ZOOMA Napa Valley

ZOOMA Napa Valley

ZOOMA Napa Valley

( 4 reviews )
50% of reviewers recommend this race
  • Napa,
    California,
    United States
  • June
  • 6 miles/10K, 13.1 miles/Half Marathon
  • Road Race
  • Event Website

Haley Gonzales

Sacramento , California, United States
52 33
2015
"Fast Course in Wine Country "
Overall
T-Shirts/SWAG
Aid Stations
Course Scenery
Expo Quality
Elevation Difficulty
Parking/Access
Race Management
Haley Gonzales's thoughts:

This year (and last) I was an Ambassador for ZOOMA. Last year was the inaugural race, so this year I was expecting a bit more. More people, bigger expo, a larger after party....That isn't what I got. While I really enjoyed this race I think it is lacking something special. We are in Napa, famous WINE country. For being a destination race, I just don't think it lives up to what it could be.

Lets start with the expo. It was small and pretty quite when I got there to pick up my bib. That being said, they did have some good booths to check out - Feetures socks, running clothes, sports drinks. I do have to admit I don't really care about expos. I just care about the race (same with the after party that we'll get to). There was a "mocktail" party after the expo with hint water which was a cool idea and some yummy cheese. But no crackers, or bread or anything else to go with it. They didn't even have tables set up until we asked for them. We hung out at the party for an hour or so then left to go get dinner & get to sleep for race day.

The race provided shuttles from the host hotel (Napa Marriott) to the start of the race but my boyfriend and I just drove ourselves to the start. Plenty of parking if you 1. get there early and because 2. this race was A LOT smaller than last year. I also ran this race with a group of Kaia FIT girls too, but they drove down the morning of. The race is an out and back course, which isn't my favorite but the majority of this course is pretty so I didn't mind it. The weather was perfect so the run was enjoyable. The volunteers at the aid station did a better job as we went out than when we went back in. I had to ask multiple stations if they had water or electrolytes because they were talking and not paying attention to me as I came running up. I would say probably half or more of this course is not closed off, there were cones up to let us know to stay on the side of the road. Which was fine with me because the road was not very busy. Miles 1-3 and 10-13.1 are the best as far as views and scenery goes. Running through the vineyards on the shaded streets was beautiful. There were hot air balloons along the way too! The miles in between are right along the freeway. For a race in Napa I feel like there are better spots that could be chosen. One thing I didn't appreciate was people walking their dogs along our course. I ran by 3 couples walking their dogs around all the runners. Now, granted there weren't many runners, it is still rude. The end of the race was great. Lots of places for people to spectate and cheer and I had my team there cheering for me and on of my Kaia girls ran with me to the finish. The race was well organized and I appreciate that. We got our water, metals and bananas and waited for the rest of our team to finish.

The awards were given at 10am, and we had 2 girls on our team place in their age groups! 1st and 2nd!! But since the awards are at the hotel at 10am and one of our runners didn't finish until almost 10 we got there right as the awards ended. I believe the course is open for 3.5 hours (with a 7am start time) so they shouldn't start the awards until 10:30-11 in my opinion. We wanted to cheer for everyone and we were not going to leave early to the awards with out all our girls, so that was a little bit of a downside to the after party. Also, the "after party" only had chicken salad available for the runners. I'm sorry, but where are the carbs? At least offer some bread with that! And being as how I don't eat meat we had to leave and go eat else where. Which kinda sucked because I wanted to do some wine tasting but I needed some food in my belly first.

Overall, I would say this race is okay. For me, any time I get to run with a group of friends it is a good time! But this is one of the more expensive half marathons that I have run so I would expect a bit more, like I said earlier. The after party and mocktail events really didn't live up to the hype. While the course was nice, I think it could have been better. And the food...I was really disappointed. Of all things runners need after a half marathon carbs is #1 and they weren't even offered. I hope they make some changes next year to offer a more unique experience.

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