For my 7th marathon, I decided to do the California Run Festival. I was very excited to do a trail run and was hoping for a PR.
The race started off fine but the chaos began when we got to the first turn. The volunteers didn't know what direction the course headed. There were two options and a bunch of us picked the wrong direction and ran past a whole flock of sheep. I think we added on 2 miles to our trek. It began to feel like "pick your own adventure."Once we got back to the "course", there was a sign for 5K/10K but in direction of where the marathon was supposed to be headed.
The rest of the course was pretty easy to navigate and I finished the first loop... or so I thought. I embarked on the second loop of my journey and when I finished, someone asked me if I had done the other part of the course. I was incredibly confused. Evidently there was another part of the course that I had missed the first time around. At that point, I was on the verge of just calling it a day.
The next time around, I navigated the other part of the course, which was a maze. I'm not even sure if I ran it correctly. At that point, I began to put the idea of a PR out the window and I decided to just enjoy the views.It was a very pretty race and it was nice for my boyfriend to be able to bring the dogs out during the race.
My suggestions for next year would be to have better signage. The color coding system was good but not good enough. From the runners standpoint, it is necessary to see big gaudy signs telling us which direction we should be heading in. The arrows were helpful but they weren't big enough and sometimes they were pointed in the wrong direction. I truly think mile markers would help out tremendously. Additionally, the volunteers need to know the course.
Overall, I had a good time out there. I'm not sure how many miles I did but it was a very scenic journey.For my 7th marathon, I decided to do the California Run Festival. I was very excited to do a trail run and was hoping for a PR.
The race started off fine but the chaos began when we got to the first turn. The volunteers didn't know what direction the course headed. There were two options and a bunch of us picked the wrong direction and ran past a whole flock of sheep. I think we added on 2 miles to our trek. It began to feel like "pick your own adventure."Once we got back to the "course", there was a sign for 5K/10K but in direction of where the marathon was supposed to be headed.
The rest of the course was pretty easy to navigate and I finished the first loop... or so I thought. I embarked on the second loop of my journey and when I finished, someone asked me if I had done the other part of the course. I was incredibly confused. Evidently there was another part of the course that I had missed the first time around. At that point, I was on the verge of just calling it a day.
The next time around, I navigated the other part of the course, which was a maze. I'm not even sure if I ran it correctly. At that point, I began to put the idea of a PR out the window and I decided to just enjoy the views.It was a very pretty race and it was nice for my boyfriend to be able to bring the dogs out during the race.
My suggestions for next year would be to have better signage. The color coding system was good but not good enough. From the runners standpoint, it is necessary to see big gaudy signs telling us which direction we should be heading in. The arrows were helpful but they weren't big enough and sometimes they were pointed in the wrong direction. I truly think mile markers would help out tremendously. Additionally, the volunteers need to know the course.
Overall, I had a good time out there. I'm not sure how many miles I did but it was a very scenic journey.
Happy before the race
The signs telling us where to go
I will admit... it was beautiful
There were not runners as far as the eye can see
Self portrait
The dust bowl... as I called it
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