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Re: San Diego Women's Half Marathon Reviews

guest — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 07:37:00 GMT

Race was cancelled without a clear explanation. Two stars assuming I get my refund in a reasonable amount of time.

The cancellation email:

Thank you to all who registered for this race. We regret to inform you that this race is being cancelled, and if there are any questions regarding the circumstances, you may email our PR Representative listed on our website, or contact the city of Imperial Beach-though we ask that you not bombard them with phone calls, as they have tried to make this race happen as much as we did. To say that their city plans and pending construction were major reasons for our decision may sound repititive, but we would in fact have had to make further course changes which we were told of only recently, which would have resulted in further Race Day issues/complaints.

We have never experienced this type of planning experience before, and it seems we have been traveling against the wind since day #1, and it also seems that maybe San Diego being a very saturated race market, we also received a lot of incoming messages in all forms that lead us to believe that other cities may be a better fit. Aside from being a business, we really wanted to bond with and get to know our clientele, and we are sorry again for the cancellation.

If you requested your bib to be mailed, you were not charged, and we are going to process all refunds as quickly and timely as possible. I believe on the date of our race, there are other races taking place in San Diego, so we understand the amount of training these events entail, and truly hope you find one near the same date that you can participate in.

We are sincerely sorry for the inconvenience, and the planning that many of you went to for this race. This of course was not in our plans, and our team really did put in a lot of work, sweat, and time to try and make this happen.

We again ask that you not bombard IB with questions or negativity, and while we understand many of you will be upset at the cancellation, please refrain from writing hateful messages. Everyone will receive a refund and again, we will process them as soon as possible. Thank You, USA WHM

Re: 35th Annual July 4th Scripps Ranch 10K and Fun Run Reviews

guest — Wed, 04 Jul 2012 19:45:21 GMT

Fantastic event! Great on course support and a festive finish line with lots and lots of volunteers. I really appreciated the ice soaked wash cloth and all the water, gatorade, oranges, and bananas. The beer garden was as great as I'd been told. I'll definitely be back!

Re: West Coast Road Runners 2012 Fall Training Reviews

guest — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 13:50:42 GMT

I've already signed up for another season! WCRR is full of supportive, enthusiastic, and fun coaches and runners. They truly encourage all abilities, from walkers to Boston qualifiers, to get out there and get going. I love the convenience of multiple training locations through out the county and the "all group" runs when the locations meet together. The pace groups add flexibility and "the dangling carrot" to increase your time to move up (and sleep in a few minutes later).

Re: GIRLS ON THE GO 10K-5K & Head to Toe Women's Expo Reviews

guest — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 05:10:15 GMT

I ran the first event in November too. I wasn't planning to do this one until 1) medals! 2) champaigne! and 3) I got a fantastic Schwaggle deal!

--Packet Pickup: I was glad to see that it was held at Road Runner this time. I've done 26 races since July 2011 and most hold the pick up there. The November race had packet pickup only at the Head to Toe expo, so this was a vast improvement. I was warned by my friend that the store was a "madhouse" about an hour into the pickup. I've learned to swing by in the last hour to avoid the rush but did find there were not enough volunteers to handle even the small group when I arrived. Honestly, maybe a better organized group with the same number could have handled it if the name list had been broken up.

--Packets: In races w/ sponsors, there's samples in the packets as well as coupons and flyers. This had no samples and few coupons. The coupons weren't desirable in my opinion. Also, based on the website " tickets for you and two gal pals to the Expo" I expected tickets to be in the packet. I was informed in the morning that my bib would get entrance for me and 1 friend.

--Parking: I recommend that you post the $9 fee on the Active.com posting instead of only on the GOTGR website. It's a high fee that I know you don't control but lots of people don't carry cash and it encourages car pooling.

--Timing Chips: This may be the timing company's fault but the chips need to be distributed with the bibs and they need to match. Some people didn't realize they should pick up their chip in the morning. The point of pre race bib pickup is to avoid lines and extra time in the morning. Picking up the chip separtely defeats that point. Many people have posted that their bib is wrong. That's not your bib, it's the timing chip. Which could still be wrong. There was no record of what bib # was given out. When I picked up my chip, they tried to give me a 2nd bib.

--Pre Race: It's unfortunate that the weather was bad both this time and during the first race but I was happy to see that OBrian Hall was opened for us to stay warm and dry in before the start this time. The Zumba warm up was entertaining but sadly the acoustics were terrible. I could not hear a darn thing the announcer was saying. So when they started breaking down the speakers everyone wandered outside, into the cold.

--Starting Line: It was not clearly communicated which race was taking off. A runner that did not fully familiarize herself with the website would have easily just followed the crowd and started with the wrong race. The 10k started late. Then suddenly everyone took off. There was no count down. When I was on Jimmy Durante I could hear the count down to the 5k start. They started early.

--Course: The first course posted online was exactly the IronGirl course. It looks like they copied it the best they could. The word description of the course did not match the USATF map that was posted. The directions were backwards, like turning right to head west on Villa de la Valle is impossible. It was intersting to run on the training track, especially since I was assured it was all road when I contacted the organizers. I was concerned about mud after the November run. The 10k course should not have gone near the finish line until done. Confusion of where to go and decisions to just get the heck out of the cold led runners to finish early.

--Mile markers: You really must have mile markers. It messed with my head to not know my pace. I had to keep guessing how far I'd gone based on what I could remember from the course map.

--H20: In November there were complaints about lack of water on the course and at the end. I'm sorry they didn't heed that advice. If it was only a 5k with 1 water station at approx 1.75 miles, that'd been okay. But to do a 10k w/ water at 1.75 and 4.85 is crazy for your casual "Girl on the Go" who is not an avid runner. There should be another water station so that the 10k runners can have water about every 1.5-2 miles, not 1.75 and then 3.1 later. Vitalyte was again a sponsor but none on course and I didn't see any at the end this time either; or in the expo.

--Finish Line: I'm slow and was at the way back of the pack so I usually am forgiving of finish lines being less than great. I had to grab my medal out of the box, in plastic, myself. The volunteer came over to make sure my bib got marked though. I almost forgot to return my chip as those volunteers were sitting chatting. I grabbed my half ounce (?) sip of white wine, not champaigne as advertised. Realized there was no orange, banana, or bagel. Two of the three is normal at the end of a 5k in San Diego.

--Medal: When I saw the mock up online I was worried. It came out really nice. Good weight with an enamel (?) inlay. It did not have a year or date so I suspect it'll be used again for future events.

--Expo: Went into the expo w/ my friend and nobody checked for bibs or tickets. The expo was even more underwhelming than the one in November. I went to the first expo many years ago, when Ralphs was a title sponser, and it was 10 times better. I feel bad for people who go to the expo expecting an awesome womens event and get a couple sad booths with overpriced low quality items or high pressure sales pitches. Most of the attendees at the expo appeared to be the runners.

--Volunteers: I appreciated the few volunteers that were on the course and at the finish line. They did their best to be chipper but I felt they were uninformed and under directed. The cold and wind made their jobs of being perky and supportive harder so a big thanks to them.

--Overall: It's crystal clear that the organizers are not part of the San Diego race community. They need to understand that San Diego has an awe inspiring number of events to chose from for races. The community will quickly spread the word of sub par races. Girls on the Go Run Series needs to produce an event that lives up to their own hype or advertise what they're actually able to deliver. I do wonder how much of the proceeds actually go to the literacy charity as I feel like the races are just another profit make scheme for the Head to Toe expo. The races will continue to be put on as long as they're profitable. My gut tells me that long term the races will be more profitable than the sad little expo.

Re: CardiffKookRun 10k & 5K Run/Walk Reviews

guest — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 05:45:26 GMT

A great race that had a much bigger turn out than expected. Being the first year and with the great turn out, most things that "went wrong" will be easily corrected next year. More shirts, medals, restrooms, etc.

My major request for next year is to have mile markers on the course. It messes with me mentally when I'm not sure if I'm pace or not.

Other than that, I can't wait for next year!

Re: Miramar OWC Flight Line Dash Reviews

guest — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 18:40:18 GMT

The 10k race was challenging, as advertised. The posted race results are confusing; first/last name switched, in alphabetical order by "last name", and missing names. I had assumed this race was going to have more participants, but look forward to it growing in the future. Lots of Marines, obviously, ran the course so it was a fast field to go against. There were other portapotties on the course. All of them seemed to be existing, not brought in for the race.

Re: GIRLS ON THE GO 5K Walk/Run & Head to Toe Women's Expo Reviews

guest — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 03:17:24 GMT

The race was advertised as rain or shine but the organizers had no rain plan. When I arrived the organizers were debating whether to run, reroute, or cancel. The did not have a reroute premapped or approved by the fairgrounds. The start/finish line was put up not long before the start, by just one guy. I missed the awards ceremony because it was soooo long after the race. Most 5ks with a walk option start the walkers 10-30 minutes after the runners, not an entire hour. I didn't see the race times posted anywhere predominatly and can't find them anywhere online. I'm used to the times being posted same day or even emailed to me.