The annual Rock and Roll Half Marathon hits the streets of San Francisco this weekend. The course heads out over the Golden Gate Bridge and back to the city along the bay before finishing the 13.1 mile long course at Civic Center Plaza in downtown SF. Runners will be greeted at the end of the line with this fine finisher medal featuring the Golden Gate Bridge and the Transamerica Pyramid:
Good looking tech shirt design.
Health & Fitness Expo and runner packet pickup was held at San Francisco’s Moscone Center North.
There were even several cardboard Transamerica Pyramids around the sponsors booth.
And of course there is the obligatory Rock and Roll Half Marathon merchandising.
The headlining band for this year is Brooklyn Based American Authors.
The course took runners of the 5 mile mini marathon and the half marathon through downtown San Jose including Japan Town and passing through the neighborhoods full of cheering spectators and race supporters.
Are you ready to get muddy? Prepare yourself to be bruised and shocked while you run and climb over multiple obstacles on the course. This you must do if you want to earn your orange Tough Mudder finisher headband.
Check out the Tough Mudder NorCal (Tahoe) 2012 Official Video:
The 2nd annual 408k 8k road race in San Jose kicked off today on a beautiful SiliconCali morning. At the start of the run the temperature was in the 40’s with no wind. Perfect running weather. The top finishers ran the 8 kilometer course in just under 25 minutes.
The flat and fast 8k course runs from HP Pavilion in San Jose to Santana Row.
The fast course winds it’s way from HP Pavilion in San Jose all the way to Santana Row. Along the course, you’ll encounter a few mariachi bands as you run the Mariachi Mile starting at mile 4. When you start rounding that corner around Valley Fair Mall, you know you are close to the finish at the row just across Stevens Creek.
The race was very well organized and much smaller than the big Rock n Roll Marathon series races. Transportation was provided for those that parked at HP Pavilion from Santana Row to get back to the starting area.
The 408k finisher medal and tech t-shirt from the 2013 race.
The 8k road race is named for the famous 408 area code of San Jose and surrounding areas.
The Nor-Cal Tough Mudder course at Northstar Lake Tahoe:
For all those that completed the Tough Mudder course this weekend, congratulations! You have earned the right to wear your bright orange headband, the Tough Mudder finisher “medal”. Just like in the ancient Olympics of Greece, there is no actual metal finisher medal for this obstacle course run. Your badges of honor are your hard earned scrapes and bruises and the pride of knowing that you helped your fellow mudders over the obstacles as they helped you over the course. And in place of the olive branch of ancient times you get a bright orange Tough Mudder Under Armour headband as your prize.
The Tough Mudder finisher headband and Under Armour t-shirt.
Under Armour is a big sponsor for Tough Mudder. Their Tough Mudder related goodies can be found on their site here.
While you don’t have to donate your shoes after you tough it out through the muddy course of Tough Mudder, many take the opportunity to offload their mud soaked footwear before heading home.
You can donate your Tough Mudder mud soaked shoes at the end of the course. They are washed and donated to charity.
Probably The Most Interesting Man in the World
You can find your official Tough Mudder photos here:
While all of the technology and digital widgets can be fun, sometimes you just have to get outside and do something physical, not virtual.
Here’s a list of a few local running events around Silicon Valley and the Bay Area:
In the heart of Silicon Valley in San Jose is the Rock ‘n’ Roll San Jose Half Marathon on October 7th 2012
Rock ‘n’ Roll San Jose Half Marathon 2012 finisher medal. No word on if this is a mix tape from the 80’s.The cassette tape medal turned out to be slightly smaller than the classic 80’s cassette tapes. Not quite a micro cassette, but since it’s solid metal it probably won’t play in your retro tape deck.San Jose Rock & Roll Half Marathon finisher medals from 2011 and 2012 on the 2012 t-shirt. (image credit: SiliconCali.com)
Another view of the San Jose Rock & Roll finisher medals from 2011 and 2012. (image credit: SiliconCali.com)
Further out in the mountain playground of Lake Tahoe is the Tough Mudder Nor-Cal.
To prepare yourself for the 25 military style obstacles, you can train like this guy:
And one that’s not quite in the neighborhood:
The full marathon finisher medal from the 2011 Disney World Marathon Image credit: SiliconCali.com
The Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend includes a 5k, Half Marathon and a Full Marathon in Orlando, Florida in January 2013. You can also choose to run the “Goofy”, Goofy’s Race and a Half Challenge. A 39.3-mile run that combines the half and full marathons on Saturday and Sunday (12-13 January 2013)
Special 20th Anniversary 2013 Disney World Marathon Finisher Medal Image Credit: Disney
Note the quote from Walt Disney on the front: “All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them” Apt words for the dreamers here in the Valley
2013 Disney World Half Marathon Finisher Medal Image Credit: Disney
The Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend is again offering free runner tracking through this site: http://live.xacte.com/wdw/alerts/ Track your runner via SMS text message, email, Twitter or other social media with their Xact Event Alerts.
The 2013 Walt Disney World Half Marathon finsher medal
And coming up next year is the 2nd annual 408k 8K road race in San Jose. This race starts from downtown San Jose and runs to Santana Row. The “Race to the Row” is on March 10th 2013. #run408 Bring your running shoes…and your credit card!
