First time doing a Lululemon race. I jumped at the chance to have a weekend away to somewhere warm from the PNW coldness, so I signed up pretty quickly back in June/July

Registration: sign up early, sold out in 3 days. Costs $85

Transportation/ Hotels: I stayed downtown and my hotel offered a free shuttle to and from the airport (added bonus). If you can, do an Uber or a Lyft to get around the city, or the transportation system. Parking’s expensive and a bit obnoxious

Packet Pick up: Happens over the course of 3-4 days at the Lululemon UTC store over in Wakefield. It’s a bit of a hike to get there and not the easiest in terms of finding the store since it’s in an outdoor mall. Bib numbers were assigned as you picked up your bib, don’t forget to have your QR code to be scanned. You also get either a tank or a t shirt depending on if you’re a woman or a man. Afterworlds, take some time to shop around, your bib gets you 25% off anything regular priced

Race Start: Shelter Island. There are shuttles from the finish and certain hotels that left between 5-6 AM. A bit of downtown as the race didn’t start until 7 and we were essentially hanging out until 7.

The course: starts on shelter island before going to harbor drive, onto Harbor Island for a mile and change then back along the harbor and ultimately to Waterfront Park. You did get some Harbor Views and some pretty good views of the airport rental car parking lots. I feel like there’s a bunch of options in terms of course choices and that there could have been a better course in order to see some of that in San Diego.

Post race: after you crossed the finish, you got a medal, a Lululemon bag, a donut and some food. Waterfront Park was set up with some vendors, post race yoga and a Lululemon pop up shop. The line to the pop up shop had to be at least a 30-45 min wait at one point and they ran out of anything in the women’s sizes that was SD specific so you may have been able to either go to one of the stores or order it special, which was kind of disappointing.

Fun idea, but better course options I think.