NAGDCA 5k/1mi Fun Run/Walk Map

Part of our services for the NAGDCA Conference was to design both the 5k and 1 mile courses to the start/finish at Spanish Landing Park. The course expands all the way out to Harbor Island, giving runners a great opportunity to explore San Diego at it’s finest! Also, us at Run San Diego provided unique graphic design services for the NAGDCA Conference. An eye-catching and informative map of both courses has been designed and produced for the race to pass out to the competitors.

• Designed the Course from Start/Finish
• Custom Graphic Designed Map of the Course

For more information on the race details and location please visit the blog post below.
http://www.runsandiego.org/2012/08/run-san-diego-race-director-trowe-price-nagdca-5k1mi-fun-run/

Click Here to Download a PDF of the Course Map

Sunny San Diego has been selected to host the the 2012 National Association of Government Defined Contribution Administrators Inc. (NAGDCA) Conference. The conference will also include 19th Annual 5k/1-mile Fun Run/Walk to be held on October 1, 2012. The Fun Run/Walk is sponsored by T. Rowe Price who has selected Run San Diego as the official race management company. The Sheraton San Diego Hotel & Marina is hosting this 5-day event and is where the guest runners are staying, which is a short walk from the course start/finish area. Plaques will be awarded to the 1st place male and female in the 5k run and 1-mile walk.

Owner/Operator Blake Miller and has been selected to be Race Director and will design both the 5k and 1mi courses to start/finish at Spanish Landing Park, which is a historical landmark in San Diego known for its stunning bay views and wide-open space. The course will venture out onto Harbor Island which will provide a great “taste” of San Diego for the many out of town guests. Run San Diego shall play a huge role in the overall management of the race and will also supply the event with outside vendors and medical support.

About T. Rowe Price

Originally Founded in 1937, T. Rowe Price, is an investment company with a goal of achieving long-term growth for their clients. T. Rowe Price manages over $500 Billion in assets and offers investment strategies for individuals and institutions. Their belief is that they should always do what is best for the client and their community that is why, T. Rowe Price has graciously sponsored this exciting event.

About Run San Diego

Run San Diego is a local organization dedicated to the running, walking and racing community which provides Training Programs, Coaching, Resources and Race Management for individuals, groups, businesses, organizations and everyone in between. Created and managed by runners, we are a team of committed leaders, members and volunteers who are passionate about everything running!

2012 La Jolla Half Marathon Team Picture

I have some big news to share with you!

After 8 years, 24 individual programs and over 2000+ runners coming through The VAVi Running Club (TVRC) training programs for the Carlsbad, La Jolla and Rock n Roll Half & Full Marathons, we have worked with VAVi to merge our Summer AFC Half Marathon Training program with the VAVi and TVRC name. It is Run San Diego that powers all of the VAVi marathon training clubs.  In fact, Coach Blake developed the VAVi running club from scratch in 2004 with a whopping 35 runners registered.  For those of you not familiar, we used to run our Summer Training Program under the Run San Diego – a different yet similar program.  In fact, many of the RSD faces started with our Winter & Spring programs via TVRC. AFC Half Marathon Training Program via VAVi’s TVRC The AFC Half Marathon is one of San Diego and Southern California’s premier half marathons – operating for over 35 years!  It’s also the last of 3 races for the Triple Crown (Carlsbad, La Jolla and AFC) that many of you are already planning on running.  This is PERFECT for you!!

• Generally, more advanced (Designed to follow Carlsbad, La Jolla and RnR training)
• Smaller group = more agile, more running routes we can venture into
• Track Workouts and more Advanced Training Workouts!
• Advanced Clinics & Info Sessions – unlike ones we see during Winter & Summer
• Learn more about the race at www.afchalf.com

A HUGE number of runners PR’d at previous years’ AFC races – presumably due to the fact that they continued their training developed with VAVi into their Summer training.  We will continue the tradition, just under a different name.

• Learn more about the VAVi 12 Week Training Program
• Learn more about the VAVi Running Club (TVRC)
• Learn more about VAVi Sport & Social Club

We’re excited to continue and expand our training programs!!

• Race Info
• Parking Lots Map
• Site Map (closeup of start/finish/expo)

Arrival

Plan to arrive into downtown area NLT 6:15am (1hr prior to race start). . . that is of course, you want to chill out a bit and not be running around with your head cut off.  I’ll be arriving into town by 6am as I personally like to avoid traffic and chill out.  Sometimes I would say up to 90-120 minutes, but the benefits of this race has:

• Lots of entries into downtown (I5N & S, I-163 from the NE, I-94 from the East)
• Lots of parking provided by race, and much of it very close!!  (Very Good!)

Parking

There is a ton of parking made available which is awesome!  Should be alot of free street stuff, but a ton of pay lots ($10 each) within 1 mile of the start.  Overall, looks like a great setup! http://www.sdhalfmarathon.com/participant-info/directions-and-parking/

RSD & VAVi Meeting Spot

Every big race we plan a meeting spot for us to group up at.  Being the inaugural race, it’s hard w/o experience, but we do have alot of race experiences so after scoping out the start area vs parking, we’re going to shoot for the base of the Glass Elevator structure at the bottom of the new Harbor Drive Footbridge at the corner of Tony Gwynn Drive and Park Blvd – This will be between corrals 5 & 6 (and the start of corral 9 since they overlap)

• 6:30am – Begin Meeting (or earlier)
• 6:55am – Group Picture
• 7:00am – Break apart – go pee, drop bag, get to your corral
• 7:15am – Race Start

Meet near the glass elevator structure at the corner of Tony Gwynn & Park Blvd.

Have a Great Race!

Enjoy the race, and we’ll see ya out there!

Rock on Finishers!!

With the beautiful weather, active community and excellent terrain and structure for running, there are many great running races here in San Diego all year long.  One of the best resources would be online and there are two of them:

RacePlace – Popular listing of races and running clubs, in both print and hard copy
Active.com – Race Search
Active.com – Running in general (Select San Diego as your city)

The big races throughout the year are are half and full marathons:

• Carlsbad Half/Full Marathon, January ~8,000 runners
• San Diego Half Marathon, March ~7,000 runners
• La Jolla Half Marathon, April ~8,000 runners – close to selling out as of now.
• Rock n Roll Half/Full Marathon, June – ~20,000 runners
• AFC Half Marathon, August ~8,000 runners
• Silver Strand Half, November ~5,000 runners

Be Prepared!!

I’ve seen countless runners show up to the starting corral without the right socks, a dead iPod and even some without their bib or timing chip all together! Facebook rings of posts like “I didn’t sleep well last night” and “running late sitting in traffic” Don’t let this be you . . .

Be prepared, rest well and remain as stress-free as possible on race morning!

Over the years of both participating in and coaching hundreds and hundreds of runners for long distance running events, I’ve developed and refined a handy “Pre-Race Check List” that is very helpful in getting you ready for the race – not only in the days leading up to race weekend, but most importantly, the hours leading up to bed time! And that is an important note . . . have EVERYTHING done and ready before you go do bed. The only thing you should be doing on race morning is waking up, showering (a trait of mine) eating and drinking your coffee en’route.

Download the Pre-Race Checklist

Do you have other items or ideas that would be helpful? Please let me know by leaving a comment below.

With nearly 200 runners signed up for our winter training program through VAVi Sport and Social Club, we’re gearing up for a great Race Weekend for the 2012 Carlsbad Half Marathon.  We’ve spent the last 12 weeks training for this race and for many, it’s their First One!  Congrats and good luck to everyone running this weekend!!

Learn more why over 2,100 runners have been through our running programs since 2004.

• Starts 1/31/12
• Ends 6/3/12

To learn more visit our other website which included dates, prices and additional information.  We have had over 2100 runners come through our programs since their inception in 2004 . . we’d love to have you check out why.

Over 125 Runners from the club rand the race. A bunch made it for the group picture at 5:45am. Not bad!

On Sunday, June 5th, the VAVi Running Club that we oversee and manage set out to complete the San Diego Rock n Roll Half or Full marathon.  We had at least 125 runners complete the race. (Even 125 is a hard number to estimate but a good guess based on years of experience and could have been more.)

I’d love to track and post every single runner’s results but that’s impossible.  So, after every race, I solicit feedback and results.  We had a huge number of you set Personal Records (PR) and do and have done amazing things.  At least 4 of you qualified for Boston (probably more for those who didn’t respond!)

• Jason Jablonski beat his goal FULL marathon time by 14 minutes! Awesome job.
• Tony Principe was so pissed from last year, he trained hard this year. Results? He slammed 23 minutes from his FULL marathon time. Oh . . . qualified for Boston with a 3:04:59 (Gotta love those “Oh yea’s . . . .” ;)
• Speaking of Boston, our resident Female Speedster, Jessica Goertz set her Full Marathon PR with a 3:00:07 to take 15th overall Women, and 3rd in her Age Division!!  (Yes, that’s 3 hours and 7 seconds . . .  fricken incredible, but frustratingly so too ;)  She’s PR’d the race every single year since 2006 – the year she started with training with us.  Oh, she won LJ Half Marathon in 2009.
• Stephanie Russell ran her FIRST half marathon and beat her projected goal, which is also an automatic PR!!
• Mitch Nodland ran on/off for last few years before joining VAVi for the first time this season. He got cramps at Fiesta (~22 miles). Then decided to finish in 3:10:08 to Qualify for Boston, with 52 seconds to spare. (Yes, it’s all true)
• Meaghan H. ran her FIRST FULL marathon and loved it so much she’s coming back again! Congrats. (I love those ;)
• Jessica Martinez ran her FIRST FULL marathon in 4:24 so got her PR!!
• Wayne Dilly smoked it with a 1:17:48 Half Marathon.  Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeet!
• Jennifer Epper got a PR at La Jolla and then decided to do her first FULL. Cranked out a 3:58 . . . jeezers!!
• Amy Kelley finished the race after being sick for last few weeks, but better – ran into her TnT coach from Virginia while on the course!
• Jules Taggart ran her first FULL marathon . . . automatic PR!!
• Lyndsey Hassett missed a bunch of the season with a broken foot, then came back to PR her FULL marathon with a 3:33:50 .. another Boston Qualifier!
• Robyn Williams never ran more than 3.5 miles before VAVi. Goal was 2:30, she killed it with a 2:14!  (One of my favorite “But I’m not a runner” stories.)
• Karen Otto ran her first FULL marathon in 4:04. Awesome!
• Anne Stephany knocked out her FULL marathon in 4:20! (I think it was her first)
• Jennifer Vanoni finished her first FULL marathon. Automatic PR . . super congrats!!
• Kendra Hartman knocked 8 minutes off her FULL marathon time, setting a PR.
• Coach Yayoi Suzuki set a new PR for her half, and has cut 28 minutes from her first Half 2 yrs/4 seasons ago.
• Kristi Romine ran her 2nd FULL marathon and knocked 54 minutes off her time. Yes, 54 minutes!!!
• Ken McDonald has lost 40lbs over the last 14 months, stopped smoking and finished his FULL marathon. Congrats, Ken, on many levels.
• Pam Flagg set a new PR for her half, by 13 minutes, and 27 minutes better than her first half 2 yrs ago. Nice job on killing 13 minutes. That’s a full 1 min /mile pace cut.
• Kelly Dye set her PR in the Half Marathon!! Super job, Kelly!
• Kate M. ran her very FIRST Half with a huge smile on her face!
• Lauren W. and his sister Jessica finished their first 1/2 marathon and beat their goal by 5 minutes. Good job!
• Michelle Stabile ran her first FULL marathon in 4:13 – Sweeeet!
• David Lau finished his FULL marathon in 4:28!  Another first time CONGRATS!!!
• Tony Barengo did his first Half and beat his goal for 2 hours by over 5 minutes!
• Danael Flores ran her first FULL and beat her goal by 7 minutes, coming in at 4:23.  Love First Timers under 4:30!!
• Diane Sands finished her very FIRST marathon  . . and already looking forward to next year!
• Jenna Perucci ran her second FULL marathon with a PR by 44 minutes!! Oh boy . . another one of those “Slammed It” times.  Congrats.
• Melissa Johnson completed her FIRST ever half marathon!
• Maegan Rey set her new Half Marathon PR with a 1:58. Sweeeeet!
• And another one of our speedsters, Matt Tobey whipped out a 2:54 FULL marathon placing 10th in his division, 50th Overall (out of 8,267)
• Stacey Preston got a PR in her Full Marathon with a 4:45!  Excellent
• Mike Tan got a new PR for his Half Marathon time by 4 Minutes and ran a blazing 1:34!!
• Jessica Huepper enjoyed her first season with VAVi and smoked a 1:45:47 LJ half to go onto a 3:50:02 Full Marathon. Congrats!
• Pamela Umali got stuck at a Porta Potty line for 8 minutes and still knocked out a 2:17!
• Christyn Putulowski scored another PR by finishing the Full Marathon in 4:24!

Rock on Finishers!!

And I know many of you also kicked ass and had a great time! I wish I could research more runners on my own, but unfortunately have to resort to only those who responded.

More Pictures

Enjoy more pictures from the entire race weekend:

• Pasta Dinner on Facebook: http://on.fb.me/kLRjjO
• Race Day on Facebook: http://on.fb.me/jsMQ5p
• Race Day (by Others) on Facebook: http://on.fb.me/mkhTHN

VAVi Running Club

For more information on our VAVi Running Club, visit our separately maintained website: www.vavirunningclub.com

• 4/17/11 – La Jolla Half Marathon
• 4/18/11 – Recovery Schedule (2wks)
• 5/2/11 – Prep Training Schedule (4wks)
• 5/30/11 – AFC Training Begins (1st group run 5/31)
• 8/21/11 – AFC Half Marathon
• 8/22/11 – Recovery Schedule (2wks or more, depending on your personal schedule)