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.

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!

Out of the six half marathons and one full marathon I've run so far, Run with the Jets is my…read morefavorite for its flat and scenic route. The route follows the Bay Trail towards Foster City and back, treating runners to scenic views of peaceful waters and open skies. One of my favorite sights was a huge clear sky with rays of sunlight bursting through slits in the clouds while the moon lingered nearby as morning rose. I was also enchanted by the sight of hundreds of birds fluttering through the air as a young boy chased them along the shoreline. As the race's name suggests, there are several planes flying overhead that are neat to gaze at, as well. The flat course makes this race easier to run, or at least as easy as running 13.1 miles gets. It's perfect for first-timers or those looking to set a personal record. There were markers for every mile, aid stations every two miles, one port-a-potty, and one actual restroom. Unlike other big city races I've done, there weren't any spectators along the sidelines cheering runners on and holding signs, but that seemed fit for this quiet and peaceful trail. Staff members were all really friendly and encouraging. The swag bag this year included a bright neon green shirt, packets of Emergen-C, a sample packet of BioFreeze that did wonders to my aching joints, and four boxes of Dove Clinical Protection Deodorant. After the race, other freebies included bottles of ZICO coconut water and huge beer mugs with equally big SoBe drinks. They also offered free t-shirts from previous years up for grabs, though it was mostly large and extra-large sizes. Bananas, bagels, candy, and cookies were offered in the food tent. Most importantly, finishers received a sweet medal. Half marathons are fun challenges that anyone can accomplish with hard work and determination. Don't miss out on this great race!

Run With The Jets 1/2 Marathon started at Coyote Point Park…read more $6.00 park entry/parking fee. I enjoyed this race. We started out at Coyote Point Park and walked along the San Francisco Bay Trail up, and past the San Mateo Bridge. The course was an out and back. Expo in the park before and after the race.....nice. Course was well marked and mile markers were at every mile. USTF Certified Course Plenty of water stations and a few provided Fruit Punch Gator Ade...nice. Enthusiastic water station aides...awesome! On course photographers Bathrooms at Coyote Point park and one port-a-potty en route. Course monitors patroled by way of bike...excellent! Awesome views. Race limited to 1200 athletes. Packet pick up was available at A Runners Mind in Burlingame, which included a nice preshrunk tshirt and a nice smoke colored water bottle and a few additional goodies. Onsite pack pick up was also available. Race started about 10 minutes late...not a big deal. Race MC was very perky and enthusiastic. Official chip timing. Race started a little late and there were no course monitors at the last leg in to the finish chute area so I got a little off course.

Despite the pain from running the half marathon without proper conditioning, I still consider it a…read morefantastic race experience! The course was incredibly well-marked. There were cones, signs, and flag-waving volunteers at every turning point, so it was practically impossible to make a wrong turn or go the wrong way. There were also signs and volunteers letting you know which route to take before you hit the turning point. Mile markers were also spread throughout the course. The course itself was mostly flat with some small hills, but nothing horrible. You follow the Coyote Creek Trail that was a mostly peaceful route through lots of trees, around a lake, and alongside barren hills. Be sure to put on sunscreen because not all of the trail is shaded the San Jose's heat will be beating down on you later in the morning. Aid stations didn't include snacks, only water and electrolytes. One aid station did offer some gels though. Bring your own snacks if you think you'll need extra fuel during your run. The volunteers were what made this a truly fantastic experience. They were energetic and encouraging, and they were loud and clear with directions. Some were even equipped with microphones at trickier turning points, making it easy and clear about where to run. Most of them were high school students, and I was so impressed with their spirit and enthusiasm, even if they were standing alone. There were even high school students stationed throughout the course not at turning points, but just standing there to cheer, and they did such a fantastic job at it. Race swag was nice. I like the blue drawstring bag, and the black tech tee is one of the better designed race shirts I've seen. The medal was one of the biggest out of the 15 I've gotten, if not the biggest. Snacks at the end were just bagels, Lara Bars, bananas, and small oranges. Various sponsor booths offered small giveaways like Nestle chocolate milk bottles, protein bars, trail mix packets, and discounts from sports equipment stores. My only complaint was that I wish they offered packet pick-up on race day. The race emails and website explicitly stated we had to get our packets on the pick-up days with no mailing option, so I had to go into San Jose the day before to pick up then book a hotel for a night. The overnight trip was a fun one, but I still would have enjoyed saving that money instead, especially after paying the half marathon race entry. I wish it were closer to San Francisco where I live, but I would totally do this race again next time!

I know I've been ignoring my Yelp responsibilities lately, but I just ran the race this past…read moreweekend and it inspired me to get off my butt and start writing. I ran the half marathon and really have no complaints about the pre-race organization and/or instructions. All necessary information was emailed out with plenty of time to plan. The half marathon had a 7AM projected start, with the gun sounding right on time. If I had ONE complaint pre-race, it was the course map. It was a little unclear as to where the South turn around was, so I had to take a "wait and see" approach to the race - not always the most comforting thing. Definitely a small race, from the results page, they accounted for 240 finishers. Considering this is a trail run, that's a good thing. And after all these large races of 20, 30, and 40,000+ runners, its nice to jump into some of these small local runs. The course itself starts at the Silver Creek Sports Complex, heads out to Silver Creek Valley Road (Blossom Hill), then on to Coyote Creek trail headed North. Loop around the lake at Heller Park, head South to (the Northern edge of) Metcalf Park, then back up the trail to the Sports Complex. Pretty simple as long as trial guides are in place, but its very easy to see how people could get confused on this course. Volunteers play a HUGE role here, so thanks to all of those that helped out! Oh, and seeing Stomper (Oakland A's mascot) and doing the "Bernie Lean" with him at mile 2 made my day!!!! For me, this is my "home trail" - this is where I train. You'll find me here 2-3 days per week, so for that reason, this became a personal run for me. It was a beautiful thing to be running the trail as the sun rose above the horizon. And I had never seen the lake at Hellyer Park look so beautiful. As I looped around the lake looking back at the sun just peeking over the mountains, the steam from the lake was visible as it rose into the crisp morning air. That vision, I'll carry with me for a while. Opening weekend for football, I was home, cleaned up, and plopped on the couch before the 10AM game kick off. Seriously, the best Sunday I've had in a long time.

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.

i happened to stumble onto this semi-hidden trail while walking to class, who knew that the…read morenarrowly paved roads that lead students to their classes also double as a fitness trail! since foothill college is a hilly campus, this fitness trail will be quite challenging as you will walk uphill and downhill and make many turns along the way. on a clear day, the view is quite nice from the higher elevation points on this trail.

This trail connects the Foothill College campus with adjacent neighborhoods. It's just a quick,…read moreeasy jaunt out my front door to the nearest part of the trail, and before long I'm strolling through neighborhoods and cruising by small family-owned farms and vineyards and all the while I'm getting a bit of vitamin D and a little exercise and some precious alone time. It's not an extensive trail network, nor is the trail very long, but it does wind through some very pretty neighborhoods that are awfully pretty and interesting to explore in themselves. If you run out of real estate on the trail, simply start exploring the nearby neighborhoods off the trail. It's sufficiently hilly and I've only once ever seen anyone else on it. I docked a star partly for how short the trail is, but mostly because it's often hard to determine exactly where the trail goes. Once I ended up at the far end of a giant field, feeling certain that the trail must go in this direction, only to discover that I was suddenly in someone's backyard with no sign of the trail to be had. Reluctantly I retraced my steps and ended up running on the road rather than trying to bushwhack through the woods or zig-zag across open fields. Otherwise, the trail is beautiful and serene and a great opportunity for some exercise and fresh air.

This was Reciprocal Energy Fitness's inaugural 5K/10K fitness fun runs…read more We were a small gathering of enthusiastic athletes on an early Sunday morning. Both races started in Gill Park in Milpitas and worked their way through part of the Berryessa Creek Trail and looped back to Gill Park. Great times were had by all. Proceeds benefited both the Milpitas Teen Recreation and American Diabetes Association. Registration fees included: tech t's and race bib Plenty of after race food: water, oranges, and muffins. This was not a huge event but the fun, excitement and enthusiasm was just as rockin as any other big racing event.

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!