Went on a yoga backcountry trip with them to Joshua Tree. The whole trip was gentle and open - the…read moreinstructors brought offerings but everything remained optional so each participant could have the experience they needed to have. Really sweet group, and most of all I really, REALLY enjoyed having this organic catering-company based group of leaders prepare all my meals for me in the desert! Quite pleasant. I'd definitely recommend their trips as a great way to retreat from the busy-ness of life, with lots of good opportunities to go inside and do some "work" or just enjoy a few days of play, as needed ;) This was this particular set of leaders' first collaboration so there were some bumps here and there but all in all a really enjoyable weekend.

Back to Earth is an intentional and caring organization for teens who need to discover themselves,…read moreconnect with nature and feel safe in a non traditional mentoring environment. My son has benefited tremendously from the trips and mentoring circles. He has established positive adult connections and met some life long friends. I can not thank Jesse enough for his attention and care. I love this group.

From a participant's standpoint, the 6th annual event was pretty well organized. It is a great…read moreevent for beginners. If you don't mind running around a lap 3 times, it's an event for you. The course is flat and easy that starts and ends in Downtown Pleasant Hill in front of Fleet Feet Sports. The upside of this type of course is that you can gauge how far along you are and how close you are to the finish. Unlike some 5K events, you only get 1 water stop; however, at this event, you get 3. Although it is the same one since you run the lap 3 times. The downside is that after your 2nd lap, it makes you want to give up since there are people who already finished. Also, you don't get goodies like you would from other events. In fact, you only get a T-Shirt. Bottled waters, watermelons and bananas are waiting for finishers at the finish line. They also start that Kids' Dash before the 5K, which I think it's pretty cool so little kids don't have to wait until 10:30am or so to start their races while the sun gets hotter. Lastly, the event is followed by the 4th of July Parade and Celebration. The event may not go all out as other bigger events, but it's definitely a great way to start of your Independence Day. [TIP] If you register late, you may be out of luck on T-Shirts in which you have to choose from what's left and you may not be able to get your size. I registered a week before the event and I had to wait until AFTER I finish to get my shirt and I ended up with a Medium (rather than my usual Small).

Always a fun event. Not super competitive or anything special. But great way to start off the 4th…read moreof July. Pleasant Hill does a great job with the 4th of JUly festivities. LOVE the parade, been going for last 5 years. 3 laps around the downtown area and you're done. Fleet Feet is a great store in downtown and always has other great weekday and weekend group runs going, if you need help training for the event.

Been participating in their events for over 24 years-they are efficient and fair. The Escape from…read moreAlcatraz event has been the incentive I needed to keep me swimming on a regular basis and a social event with friends that has become a focal point of each year.

I almost never leave a bad review so keep that in mind! Booked a trip to Napa to do the Napa trail…read morerun! booked flights, hotel, wineries for the weekend. its all non refundable due to us knowing WE WOULD BE THERE! They cancelled the run due to rain, which I understand. BUT! Since they are the ones cancelling, why don't I get a refund? they said I can have a credit for the race for my husband and I. Well, we can't afford to book two trips up north from Los Angeles to do the run. Extremely frustrating! I will never use them in the future due to this.

4.5 / 5 This was my…read moresecond year running the 12k and found it was a lot more organised than the previous year. The course for the 12k is beautiful as it goes over the Golden Gate Bridge and into Aquatic Park, there is a 5k option also available but simply goes around the park. + Easy packet Pick up. Pick ups are in various locations around the bay in the 3 days prior or you can get it mailed to you for a $10 fee. + Nice tech shirts. These do however come up large and the smallest Women's they have is a small so it actually more as a sleep shirt. lol + Nice medal + Beautiful course. On the day were ran the Whales were in the bay! + Post race snacks were all pre bagged this year (last year too many random walkers by were just helping themselves) and considered of a couple of Curate bars, Banana, Orange and Water + Volunteers fll of energy and encouragement. + Ability to earn an extra medal if you complete the 3 race series. From my perspective this event ran hiccup free and is on I will likely do each year. A few tips if you're planning to run: 1. Put your correct pace time in when you register. Please.. if you run a 12 minute mile don't put 8 and then stick to the left hand side of the course holding people up. These waves are designed to help with the smooth flow of runners throughout the course. 2. Take the advise of the numerous emails Represent Running send in the week leading up to race day. In particular shuttles to the 12k start line, the numerous emails do state to get there early. Shuttles started at 6am.. I got there at 6:15am and was on the shuttle immediately and in Sausalito by 6:40am with minimal lines for the restroom I was ready for my wave 1 (7:30am) start by 6:50am. 3. Plan for parking. There is no event parking, this is San Francisco after all so if you are planning to drive try carpool with friends. Some street parking can be found but not if you get there too late. Personal: Being part of the Ambassador crew for the Run the Bay series I met up with some of the team for pictures beforehand where one of the Ladies then snuck off to sing the national anthem just before the start (how gutsy is that??). I almost missed my start time because I was also waiting for my running club as to take pictures with those too but as they were all starting in later waves it made it a little difficult. As for the Run itself it went pretty well. After already Running an average of 15 miles a day for the 9 days previous my feet hated me (think huge quarter sized blister) and I wasn't expecting to be finished in less than 1:15 yet once we started off my legs just went into autopilot. The first mile or so was a little congested where I was able to briefly chat with other runners until they dropped behind me at the hill leading up to Golden Gate bridge, running over the Bridge is an amazing feeling where I stopped a couple of times to take pictures for my I Run 4 buddy and thought I spotted Whales in the Bay (later confirmed by friends). Miles 3-5 seemed to go by in a happy blur where when I realized where I was I was very aware of how freaking hot I was and that maybe double layers was not such a good idea. The last few miles I paid a little more attention to my surroundings, being around Th City it's kind of a must and had me notice how great the volunteers were all cheering as I ran past and I spotted the Roli Roti truck pulling into Fort Mason ready for the Farmers Market (darn that delicious Chicken!) The final downhill before the finish line was not fun on my knee's but then coming across the finish line to cheers and announcement was pretty awesome. Both Hubby and a fellow member of my Running club immediately came to my side for a Finish Line picture while the course behind me was empty. Despite the crazy amount of miles covered in the week before I was amazed to see I finished 7th out 2,800 females!! (Plus an age group win but they don't give prizes for those). 2 races of the series done. Happy days!! Time: 55:47 / 7:26 min mile. **TIP: Next race in the series is the 510k. Use code ''REPRESENT2016EB for 10% discount and come run with me!! **

I have done all of the other races in the Run the Bay series (408k santana row, 510 in berkeley,…read moreand last year's 415 in Marin) and really enjoyed this one! I am REALLY happy that the Across the Bay run is replacing Marin for the 415 spot. Background: This race was previously run by another company (RhodyCo) and Represent Running took it over. So, 2015 was the first time this race was organized under Represent Running and included as part of the Run the Bay challenge! The Rundown: -They offered a bib pick up location in South Bay!! (Friday) and in San Francisco (Saturday). This was SO helpful. I think all SF races should have a bib pick up in south bay :). However, the Pruneyard of Campbell is just chaotic on any normal day with all of the restaurants and such. Getting to the Pruneyard and parking took a lot longer than it should've due to the traffic and congested parking lot. I think they should have bib pick up at the Sports Authority in either San Jose/Santa Clara or Sunnyvale - easy to get to locations in complexes with less foot traffic. -I was in Wave 1 and my friend in Wave 3. I decided to join her in Wave 3, so arrived at the shuttle spot on Beach St. at 7:10am sharp, which was early (instructions stated that Wave 3 people should arrive by 7:30am at the latest in order to make it to the wave 3 start of 8:30am). It looked like they only had a handful of buses operating (school buses) so the lines were getting backed up. By the time I got to the start line, the national anthem was being sung and it was announced that the start time was being delayed 2 minutes to 8:32am as more buses were still bringing people over. They did have port a potties and the fedex trucks for gear check on the way to the start line. They should have had more buses to take people, as not allowing people to drive straight to the start line really creates a bottleneck. -Awesome course - The course itself was great! I did do quite a bit of weaving in and out in the first couple miles because I started in Wave 3. The course around miles 1.5 to 2.5 was painfully hilly, pretty flat from 2.5 to 6.5 or so, with another slight hill at mile 7 just before the finish at Aquatic park. Running across the bridge, and then along the waterfront, was really nice! Loved the views and the slight multi terrain course! -Accurate distance: I always run with Nike Plus and my nike registered 7.65 miles when i crossed the finish line. Taking into account the weaving I did early on in the course, I would say that this 12k - or 7.5 mile - course was measured pretty darn good :) -Plenty of water stations! I liked how the volunteers were spread out at the stations handing out water so that runners didn't have to all crowd in one area. Also loved the Nuun electrolyte drinks offered at the aid stations. -Post-race snacks included fruit snacks, bananas, acai samples, fig bars, kind bars, water. Because the post race area was not closed to the public, I did notice that a lot of non-runners were taking some of the snacks :(. By the time my friend finished her run, they had run out of bananas. I think they either need to plan for more snacks in the future, or have volunteers prevent those without bibs from stealing our snacks! -The Bling: Really nice, big, weighty medal! The fact that it also doubles as a magnet makes it that much cooler and unique! I think they should have made the medal ribbon closure velcro rather than sewn up so that people could easily remove the medal if they wanted to use it as a refrigerator magnet - that is what the 408k did with their bottle opener medal. Also, LOVED the customized medal ribbons depending on distance ran - 5k finishers ribbon was black and 12k finishers ribbon was white. More races need to customize based on distance run!! -Swag/gift bag - I think they could have offered more restaurant discounts for runners at some of the restaurants near the finish area (I'm looking at you, Ghirardelli and your sundaes!) -HOORAY FOR FREE RACE PHOTOS! -I liked the tech shirt design. Also, the banner that everyone always takes a picture of with their medal after a race was really nice - really enjoyed the design :) I would've given this event 5 stars if the bus to start-line system was more seamless.

The San Francisco Bay is a beautiful venue for the America's Cup! The race course allows viewers…read moreto view these amazingly fast boats race between the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz. While the bleacher seats are a convenience, spending the money is not necessary to get great views of the race along Marina Green and along the retaining wall. We watched the Saturday races (semi finals) in September and October. In Sept, we found great seats on the benches in front of the main grandstand on Marina Green and found our views to be great. For the October race, since it was also Fleet Week, we made our way over to the retaining wall and managed to sit right on the finish line! We can't wait for the bigger boats in 2013!

Race?! What race? It keeps getting cancelled or delayed due to accidents, malfunction, and…read morewhatever whatever whatever. Gee whiz, no wonder American Cup has bombed in San Francisco. This is what happened... I won free tickets from SFGate.com - woo hoo (hence the 4 stars)!!! :) Saturday - went and sat on the lamest benches in the world. Race 1 got into an accident. race 2 malfunctioned. CANCELLED... DELAYED :) Monday - Makeup race - Race 1 - malfunctioned. DELAYED :) Friday - I never made it because the race was wayyy too early That was it. Maybe the finals in September will be more exciting?! Also... The race is called LV American Cup. Don't expect to find a single morsel of brand recognition of Louis Vuitton on any American Cup merchandise. DARN!

Wow! It seriously amazes me what both my mind and body can achieve. I entered this run simply with…read morethe intent to complete just because it was different to the usual flat Half Marathon's. With an injured knee I didn't expect to even place but ended up walking away with another 1st place medal under my belt. Happy Days! This event was 3 different races: Half Marathon - Very Challenging 10 Km - Challenging 5 Km - Easy Registration: I registered online which was pretty easy, however due to the time on their website being set forward by a few hours I was charged more than I should have been. It's no big deal though as it wasn't a huge amount, just something to keep in mind for future events. Packet pickup was available the day before or on the day, I opted for on the day and upon arrival discovered it was a fraction under 1 mile from the parking so before I had even started the event I had done almost 3 miles. The Course: The Half Marathon course was indeed a challenge. Not so much the incline's and decline's but the course. With the exception of about 2% of it which was tarmac road it was all dirt, rocks, sand and mud so being very agile was a must. One wrong step and you could seriously injure yourself and on some parts of the trail end up falling down the side of the Mountain into a ditch (There is no real definition of a Mountain but given the height many will class Castle Rock as one as it reaches almost 3,000 feet). This run confirmed something to me and that was I seem to excel at uphill running, downhill however is not my friend. With the uneven surface and loose rocks downhill is a real challenge not to loose your footing. Teamed with a knee injury the impact was incredibly painful in some parts. My advice - don't play the bad ass if you have an injury. Around mile 6 was when it hit me, the track became very narrow and went from uphill to very steep downhill and took you off into woodland where you were going over rocks, tree stumps and vine. I honestly thought I might have to pull out at the next aid station and had to limp for around 2 miles until the Aspirin kicked in letting a couple of people overtake me. The views were however worth it. From the top of Castle Rock you could see for miles, it really was breathtaking in more ways than one. Aid Stations: There were just 2 for the entire course and were located at 2.6 and 7.1 miles stocked with water, sports drink, snacks (Cookies, Chips, Trail Mix ect) and energy gels. Post Race: Post race awards were given for various age groups along with drinks and snacks for everybody to refuel. Drinks included Soda (no Diet or Zero. Boo!), Sports drink and chilled water with snacks of Cinnamon Rolls, Brownies, Chips, Trail Mix, Candy, Cookies and Orange slices. Nothing really took my fancy and it would have been nice to have some Banana's for everybody as they're both my pre and post run snack of choice. I could have probably fought somebody' for a Banana and chilled glass of Milk or Bowl of Greek Yogurt, instead I had to wait until I got home. T-Shirts: These are quite nice, I did like the Red color but would have loved a Pink one like last years. II'm just not sure of the quality as once I finished the run I noticed that mixed with sweat (I know.. sexy, right?) the color had ran and turned the white straps of my Camelbak pink to match the rest of it. Would I do this race again? Hell yeah! It was a good event, well organised and clearly marked out.

No reviews for Golden Gate Half Marathon? Hmmm.... I wonder…read morewhy? Well this past weekend I embarked my 15th half marathon? and sadly but surely I thought this event was going to be a blast but I was left feeling disappointed. I felt the race wasn't hyped up as it should be... Let's start off with the Pro's and Con's Pro's -registration was easy Confirmation emails were sent Pick up packet-easy, but I read many complaints on FB that, why couldn't they have a pick up the day of without paying a fee of $39.00????? Con's I couldn't find the check in gear station Barely any signs were listed on which mile you were at? Previous run, they are listed each mile. Me trying to gauge how many miles did I just run was annoying... Not a lot of supporters The Golden Gate bridge lanes were not open for the runners, the walk way was very slippery. In fact I saw someone injured on the bridge. The SF half has had previous lanes open to runners, why not GG half? The end.. I felt kind of cheated, we were rewarded a water bottle with no water in it? We had to fill our own water. And stand in line for a banana or nutrition bar? From previous runs, its usually handed out to the runners right after the race. For those of you wanting to know the course: Start at Aqautic Park Crissy Fields Fort Mason Presidio GG Bridge underneath GG bridge turn around back towards the end of Marina Green. Thank you GG Half Marathon, but I won't be participating next year.

Meh. Just ran this race today. Could have been much better organized. Many of the mile markers were…read moremissing and a few were misplaced (I know I didn't run a few 5-minute miles). The water stops were lacking. There were no timing mats on the course (besides the start and end). Very little medical and security on the course. Parking and/or dropping people off was a clusterf*ck due to the start location and the fact that many roads and parking garages were closed. Gear check was impossible to find. The beer line was 30+ minutes long and required an ID. They did do a good job of staggering the race start and there were cheese snacks at the end, so they get a star for that. Overall, not worth the money for what you get.

Overall a really pleasant race in the Bay with gorgeous views of SF, the Golden Gate Bridge, Angel…read moreIsland, and more. It's one of the better-organized races with very frequent water stations. It felt like there was one every 10 minutes or so with plenty of electrolytes and Gu. A sprinkling of friendly supporters that take you through the stunning views of the Bay and a neighborhood tour of some really nice houses. It's a nice-sized race where you have runners around you but it doesn't feel crowded. The Tiburon Half Marathon also has the sharpest race t-shirt I've gotten in all the Bay area races. Be warned though that there are a couple of very serious inclines that take the air out of you. That and the 7am start-time is pretty early if you're traveling in but you'll appreciate it since the sun comes on strong around 8-ish.