Rohring Rock Half Marathon , Marathon and 50 K

Pre race letter:

Saturday is nearly upon us.  The weather forecast appears to be reasonably good for the race day morning.  Morning Clouds with a high in the upper 60’s.  Sunrise is around 5:45 A.M.

Parking is in front of the Bonita Sunnyside Library.  Please park in the WEST lot, in front of and immediately to the right of the library.  The parking lot to the far right ( EAST side ) is for the Golf Course and Restaurant.  They are very protective of their space and may tow.  Since we are starting early, we should not have any parking issues.

Restrooms:  Inside the park they are open around 6:30-7:00 A.M.  The AM / PM Gas Station at the corner of Otay Lakes and Bonita Rd. is open all night, so I recommend you use that one before the race until the park and McDonalds are open.

Check in: Please come at least 15 minutes before the hour your race starts.  We are a small group, so it shouldn’t be too difficult to get you your bib, sign you in and get you warmed up for the race.

Lap Counting:  As you may recall, the course is almost exactly 5K.  Numerous previous measurements of this non-certified course have come in at 3.14 miles.  Being an engineer, I will call it Pi miles.  Each lap as you come around in front of the aid station, we will check off a box on our tracking sheet for you by your BIB NUMBER.  So, we need you to wear your bib on the front of your person in a visible location.  I would also ask you to call out your bib number and make eye contact with the timer ( probably me or Annette ) so we mark your lap.  We will also TRY to mark your time to the nearest minute for each lap.  If you are not wearing your GPS, this will be good for you to review later, if you are wearing your Garmin, it may not be that important to you.  But it’s very important for us, because as the sweep, I need to track everyone for safety reasons.  If you decide to go have breakfast, or drop from the race without telling us, we will probably go looking for you on the course, assuming you are injured and in need of medical assistance.  If we have to search for you, both you and your fellow runners will be very unhappy.  In the mountains, it would cost thousands of dollars to do a Search and Rescue… Please tell us if you are leaving the course for more than 10-15 minutes to get a Starbucks.

Speaking of  medical assistance, I am CPR / AED Certified and a volunteer Race Guard at many races.  If we have a medical emergency, the Fire Dept. Paramedics are located ½ mile from the starting line on Bonita Rd., between Central and Otay Lakes Rd.   They can access the entire course by vehicle and get here pretty fast.  If you see anyone, including someone who is not a participant in our race, who needs medical assistance, dial 911 and they will be dispatched as fast as possible. 

Aid Station:  Our aid station is at the start / finish line, behind the Library.  We will have water, Gatorade, sweet and salty foods, cola and sprite, much like you would find in a trail race or ultra.  We are old school runners.  We put on races because we love to run.  We don’t seek deep pocket sponsors who push their product at our races.  Consequently, if you have a favorite mega branded gu or gel that  you prefer, please bring your stash with you to the race.

iPhones, iPods, Headphones, etc.   We do not encourage the use of these devices while running, but we recognize that they are part of our lifestyle.  We ask that you run with one earpiece out, especially when at the aid station, crossing the driveway or any time when you may be trying to communicate with other people.  Since the trail is typically 15 feet wide or more, you don’t have to worry about blocking someone’s path if they try to pass you, but it’s a good idea to be able to hear people behind you trying to pass.

Course Markings :  I will put orange surveyors tape ribbons in numerous locations around the course.  I will also put some chalk marks and some signs at the turn around for the out-and-back sections of the 10 /13.1 and the 20 / 26.2  races.   I have found in past races that kids tend to pull down all the ribbons as soon as they get to the park in the morning.  Hence, I ask that you pay attention to the course on the first lap or two, so you won’t get confused if you see some kids running around with ribbons tied to their bodies.  We don’t use children as moving course markers, but can’t keep them from trying to participate in that manner.

Late Starts:  Given the good weather, we can have more people opt for the 1 hr. late start without too much medical concern.  If you want to late start, please let us know by Friday morning.  Some of you have already asked me and in general I have said “yes”.  I will be there at 4:30 or so Saturday, so those who want to start before the sun are still welcome to do so.  Especially the 50 K runners.

T-Shirts:  OK, I lied.   I have some T-shirts to distribute.  They are not Rohring Rock T-Shirts, but Rock and Roll San Diego Marathon and ½ Marathon Promotional T-shirts.  2 colors.  Blue and Cream.  Different designs.  I can’t guarantee your size, but I have about 50 COTTON shirts in various sizes of each color.  You are welcome to take one if you wish.

Boston One Wrist Bands:  I have some of the blue Boston One wristbands.  1^st 3 finishers in each race get one.  It’s an honorary award, not intended to imply that you qualified for Boston at our race.  Our course is not a Boston Qualifier.  But we honor and remember the fallen and injured runners and spectators and want to keep them in our thoughts.

Course photographs:  A link to a large pdf file with course photos is here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/irkhbmgbkx5xsk3/bonita%20course.pdf
It’s a BIG file, so you need to be on a fast WIFI or go get a cup of coffee while it downloads.
Race Results:  we will post results the Ultrasignup.com. page where you registered.  It will take a couple of days to complete them.  If  we make an error and need to correct it, no worries.  Save your Garmin results if you believe there’s an issue with your finish time and we can review them.  We TRY  to get every lap, but sometimes even  99.5% accuracy means we can miss one or two in the course of a long race.  We always try to get better as race directors and as runners J .
Jim, Annette, Jason and Monica.
Your Race Crew.