2016 New Year's Race

"Here's the story of a lovely lady
Who was bringing up three very lovely girls.
All of them had hair of gold, like their mother,
The youngest one in curls"

Why the Brady Bunch song to start this review?  I got a secret!!

After I finished the 2014 Hollywood Half, I learned about the the Best of LA Challenge Medal!  If you did the 2014 New Year's Race and the Hollywood Half you got the Best of LA Challenge Medal!  I was looking forward to earning the Best of LA Challenge Medal in 2015.  But, for whatever reason in 2015, there wasn't a Best of LA Challenge Medal.  Guess the organizers of The New Year's Race and the Hollywood Half couldn't get things worked out.

I'm guessing the New Year's Race organizers had enough feedback about a challenge medal because the 2016 New Year's Race, race organizers added the Doubleheader Challenge- run the 5K or 10K, then the half marathon for the Doubleheader Challenge Medal.  On social media many people pointed out that if you signed up for the Doubleheader Challenge, it was about $25 more than if you signed up for the each race.  So, you paid $25 extra for the Doubleheader Challenge medal and hoodie.  Would it be worth it?

An interesting thing happened about two weeks before the race.  If you did a virtual run, at any distance, for $25, you received the same Best of LA Challenge Medal that runners who completed the 2014 New Year's Race and 2014 Hollywood Half.  What did that mean?  Race organizers had a ton of medals left over from 2014 and found a way to get rid of them.   I didn't care, I liked the Best of LA Challenge Medal so much, I signed up for the virtual race and got that medal!  Besides I would do both half marathons in 2016!

Running two races on the same day was something I had never done before.  But, after seeing the Oakland Running Festival, We Run the Town Challenge, I was excited to do this challenge.  On the Oakland Running Festival website they mentioned that Challenge runners would get all three medals after finishing the half marathon.  The New Year's Race Challenge did not mention when Challenge runners would receive their medals.  So, I went on social media and asked.  But, I didn't get a reply for awhile.  I continued asking and got a response to email them and they would answer.  But, why are they playing Cindy Brady-I have a secret?  Why wouldn't you tell all Challenger runners when they are going to receive their medals?  I mean there are some logistical reasons to know, right?  If you get the 5K/10K medal after the race, where are you going to put the medal?  Nobody wants to run a half with a medal in their pocket.  Will gear check be well staffed so runner can put the medal in their bags?  So, I emailed them and they replied that the 5K and 10K medals would be given out after the race.  Then they gave some BS reason that they wanted to keep this a secret for security reason!  WTF kind of BS is that?  The Oakland Running Festival tells all runners they will receive their medals after the half, on their website!!!  While I preferred the medals after the race, just knowing that we would get the medals after the 5k/10K was fine.  That made my decision to have a gear check bag easy!

They changed the day of the race from the usual Saturday to Sunday.  Now, I understand why they changed to Sunday, because of the way New Year's Day fell on the calendar.  New Year's Day was Friday.  Maybe the race organizers correctly thought that people wouldn't want to pick up their bibs on New Year's Day.  So instead the expo was on Saturday and race on Sunday.

But, when I signed up and in all postcards, the races started at 4pm for the 5K and 10K and 6pm for the half.  Later, without notifying runners the start times changed to 6pm and 8pm.   I only found out about it on social media.  Hey New Year's Race, thanks for keeping runners informed!  NOT!!

This race has always been advertised as a night race.  They didn't surprise runners by changing at the last minute to a night race.  So, why do runners complain about the race being a night race?  Read all the crybabies bitch and complain about running at night on their Facebook page!  Really people, get a damn clue!!! If you don't like running at night, just don't sign up for the race and STFU about it being a night race.  What?  Are you scared of the dark?

Ambassadors- Race ambassadors are selected to help promote the race.  If you follow the ambassadors on social media, they will post discount codes for that race.  I'm not sure how they select ambassadors but some ambassadors for other races are terrible!  For example the Long Beach Marathon!  While waiting in line at bib pickup for Rock n Roll Los Angeles, I tried to talk to one of the ambassadors about the race.  She had on a LB Marathon t-shirt and told me she was an ambASSador.  That's about the only thing she told me.  She basically blew me off and told me to go check the website.  Yeah, thanks for your help!  Next time try and promote the race instead of being an ambASSador!  Luckily, the New Year's Race ambassador I met wasn't a jerk!

Riding the trolley while in San Diego for the Rock n Roll San Diego Half.  I met New Year's Race ambassador Martin and it was great to know that not all ambassadors are jerks!  I saw he had a New Year's Race t-shirt and I talked to him about the race.  He told me he was an ambassador and gave me some more information about the race.  He was very nice and helpful. 

Expo-Inside the Biltmore Hotel.  Bib and t-shirt were quick and easy.  Expo itself is very small with limited amount of vendors.  On weekends there is a $5-$7 parking lot caddy-corner to the hotel or take the metro!

T-shirts, short sleeve for 5K, long sleeve 1/4 zip up for the half, were cheap quality.  Hoodie for Challenge runners was also thin and cheap.  The worst part was they ran small, so the XL I got was more like a large.  This was not worth the extra $12.50 for challenge runners.

On social media the New Year's Race organizers tried to justify the higher price for the Doubleheader Challenge, by saying "Other races have a higher price for their challenge."  By other races they mean Disney.  While it is very true all Disney Challenge races are very expensive, you get great quality t-shirts and medals.  Not to mention Disney customer service!  I'm not saying Disney Challenge races are worth the, at least, $325 price tag, but Disney doesn't give you cheap crappy t-shirts or medals like New Year's Race!!

Race Day- Gear check was well staffed when I dropped off my bag.

Time chip-Another example of how cheap the New Year's Race organizers can be, is the damn timing chip.  You have to return the timing chip after the race.  They give you two twist ties at bib pickup to tie the chip on your shoe.  Right after finishing, you have to take off the chip and give it back.  Come on don't be so damn cheap!  Get the timing chips on the bibs or the chips you don't have to return!! 

The 2015 New Year's Race started somewhere near 5th and Main, which is a very narrow street.
 So of course, the corrals were jammed packed, since nobody enforced the corrals and all three distances started at the same time.

This year the starting line was near Grand Park and with the 5/10K starting before the half overcrowding wasn't an issue.  So, good idea by the race organizers to start and finish at the same area.

5K route was terrible because all runners got bottlenecked within 100 yards of the start!  What idiot designed this route?

Half was great.  But, what I don't get is all the runners crying about the hills.  WTF do they expect?  The race advertise runners will be running through the hills near Dodger Stadium!

The 2:30 pacer was great!  He was always talking, which is great!  Saying things like, "Let's hit this hill.  Or we have water coming up."  He was very encouraging and helpful.  Most pacers just run and rarely talk or if they do, they are talking to their friends. If anybody knows the name of the 2:30 pacer, please contact me!  I would like to give him the proper credit!

After the race I grabbed some water and a banana.

Medals- cheap, thin, piece of crap for the 5K and half.  What I really don't like about the 5K and half medals is that both are the same design, the half medal is just bigger.  Come on use some imagination and have two different designs!  The crazy part is that on social media runners were saying they ran out of 5/10K medals!!!  How does that happen????  Hope they got their medals!!

The Doubleheader Challenge medal was pretty cool.  That was worth the $12.50.  But, what wasn't cool was the long line to get the challenge medal.  It would have moved faster if  they had more people working the table and if they told us to unpin our bibs, so they can mark the back after you got your medal! 

5k, Half and Challenge Medal.

Gear check was well staffed and I was quickly able to put the 5K medal in my bag.  Race organizers didn't have to be Cindy Brady-I have a secret, but at least they had gear check well staff, so no waiting.


While I love the challenge of running the hills, I won't do this race again.  The medals and t-shirts are cheap.  But, the New Year's Race customer service is the worst!  Playing Cindy Brady-I have a secret, is just stupid!  There is no reason to keep when Challenger runners are going to receive their medal a secret!

The Brady Bunch,
The Brady Bunch,
That's the way we became the Brady Bunch!