Race Report: OC Chili Trail Series (March 12th)
Apparently I was really excited about this race! I was up this morning at 5am. It's my usual routine for a race that starts at 7am and requires me to be on the road by 6am. So, alarm goes off. I make my coffee, surf the Internet for a few, eat some breakfast and hit the bathroom. I load up the car at 6:05 and head out. It takes me 10 minutes to get to O'Neil park. The Park Ranger isn't even in the booth, so I don't have to pay my $5 for parking. As I pull through, confused yet happy with my luck... I realize NO ONE is here. The race organizers aren't even around. Hmmmm.
Pull out the paperwork from the race that I neglected to read before and realize, I'm over 2 hours EARLY for the race! Race doesn't start until 8:30. Registration and Packet Pick Up aren't even open until 7:30. What a dork! I chalk this all up to a "trial run" for my race and turn around to finish up the coffee I have back home.
Round two of driving to the race only takes 10 minutes and costs me $5 to park for the race. Now people are buzzing around. On my way to registration I run into a friend. It's not surprising considering the race is only about 100 people.
The volunteers are nice and to kick off the race they even run the National Anthem.
Off we go... I'm breathing hard. Truthfully I've been struggling with my runs these days and it doesn't help that I did a pretty tough workout (a ladder up to 20 burpies in a minute) Thursday. My legs feel like sandbags.
First 2 miles of the course you are either on a path or on a fire road. It's mostly uphill. The few times you go downhill you kind of curse because what goes down must go up. By mile 3 it's about 2 miles of single track. Kind of frustrating because you can get stuck behind someone. The race offers two water stations on the course and beautiful views of Saddleback Mountain and Lake Forest. We lucked out with a beautiful day.
Rounding the corner to the finish line you hear cowbells and cheering. For a small race, they got a decent amount of crowd support.
Onto the important stuff:
The chili was actually pretty good. Rich and thick. They offered crackers and cheese as toppings. Cookies, pretzels, red vines, water and powerade. A fantastic spread and all for only $30 bucks (plus parking). Some folks were smart and brought their chairs to take in the sun and eat their chili. Others just plopped down, stretched and chatted.
Overall a great local trail race that was kid (and dog) friendly. I'll probably sign up for the next on in April.
Course Highlights:
Pull out the paperwork from the race that I neglected to read before and realize, I'm over 2 hours EARLY for the race! Race doesn't start until 8:30. Registration and Packet Pick Up aren't even open until 7:30. What a dork! I chalk this all up to a "trial run" for my race and turn around to finish up the coffee I have back home.
Round two of driving to the race only takes 10 minutes and costs me $5 to park for the race. Now people are buzzing around. On my way to registration I run into a friend. It's not surprising considering the race is only about 100 people.
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| Race Registration |
The volunteers are nice and to kick off the race they even run the National Anthem.
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| Racers lining up at the start. |
First 2 miles of the course you are either on a path or on a fire road. It's mostly uphill. The few times you go downhill you kind of curse because what goes down must go up. By mile 3 it's about 2 miles of single track. Kind of frustrating because you can get stuck behind someone. The race offers two water stations on the course and beautiful views of Saddleback Mountain and Lake Forest. We lucked out with a beautiful day.
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| Finish line |
Onto the important stuff:
The chili was actually pretty good. Rich and thick. They offered crackers and cheese as toppings. Cookies, pretzels, red vines, water and powerade. A fantastic spread and all for only $30 bucks (plus parking). Some folks were smart and brought their chairs to take in the sun and eat their chili. Others just plopped down, stretched and chatted.
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| Food spread post race |
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| Chili |
Course Highlights:
- Only $30 (+ 5$ for parking)
- 5 miles of mostly scenic trails
- Kid and dog friendly
- Chili with all the toppings included
- NO bathroom line
- Charming, yet challenging trail run
- Raffles after the run
- Nice long sleeve T-Shirt with registration
- I kind of wished they played music for the post race chili event
- Website suggests a campfire with the chili, but the day was too beautiful to consider
- Single track trail made it hard to pass folks
- Of course, beers would have been nice (then again Cook's Corner is just 2 miles away)
Next run in the series (Series started February) is April, 16th. Check their site out for registration details: http://www.bookthatevent.com/Trail_Run/Home.html
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| Race's "Hook" is Winter Chili Trail Series. Enjoy Chili in the cold season... not exactly the case today. |
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