills but mostly flat. u get a view of downtown sj and then it ends with christmas in the park. i'm doing this every year no doubt. U GET FINISHER MEDAL AND TOP 3 gets a placers medal. make sure to place urself in the front at the beginning bc race can go out slow. lots of snack, drink, advertising booths at the end. goods, stickers, sunglasses.

My son won the Santa Run race today After Came in 2nd in…read morethe Turkey Trot three weeks ago! Congratulations my son. You are a true champion today! Train hard. Win easy! Run ‍ https://youtu.be/w9vuc-VGM08 On the news!

Fun, fun, fun for the puzzle-solver in you…read more DASH (Different Area--Same Hunt) is a puzzle hunt that takes place in several cities across the U.S. at the same time once a year. If you live in the Bay Area, you usually have a few nearby cities to choose from. I took part in the April 24, 2010 event in Santa Rosa, which featured 59 teams at that city. The event involves solving puzzles that are fairly intellectually challenging and take usually a half hour to an hour to solve. You do need to get from location to location to solve the puzzles, though this time does not count as part of your total time, so there is no benefit to being physically fit--you can even take a break and get lunch! Two of my friends and I took part and had a great time doing it. The theme this year was TV shows, and one activity had us looking through these dossiers containing outlines of murdered Disney movie characters. There were then rebuses which you had to figure out who killed that particular Disney character. Example: picture of Jeff Bridges + a pirate's speech bubble is Jeff+Arrr or Jafar. After figuring all of that out, if you ordered all the murders together by linking the characters who belonged in the same movie, and then realized that there was a number in the description of the murders, you would take that number letter of the murderer's name to spell out the final solution (e.g. if the puzzle said there were nine slashes, you would take the ninth letter of the murderer's name). All in all, a great time. If you get stuck on a puzzle, you can always take hints (there is a penalty for taking hints). Our team was resilient, taking no hints ever. We finished 40th out of 59 teams, which was not bad for our first time doing one of these. Having a smart phone helps some, but fairly minimally. The first puzzle involved listening to these songs, and identifying the name of each song. The last word in the name of the song could be strung together to form a sentence you could then solve. When they started this puzzle, a lot of people got out their iPhone's to use the app which can recognize songs being played on the radio. However, the game organizers recognized this and actually sped up all the song sections they played. The name of the puzzle was Alvin and the Chipmunks to justify the high-pitch of the voices. At another puzzle, one of my friends used his Android phone to take a picture of one of the albums on the piece of paper and the phone was able to figure out that it was a Queen album. Technology is crazy these days.

***3.5 stars*** this…read moreis an annual race that takes place on or around halloween (depending on which day of the week it falls upon). this year, it happened to be the day after halloween, so costumes were still fresh for race day! for this event, participants had 3 distances to choose from: full marathon (26.2 miles) half marathon (13.1 miles) 5M i chose the 5 mile distance since this course had the fewest number of inclines and hills. the pros: +TINY event, with just over 200 participants between the 3 distances +FAIR REGISTRATION PRICES only $40 for the 5M, $45 for the half, and $60 for the full when registering in advance. $5 less if you skip the race shirt. +FREE PARKING just outside vasona lake county park. most of the side streets were empty on saturday morning, so it was easy to find parking. +BIB AND TSHIRT pickup the morning of the race, with only a few minutes wait +CHALLENGING COURSE in my opinion, since all distances had rolling hills and inclines, the half and full climbing all the way up to the lexington reservoir/st. joe's hill! +LOTS of AID STATIONS throughout the course, all stocked with water, electrolyte drink, and salty snacks +VARIETY OF POST-RACE REFRESHMENTS, which included fresh fruit, clif bars, salted tortilla chips, graham crackers, trail mix, peanut butter filled pretzels, muffins, and candy. since it's that time of year, they also had pumpkin pie! yum! +CUPS for the water and electrolyte drink jugs at the finish. props to the organizers for not giving out bottled water and using recyclable paper cups! +LOTS OF FRIENDLY VOLUNTEERS assisting with bib pickup and registration pre-race, manning the aid stations on the course, handing out medals at the finish line, and preparing/re-stocking the food at the finisher's area. +COSTUME CONTEST post-race, which featured many very creative costumes worn by children and adults. +CUSTOMISED FINISHERS' MEDAL for all runners who cross the finish line. i liked the purple and green logo, very fitting for the day after halloween! +AGE GROUP FINISHERS' MEDALS for the top 3 men and women per age group, per distance. i finished 2nd female, and 2nd in my age group, so i walked away with an extra medal. the cons: -paying $6 for parking inside vasona lake county park, if you could not find parking outside the park gates -confusion on the course. i expect a 5M race to be exactly 5 miles, but the official results posted the course at 4.8 miles, and yet, i got 4.93 on my garmin, so i'm a bit unsure that the pre-planned distance was supposed to be. -9am was the start time for all 3 distances. given the narrowness of the trail, it was difficult to start at the very front and not lose any time since this event was gun-timed. would suggest staggering the start times going forward. -few restrooms. i saw only 1 proper restroom structure with 3 stalls (for the ladies) and 2 porta-potties. before the race, i had to use the restroom twice, and each time, ended up waiting a while until it was my turn. would suggest more porta-potties next year. -no mile marker signage. although the turnaround for the 5M was clear, with a volunteer ensuring that runners turned around, i never knew what mile i was on, unless i looked at my garmin. -wrong year on the finishers' medal! when i asked the race organizer, i was told that there was a printing problem, and everyone ended up with a 2013 medal instead of a 2014 medal. whoops! while not my favourite zoom event, the organizers still did a pretty good job, and i applaud all the volunteers for coming out early on a cold, rainy, saturday morning to set up the aid stations and everything else so that we runners could have a good experience.