I wasn’t originally planning on running this race, but it was a part of a challenge after the San Francisco half. I’m so glad I did! It’s been two years and I still wear the green shirt because it was so cute, and I see them everywhere too! I ran the year that there was a torrential downpour of rain mid-race, which made things kind of tough. But the funniest part to me was the old hippies that came out and were cheering nonetheless. The only thing is I wished we were able to run a little part of the course on the Cal Bears campus, because that is such an iconic part of Berkeley. Regardless, I look back on this and think I had such a great race experience. I think others did too, because many of us were cheering on each other in the rough weather. Also, they gave out really great medals for completing the race series challenge, and even added a subsequent medal and challenge for the turkey trot in Silicon Valley (so I ended up with like 5 medals for 3 races). I would run this race, and this series again!

This was a solid race. I ran the first half over the golden gate. Beautiful course. Huge race so it’s nice they provide busses and transportation from other areas. It was my first race over the Golden Gate Bridge, and ever since, I’ve noticed it was the only race of about five where they closed down a lane of traffic so that we could run on the road and not just on the narrow pedestrian walkways. The only thing was the food at the finish line was just muscle milk (not my thing) and those wafer-like protein bars but not much else. Great series medals and scenic course. Huge expo. I’ll do it again!

I will never run a race with Corrigan Sports. A few years ago, they tried to start the Oakland A’s 5k. Having signed up for the huge Giants Race with a different company a few times, I thought it would be really fun to run for both baseball teams. I was wrong. The A’s race was so disorganized that we didn’t get any email confirmations that we had registered or race day instructions, even up to the Friday before the race. So I reached out to the company and asked them for help, asking if this was a real race or a scam. Their representatives and even higher-ups were not helpful, and kept blaming the Oakland As. I got caught between two companies blaming each other, and couldn’t even go to the race because I didn’t know where the starting line would be. In the end, I had to report it to my credit card company as fraud, because I didn’t even know if the race had taken place. I really wanted to run this race because I grew up with the Oakland A’s. What a disappointment. Maybe they handle the Oakland running festival differently, because it is their big race, but I will never run a race with this company, based on this experience.

I think I ran this marathon the last year that it was put on by ASICS. The course was absolutely iconic, running you buy all the best sights and through all the best neighborhoods of Los Angeles. To me that was the best part! My shirt was kind of ugly, because it was gray with orange writing, and the previous year they had had a neon yellow shirt which was way cuter. To their credit, there was a lot of cute stuff to buy at the expo, and the expo was huge at the Los Angeles convention center, which is easy to get to and park at. My year there was also an unexpected heat wave of 90°, and so all of the aid stations ran out of fuel, Gatorade, and water which was really tough. But the course was spot on, and the metal was a big “LA” that had several of the sights on it! This was the bucket list race for me, and I’m glad I did it!