4/5 Stars

Downhill course and weather

Yes I PR by 1.5 min. (It's not bad since my old PR is 9 years ago). And yes I BQ by 17+ min.

Scenery and grade are great! As long as people did downhill training run well

Very focus speed work and tempo run for 2.5 months

Have friend drive you to mountain and do few real downhill long run

5/5 Stars

A huge race surprise! All logistics just aligned smooth and the course was beautiful and the weather couldn't be more perfect.
I was definitely not even thinking about Boston, just enjoying the race and did not expect to qualify for the new Boston time!
Weather was just perfect, I've ran other October California races but never one with such a great weather. Loved the course, miles went fact and having a downhills last half helped immensely.
Can't wait to return next year! Thank you Revel!

Oh yeah!!! PR by more than 3 minutes and qualified with more than 5 min for the NEW Boston times. All this after a half marathon race the previous weekend and barely recovered after Big Cottonwood marathon!

I love Big Bear (leaving in LA) and love the woods so I really enjoyed the course; and we got so lucky with the weather. So unexpected! Let's this "inaugural luck" carry over from all the Big Bear races from now on!

I wasn't well prepared for this race. But I did my 1st Revel last month in Big Cottonwood marathon where I learned some lessons.
After Big Cottonwood the recovery took a toll on me, so I took time to rest a lot and really paid attention to tampering more than any other races before Big Bear. It paid off big time!
Also, during the race I took much shorter steps with much higher cadence. It made a huge difference, during the race and recovery seems easier, thou still harder than regular road races but nothing beats the downhill run!
Definitely need specific downhills training (love Coach Paul's tips).

Run conservatively the first half than just turn on the "cruise control" for the last half for a great negative split.
Cold til mile 18, don't throw your gloves before that (and throw them at water stations please).

5/5 Stars

Great day! Buses were plentiful, bag check great, lots of ‘potties’. Would have loved to see a bigger bear garden, and some massage or compression massage stations at the finish. Downhill/fast runs make you pay for the effort and a little post-race care would have gone a long way.

Yes. Shaved 5 minutes off half marathon time

Nice course - not too severe decline. Beautiful scenery. A couple of places the camber on the road was a bit more than I would have liked, but overall very good.

Didn’t train long mileage like I had before, but did a number of 6-8 miles downhill runs. Paid off.

Train downhill!

Post-race needed a bit more fun. We went off-site to watch football game and eat. Traveled from La Verne on 2 hours sleep. We were at a concert at the Hollywood Bowl the night before!

5/5 Stars

I qualified for Boston!

Yes. My time was 4:02 and my fastest time (12 years ago) was 4:31.
Yes I qualified for Boston!

Beautiful. I wish I could’ve stopped to take pictures but I was focused on a BQ. The elevation didn’t bother me and the downhill course helped me run faster than ever before. The weather was perfect too!

I trained with Coach Paul through revel online coaching. Without his weekly plans I am pretty sure I couldn’t have done as well as I did.

Be careful not to go out too fast. Don’t worry about powering up the few hills in the beginning because you will make it up in the middle. Save some energy for the last 6 miles, they say it’s downhill until the end but those miles feel pretty flat.

Not much. I was too nervous before and too smelly after. But others were taking pictures with signs in front of the backdrops that were provided.
I live in 1 1/2 hrs down the mountain but stayed in our cabin in Running Springs which was 30 mins from the shuttle to the start.

5/5 Stars

All in all a good day. Favorite memories were meeting up with my 3 running buddies at the end of the race; it’s small enough that we could find each other easily at the end and enjoy post race activities together.

No, but wouldn’t expect to...too much time since my PR (53 minutes faster in1986)

Yes, I BQd

Course was beautiful! Definitely a nicely laid out, downhill course as the elevation drop was spread over the entire course as opposed to being concentrated in the beginning. Elevation not an issue at all. The course breakdown and description in the race literature was well done giving participants good insight as to how to approach the race

I ran 45-55 miles a week with hill workouts every 1-2 weeks. I did downhill repeats in my hill workouts but the longest segment I had was one mile. I wish I had done a few runs with much longer downhill segments, maybe 5-10 mile downhills. I did not perfect my downhill form very well, consequently my quads were tightening up by mile 11, not good, which meant I struggled more than I would have liked to early in the race and I did not negative split which should have been a no brainer on that course. My advice would be to throw in long downhill training runs

Read the Revel provided description of the course and the race strategy. Very helpful on what to expect and how to run the course. Secondly, and this may be obvious to everyone else but me, but remember to turn on your Garmin way before race start time. I didn’t think about how long it would take to connect and didn’t turn my watch “on” until seconds before race start; consequently my watch took awhile to connect so was way off on the mileage during the race.

Traveled from Long Beach, came in the afternoon before. Did not do anything fun before or after the race other than the expo and out to dinner Saturday.

5/5 Stars

Loved it! Great course! Didn’t like the parking but but everything else was awesome. I will definitely run this course again!

I PR’d by under two minutes on the half.

Beautiful and fast!

We train with LifeTime Fitness, coach Sylvia. She has us do some downhill runs as well as speed work.

Do some downhill training to get your body assimilated with it.

Disney Universal Studios but didn’t make it to the beach.

5/5 Stars

Great weather, loved the fog with the sun in the canyon. Very scenic course. Well organized event.

Nope. My Marathon PR is 3:27, Mt Charleston. Ran a 3:30 on this course, but still BQ'd by 35 minutes.

The first half has lots of ups, downs and curves. Road has a slant in places. Run the tangent if you can. The 1st part of the second half was awesome downhill! Last few miles were flat, city miles. Cars were close and traffic was not controlled at some areas. It was difficult to pass the slower half marathoners in the closing miles on the narrow shoulder. Loved the finish! You could see it from a great distance. The volunteers were awesome as were the aid stations, bus, medal, shirt, organization. Mt Charleston continues to be my favorite over Big Bear & Revel Rockies.

Followed an Advanced Marathon Training Program for 4 months.

Prepare for the steep rollers in the 1st half & flat miles at the end. Do weighted squats in your training as much as you can. Don't underestimate this course. The course profile looks a lot more downhill than it really is.

Drove from Nevada the day before the race.

5/5 Stars

Fantastic!!! The crazy early bussing wasn’t my favorite, but my overall experience, thanks to Revel’s people and volunteers made it all worth while. Great job!

I could’ve! Instead I used this race to train for another and enjoyed the company of friends helping them accomplish their first marathon.

Very well done! I wished it could’ve ended in Big Bear. I get that logistics didn’t really work for the Revel design.

This is old hat. I’m a trail runner, my road days have been few and far between. Doing ultras made this race a great training for an upcoming trail run.

Every race is going to be different. It’s ok to have a goal, set goals, PR’s and the like. Most importantly, remember to have fun, smile, relax and enjoy the ride. No matter how much you’ve trained, you never know what the day will bring. Enjoy it and don’t suck!!!

Stayed in a cabin Big Bear on the lake. Made homemade stew, shopped in town, enjoyed the weather and mini vacation. Also enjoyed the college area and history at the expo.

5/5 Stars

One of the most beautiful races I’ve ever participate.

Yes! I surpassed my PR

The was just great!

I’ve trained very hard all summer long for this race.

Be prepared. It might sound easy because of the downgrade slope but do not be fooled. The downgrade slope makes It’s challenging in a long distance.

The fun things that I did was to congratulate and high five a lot of my peers right after completing the race.
Afterwards we had a pockinic to celebrate our accomplishments!!

5/5 Stars

Seeing the sunrise and the clouds/fog hang around the mountains was picturesque

I beat my personal record from 8 years ago by 5 minutes

Beautiful!

Find hilly routes and cross train to prepare your legs for the downhill

Bring an old sweatshirt you can throw off at mile 2, it is very cold at the start