Run This Way

Overview:  A friendly, fun and uniquely Los Angeles race.

The fun twist to We Run the City is that you raise money for either Team UCLA or Team USC. For those who don't live in Los Angeles, these two colleges have a bit of a rivalry, to put it very, very mildly. When you sign up, you're given an opportunity to choose which school you'd like to represent. It's not necessary to be an alumn or student; you just pick a side. Whichever school raises the most money for the Special Olympics gets to keep a trophy for the year.

Both schools' colors are represented on the bibs, logos and medals. The race switches campuses every year. In 2016 it was UCLA's turn to host.

When: November 20, 2016

Where: The UCLA campus in Westwood (West LA).

Course access: Many bus lines go past UCLA or use the campus as a terminus, including Big Blue Bus 1, Metro 20 and 720 (which stop down on Wilshire) and 2, and Culver City 6. 

Why: The race raises money for Special Olympics Southern California. Runners are able to fundraise above their race registration fee, if they wish. In 2016 the race raised over 200K - and UCLA won the school fundraising challenge.

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Number of Participants:  My best guess would be 2000 - 2500.

Pre-race: Packet pickup was available before the race. Packet pickup on race morning was fast and stress-free, however. There were enough volunteers to handle everyone. 

Course: Totally within UCLA's lovely, leafy campus. It was hilly at points but not overwhelmingly so. There were some cheerleaders and volunteers cheering runners on at a few points. 

Chip timing: Yes, on the bib.

Post-course food:  Water and bananas were provided to the runners, and several vendors gave out samples, such as Hubert's Lemonade and Coca-Cola.

Shirt: The shirt you receive at this race depends on whether you've aligned yourself with Team UCLA or Team USC. This year's shirts are among the nicest I've ever seen at a race. The tech shirts feature the school colors - blue for UCLA and red for USC - with yellow side panels. The center of the shirt featured USC/UCLA mascots.



Swag: Once again, the medal featured a cut-out design that incorporated both UCLA and USC's colors and mascots. The Special Olympics' motto and event date were engraved on the back.

Expo:  More booths than there were at USC last year. Sponsor Coca-Cola was back, as were some local businesses, such as University Credit Union (also a major race sponsor). The coolest thing at the expo was a display with three real Olympic torches from the last three games held in America: Los Angeles (Summer Games, 1984), Atlanta (Summer Games, 1996) and Salt Lake City (Winter Games, 2002). Their owner was very gracious and even allowed visitors to hold the torches. 

Grade: A!

Would I Run this Race Again: Absolutely! I'm looking forward to it, in fact.

Overview: Generic Events' nascent Downtown Los Angeles Turkey Trot had its second outing in 2014. There's still some work to do.

When: November 27, 2014 (Thanksgiving morning).

Where: Downtown L.A., starting and finishing at Grand Park in front of City Hall.

Course access:  The start and finish line area was about a three minute walk from the Civic Center station on the Red and Purple Metro subway lines.

Why: Homeboy Industries, L.A. Regional Food Bank and Brooks and Brooks Foundation. Homeboy was on site selling pies, and there were drop bins for the food bank.
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Number of Participants: 2333 in the 5K; 1393 in the 10K.

For whatever reason - perhaps the hipster angle (the race actually sold trucker hats and American Apparel clothing *eyeroll*), there were a lot of assholes at this race. I don't know why, but it was the rudest race I'd ever been to.

Compounding this: the large number of people who thought it was cute to desecrate Indigenous attire and perpetuate harmful stereotypes. Here's a hint: if you wouldn't run a race in a Marines uniform or wear a fake purple heart because you think it's disrespectful, you should not be running a race in a war bonnet, war paint, feathered headdresses or an eagle feather. Period. It's really depressing to me to think that in 2014, people still feel it's appropriate to "dress like Indians."

Pre-race: Packet pickup was available on race morning, but it was chaotic. The actual packet pickup area was fine, but the t-shirt distribution area had been crammed into a small space by the stage. Everyone was packed in and pushing, and it was hard to see where the lines were. With all the space they had, this could have been thought out better.

Course:  The course wound uphill to the Music Center and the Disney Concert Hall, and then back down Spring Street for an out and back. On Facebook it was noted that the race distances had been incorrectly measured; the 5K was too long. The RD confirmed this.  

Both the 5K and 10K started late by about 30 minutes.

Post-Race:  Again: chaos. Runners had to fight through the crowds to get to the water/Gatorade table, and the only food offered was a banana. No bueno, guys. No bueno.

Chip timing: Yes, by Gemini Timing, with souvenir shoe tags that did not need to be returned.

Shirt:  Keeping in line with this year's "Turkey Strikes Back" theme, the cotton t-shirt featured the Turkey Trot's mascot stomping through Downtown LA, Godzilla-Style.

Swag: A large, generous medal.

Would I Run this Race Again: I liked it enough to give it another chance next year, but there is definitely a lot of room for improvement here.

http://www.kintera.org/faf/home/default.asp?ievent=478702

Overview: Run for Her is a mega-event that supports ovarian cancer awareness and treatment. Unlike the EIF Revlon Walk or Komen, Run for Her is a homegrown Los Angeles affair that raises money specifically for a major LA hospital, Cedars Sinai. This endears me to Run for Her in a major way. It is efficiently organized, has a very friendly, laid-back vibe, and is extremely enjoyable.

When: November 13, 2011

Where: Pan Pacific Park, near the Grove.

Why: Run for Her raises money for Cedars-Sinai Women's Cancer Program at The Samuel Oschin Comprehensive Cancer Institute--specifically for ovarian cancer research, awareness and treatment.

Course Access: Metro buses that ran along or stopped near Fairfax and Beverly included the local 14, 217 and 218, the Rapid 780 and the DASH Fairfax. The DASH and the Metro local 16/316 also ran along 3rd St. at the bottom of Pan Pacific Park. The bottom line was that even with the street closures in place for the race, there was some accessible mass transit both before and after the event.
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Number of Participants: 1155. Not all participants chose to be timed. They participated in the Friendship Walk. In fact, a majority probably did not.

Pre-Race: In addition to the regular race numbers, Run for Her offered special tribute bibs. Participants could write their loved ones' names on these bibs and carry them through the race.

Course: Surface streets from the Pan Pacific Park (near The Grove) to Cedars-Sinai Hospital and back. Mostly flat, lots of views of urban Los Angeles, and perhaps one of the fun things was being able to cavort down the street without cars!

Runners: This was a huge, huge race with participants of every shape, size, gender and age. As there was a focus on ovarian cancer awareness and treatment with RfH, there were a lot of cancer survivors and patients. There were also many teams, banners, signs and custom shirts on display. Run for Her is called a run, but most participants were in it to walk; not to achieve PRs. There were thousands and thousands of participants, so the course was incredibly crowded. Everyone was good natured and seemed to be having fun.

Shirt: They had two: teal with white lettering and the Run for Her logo; and the reverse--white with teal lettering. The teal shirts seemed to be much more popular, and for good reason.

Swag: There was a lovely drawstring bag full of goodies, including socks. :)

Expo: Run for Her had a very lively finish line festival with vendors, freebies, entertainment (including a flash mob!) and areas to sit and chat. There was a wall where you could write tributes for your loved ones. The finish line festival was so popular that the race offered a special category called "Sleepwalkers" for those who didn't want to walk the 5K but wanted to donate. They got special shirts and goody bags and were able to come to the Festival. I saw many of them walking around!

Would I Do This Race Again? Without a doubt, yes!