Well, at least in my absence I signed up for my first half marathon. I just received an email from the race organizers telling me that 70% of the course will involve trails. With switchbacks. This on top of the elevation changes that I already knew of. Holy shit.
The good news is that I'm six and a half weeks into training. My throat feels a little uncomfortable today, but I'll still jog the 5 miles today unless I decide that beer is a better course of action.
Below is the info given for the Rose Bowl Half Marathon. Yikes!
Course Description
This years Half Marathon will race on over 9 miles of trails all surrounding the historic Rose Bowl Stadium before leading you onto the field to finish on the 50 yard line!
Starting Line: North Arroyo Blvd in front of the Rose Bowl
The race heads South down North Arroyo Blvd for 7/10ths of a mile before hitting the trail head for the lower Arroyo Trail System. On the trails run well below the Ventura Fwy Bridge as well as W Colorado Blvd which closely marks the first mile. After passing under Colorado Blvd, the course runs along side the water run off culver, passing the Casting Pond before reaching the stable just over two miles into the course.
At the North end of the stable all the 1.2 marathoners will cross a foot bridge onto the West side of the Culver before running North along the opposite side of the trail system. 2/10ths shy of mile four, athletes will cross back over onto the East trail to retrace the opening steps of the run.
When the trails return to N Arroyo Blvd, the runners will stay on the trail that traces the road as it shoots directly towards the Rose Bowl. Once the trail reaches Seco, all the athletes will make a right turn onto the Westbound side of Seco St running East to Rosemont Ave.
Once on Rosemont, just passed mile five, runners will head North towards the Upper Arroyo Park. Around 6.5 miles the course returns to the trails running along the golf course, passing under I-210. Just after passing under the Interstate, the runners will be faced with a slight water crossing and a small bridge. Some athletes may choose to run straight through the water some will take the small bridge to keep their shoes dry. As each athlete crosses the water, they will be faced with a tricky up hill, steep switch back section that will get everyone’s hearts jumping!
Immediately, at the top of the switch backs, runners pass under Oak Grove Rd and day light out of that tunnel onto Devil’s Gate Damn before running straight ahead into the Hahahamonga Water Shed Park for miles 7 through 10. This trail runs North before entering a small Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) parking lot, turning left as if you were entering JPL and then quickly dropping down onto the trails on the opposite side of the water shed. At Mile 10 the course crosses another bridge that crossed back onto Devil’s Gate Damn and back into the tunnel under Oak Grove Rd. The course then sharply makes its way down the switch backs, an area of the course for all the athletes to be mindful of.
At the bottom of the switch backs the runners will hit the shallow water crossing before heading under I-210 once more, heading back along the golf course and exiting the trails back onto Rosemont.
Once on Rosemont the runner quickly head South, turning right onto Washington Blvd just past mile 11. From Washington Blvd, the runners will turn left onto West Dr passing mile 12 at the cross streets of West Dr and Salvia Canyon Rd. as the run continues South on West Dr to make a left turn onto Seco St.
Once on Seco, athletes make another left turn for the final leg on Rose Bowl Dr, from there heading straight through the main gates, through the Stadium tunnel and onto the field of the Rose Bowl Stadium finishing 13.1 mile at the 50 yard line!
