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.

Great race that I have done in the past. Does anyone know why the 2024 race was cancelled? 5/5…read morestars as it was a lovely run and I would love to support this cause in the future! Maybe in 2025?

Yep, this is a good one…read more This was my first 5k, but it was flat and fast, well organized, friendly, a certified course, and professionally timed--in short, everything you could want. The only bummer was the big 2 mile sign at around 1.7 miles into the course.

yesterday was the inaugural monster dash in san jose, so when i first heard about this event over…read morethe summer, i was eager to sign up for this new event. knowing that it would take place in hellyer county park along the coyote creek trail was another plus as i'd run a few races in this area in the past and enjoyed the events. for this event, participants had 3 distances to choose from: half marathon (13.1 miles) 10k (6.2 miles) 5k (3.1 miles) i chose the half since i'd never run a half along the coyote creek trail and was interested in running something new. the pros: +FAIR REGISTRATION PRICES only $45 for the half since i signed up almost as soon as registration opened and applied a 10% sports basement discount. early bird prices for the 10k and 5k were $40 and $35, respectively, before any additional discounts were applied. +BIB AND TSHIRT pickup the day before at sports basement in campbell +SHORT SLEEVE DRI-FIT SHIRT with the "Monster Dash" logo, which was a cute green and purple monster. i appreciated that they had both men's/unisex fit and women's cut available. +CLEAR MILE MARKER signage at every mile, with different colour signs for each distance so that runners knew where the turnarounds were, or if we overshot! turnaround so that we would not run longer than the specified distance! +STAGGERED start times, 8am for the half, 9am for the 10k, and 9.10am for the 5k to avoid congestion +CHALLENGING COURSE in my opinion, as the half had several turns, and gentle rolling inclines, enough to force you to pace yourself so as to not run out of steam toward the end! +TONS of AID STATIONS throughout the course, i counted at least 10 along the half course, which averages one station every 1.3 miles. +PLENTIFUL RESTROOMS in the form of official park restrooms and porta-potties at the start/finish area. since this was a small event, i never had to wait in line to do my business which was great! +VARIETY OF POST-RACE REFRESHMENTS, which included orange slices, bananas, KIND bars, clif kid z-bars, lara bars, and trail mix. +CUPS of water available 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, directing traffic at forks in the trail, and handing out medals at the finish line. +COSTUME CONTEST post-race, which featured many very creative costumes like rainbow trolls, bacon and eggs, various super heroes, and women who made their costumes out of plastic shopping bags! +FINISHERS' CERTIFICATES 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 a colourful green and purple certificate. the cons: -paying $6 for parking inside hellyer county park -the distance for the half course was short, as i got 12.95 miles on my garmin. i like to run the tangents, which technically should allow me to get to 13.1 if measured accurately, but i was definitely short. while my time was faster, the average pace was about the same as i'd run for my other haffies this year. -last minute changes to the half course, and by last minute, i mean an email at 4am the morning of the race to let us know that there was some construction along the northern part of the trail and therefore the course would run along the southern portion of the trail. after spending the evening before studying the map and memorizing the water stations, i had to throw all that out and go into the race without knowing exactly where the stations were. -since this was a TINY race, i was told 350 total registrants (for all 3 distances) at the packet pickup, i was actually running alone for most of the half marathon. as of today, results show only 53 finishers for the half, which explains why i was running solo after the first couple miles. despite the last minute changes to the course, i give props to the race organizers for scrambling so quickly to re-mark the course, re-shuffle the aid stations, and re-organize volunteers to allow this event to run smoothly. i did appreciate the volunteer in a bright costume at the half marathon turnaround point directing everyone to turn around. BIG THANK YOUs to the race organizer, marnie oshan for successfully putting on this family-friendly event. and THANK YOU to all the kids (i'm assuming high school ages kids) who came out at the crack of dawn to man aid stations and hand out water along the course. i know that i called out at a few of you to come closer to hand me water as i neared the aid station, so thank you for doing this! i also noticed that as i missed tossing my cup into the trash can while whizzing by, but on the return route, that cup had been picked up, so THANK YOU for picking up that cup due to my poor aim. overall, a well-organized event, so thank you moshan productions! i look forward to participating in another one of your events in the future!

We did this run on 2014 and looking forward for one this year! ..it was a great run that my…read morechildren and I enjoyed. It was fun to see alot of people in costumes too. Great time!

ZombieRunner Vasona Lake 1/2 Marathon took us along the Los Gatos Creek Trail through Vasona Park…read moreall the way up and over to the Lexington Reservoir. Part of the race was on a paved trailed and the best part of the race for me was the unpaved trail that took me up and over to the reservoir. This race was a relatively small race with only about 100-150 runners. Pros: Pre race packet pick up Tech T's Race started on time Well stock aide stations Friendly crew Course was marked with pink ribbons to keep runners on course Cons: Trail was not marked with mileage markers. This made it difficult to know at what mile I was at through out the race.

Let me start by saying that I'm amazed that nobody has yet Yelped this event. Considering the…read morepopularity of other running events in this area, it's actually quite surprising. In any case, allow me to offer the first review. This is actually a dual event, a half and full marathon (with the latter being the Surfer's Path Marathon) that is really a marriage between Wharf To Wharf and the Santa Cruz Half Marathon. I ran the half so hopefully soon someone can provide some feedback on the full. If you love Wharf To Wharf (and this year's race selling out in one day suggests that you do), and you're into the half marathon scene, then you're going to love this run! Let me premise with this: The course is almost the precise route Wharf To Wharf is held on - with the difference being that runners loop around the Capitola wharf area and obviously run back. Expect a few rolling hills throughout the course to add a bit of challenge for you (in case 13.1 miles isn't enough) and the typical support of the Santa Cruz and Capitola communities as you run by. It would be irresponsible for me not to mention the finish line. Once you've completed about 13 miles, they've saved the last 30 or 40 yards for you on the beach... in the sand. So, if the miles you've just completed weren't difficult enough, be prepared for the change in footing. I actually stumbled a bit at that point and then gave a quick look around to see if anyone noticed. Oh yeah, it's the finish line, there are several thousand people there, and yes, they noticed. To rub salt into that would, my name was read by the race announcer as I crossed the finish line. Now everyone knows my name - you know "that guy that almost fell." That said, don't expect any glamorous photos at the finish line, and yes, there are photographers there to capture your special moment. I would suggest positioning yourself for more favorable action shots from the photographers elsewhere throughout the course. If you're into the bling, you'll appreciate the finisher's medal. Though smaller than many of my other medals, it's still pretty cool and has a fancy ribbon (I'm big on a nice ribbon - details man). This year's race was met with an absolute clear sky and a nice cool morning air that was perfect for running. That's part of the reason why I waited a week to post this. I wanted to wait and come off of my high from the race so I could give a better thought out perspective. My only real knock on this event is with the limited expo. Though at the beach in Capitola (which is cool), there weren't a lot of vendors. And of those that were there, many were advertising other races. Also, the packet pick up is kind of a pain. Considering the time of year, the weather is warming and more people are headed to the beach. So the seemingly simple task of parking your car to pick up your gear can become quite adventurous. Also, being from the San Jose area, it's inconvenient to have to make that drive just to pick up my bib. I will offer this though: Did I see a packet pick up on race day? I'm pretty sure there was a table that was staffed with WAY too many volunteers that was for race day pick ups. If that's the case, then please ignore my earlier complaint. To sum this up, think of the little things that you dislike about Wharf To Wharf and imagine those things no longer being an issue. Imagine not having to deal with parking and those damn bus lines! Imagine a race where there are only a fraction of the runners that are in Wharf To Wharf. I'm not sure. Now that I think about this, I like the race the way it is. Maybe I'm shooting myself in the foot here by providing a Yelp review and drawing more attention to it. Maybe I don't want too many people knowing about this. Maybe I don't want it to lose its charm by becoming more popular and bigger. I'm conflicted.

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.

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.