LA County Holiday Half Marathon race REVIEW

The LA County Holiday Half Marathon was held in Pomona, CA on December 12th.  Just a heads up: I thought this race would be in LA, like LA.  Pomona is way far out there!

Besides the half marathon which cost $90 and $100 at the expo, there’s a 13.1 mile bike tour ($45) and a 5K run/walk ($45).  There were about 3700 runners in the half marathon.

THE EXPO

I loved that there was race day packet pickup so people didn’t have to drive up there two days in a row.  The packet pickup and expo was held in one of the buildings at the Fairplex.

The expo itself was pretty small and nothing amazing.  They were having a toy drive which I thought was a great idea for a holiday race.

THE LOCATION

The race is held at the Fairplex So Cal, where the LA County Fair is.  This is great for the start and finish, but it means there’s only one entrance and exit for the part of the fairgrounds that we were going to.

But a good thing about the Fairplex was plenty of real bathrooms and not much of a line for them.  Also, even though you had to pay for parking, there was plenty of it.

We got there early and left ASAP to avoid the rush.

THE COURSE

The course itself was fun: 

“The course takes runners into the beautiful Frank G. Bonelli Regional Park, around Puddingstone Lake , through the surrounding communities of San Dimas, La Verne and Pomona, and back through Fairplex So Cal for a “behind the scenes” view of the fairgrounds.”

I don’t think I saw anything “behind the scenes” but running around the lake and through the park was awesome.

The course has some hills to it but nothing too bad. 

It was definitely warm out, and I think a 7am start instead of 8 would be spanktacular because of this.

THE SUPPORT

There was water and Powerade every 1-2 miles, but one of my complaints is that there weren’t enough volunteers handing out cups.  I grabbed my own at nearly every aid station because there just weren’t enough people to hand them out.  And I was closer to the front than the busier, middle of the pack.

There were also gels, I think at mile 6 and 8, but I must have missed them.

POST-RACE

Water bottles, juice, granola bars and heat blankets were given out after the race, although the blankets were definitely not needed.

SUMMARY

I like how the event played up the “holiday” part: the snowflake medals are too cute and the bibs were even cute too.  It made it fun to run and to dress up for.  I really enjoyed the course itself; it was interesting, scenic and kept my attention instead of getting bored with it. 

That being said, Pomona is a ways out there, and I didn’t love the whole Fairplex location.  I think it sounds better in theory than it actually was.

I don’t know if I’d run the race again, more because of the drive than anything else, but I’d definitely recommend it to other people.  It’s a fun event with a fun course.  7.98 out of 10.

*Radom.org says that the winner of the SportHooks giveaway is #70 Katie of Healthy Heddleston!  Katie, please email me at skinnyrunnerblog@gmail.com your mailing address and which 5 hook display you would like.

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