Like every good runner I had my bag ready and my clothes set out the night before a race. However, sometimes I just can't get going in the morning and what I thought would take me 20 minutes to get out the door turns into 45 minutes. Oh and the clocks got pushed forward an hour so that was not helping me either. Luckily the drive there for me was pretty much all highway and I hit no traffic at 6am. I got to the Sears parking lot, across the street from Knott's Berry Farm, at 6:22am and had no trouble finding a spot to park. The only down side was that the parking lot lights were not on and it was still pretty dark then. It made getting the jogger, my kid and the snack bag all that more interesting. The walk to the starting line took maybe 5 minutes.
Since I was running behind I took us straight to our wave and made sure to get little man settled in before we took off. There was 7 waves and they were roped off with a person at each entrance checking your bib. One of the things I like about Renegade is that I can run with my jogger for most of their races. I'm not that crazy lady that you see running people over with their joggers. As a runner I have lots of respect for my fellow runners. I made sure to take my spot at the very back of my wave. I also give the other runners the right away and I do call out if I'm going to pass someone so that they don't all of a sudden turn into my jogger. The DJ on the stage had music pumping and was very energetic. He got the first wave started just after 7am. There was about a 2-3 minute wait in between each wave.
The course started off in the parking lot but it wasn't long before I was entering into the park. This was a big bonus because it kept little man looking around and talking about all the rides he saw. I was probably running in the park for about a mile, maybe a mile and a half before I was back out into the parking lot. I was only in the parking lot for just a few minutes and then found myself running through Knott's Soaked City. Little man got really exited about all the slides and was already asking when we would be coming back. As I was exiting out of the water park the 5K runners turned left towards the finish line while I turned right with the 10K runners. At that point it was an out and back course on the road for about 3 miles before you were fed back in with the 5K race so that everyone crossed the same finish line.
The course was pretty flat. The only time I found some "hills" was a few up and down ramps when you were entering and exiting Knott's Berry Farm. There was plenty of water stops with some awesome volunteers. There was tons of smiling volunteers along the course cheering, singing, giving you high fives and thanking you for coming out to run the race. For me one of the many things I look for at a race to determine if I do it again is the support system for the runners. I literally saw those red volunteer shirts everywhere!! And that alone would bring me back next year to race again.
Once I crossed the Finish Line they had volunteers ready to remove the timing chip from my shoe so that I didn't have to bend over to do it myself. Aww, the little things in life. Once that was done I received my SWEET looking medal and got in line for a FREE slice of Boysenberry pie. Mmmmmm, sooooo good. There was also water and light snacks. It was a little tough getting from the finish line shoot back to the open space where the expo was held but totally worth it to get that piece of pie. I do wish I had more pictures to show of the race but when I'm pushing little man in the jogger there is no stopping or he gets mad.
I was able to drop the jogger off at the Renegade Race Series Tent and headed back over to the Knott's Berry Farm entrance with little man so that he could do the Camp Snoopy Kids Run. This was his very first race and he was beyond excited for it, especially after I just completed my race and got my medal.
For the kids run, everyone just lined up in no particular order and was let out into the park in groups that were spaced about 2 minutes apart. The entire kids run was in the park. It was pretty flat and people were spaced out well enough so that people were not bumping into others. Parents and/or an adult was able to accompany the kids during their run. Little man made sure to point out every ride that he wanted to do while he ran. My son will be 4 in about 3 months and he jogged the whole time with bursts of sprinting here and there. Again there was lots of volunteers out supporting the kids and giving them high fives. Once little man crossed the finish line he received his medal and they also had water and MORE pie available.
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