Jungle Run 1/2 Marathon & 10k

I heard that this year Jungle run is cancelled (July 12 2015). if any of you are interested, you could join Sevathon Half Marathon or 10K on JULY 2015.
and you can Support American Diabetes Association.

The Jungle Run is run mostly/​entirely in Los Gatos, CA. The start/​finish area is the Los Gatos High School athletic field The course takes residential and business streets from LGHS to Los Gatos Creek Park, onto the Los Gatos Creek Trail. The trail goes through Vasona Lake Park, past LGHS and Forbes Mill Museum, up the trail about ²⁄₃ of the way to Lexington Reservoir, turns around, and finishes at LGHS. It’s easy to misjudge this course’s challenge. It has no significant hills, but it is steadily uphill the 5 – 6 miles from Los Gatos Creek Park to the turn around. Run in July, it can get warm as the race progresses. Los Gatos Creek Trail is beautiful; Los Gatos residential areas are pleasant; business areas, 2 – 3 miles, are business areas.
The Race organizer is Firstwave Events. I would rate race organization as fair-​to-​very-​good. Important stuff — registration, bib pick-​up, venue, parking, porta-​potties, aid stations — were done well. My main complaints come from being a late finisher. Race T-​shirts were given out at the finish. When I finished they had one in my size. Knowing more finishers were coming, I chose the next size larger, which fit. When I finished some finish area activities people were packing up or leaving. Hopefully Firstwave noticed and will address these issues that may diminish race experience.
2015 Addendum: This was just my 4^th small-​medium sized event. I’ve done 10 or 11 since, upping my expectations. I’ve changed my rating down a notch. I’ve participated in two more of this organizer’s events, the Morgan Hill and the Santa Cruz Half Marathons. The 2014 Jungle Run T-​shirt annoyance was repeated at the SCHM, but without receiving a T-​Shirt that fits. Apparently Firstwave gets many late registrants and their planning subjects slower finishers to to possibly not receiving a race T-​shirt that fits. I emailed Firstwave, and was less than satisfied with their communications. I had registered for the 2015 Jungle Run, but Firstwave canceled it.
The tiger-​themed race T-​shirt, bib, and finishers’ medal are among my favorites. The T-​shirt has a small, colorful, graphic of a tiger where a pocket would be. On the back the tiger image is large. And colorful! The bib features a tiger in the background behind the bib number; race name is across the top; date and location across the bottom. The finisher’s medal features the tiger’s face in orange on a silver background. Very! Cool!
Between my cramping calves, not wanting to throw up, frustration, and discouragement, I didn’t notice the finish area goodies much. I grabbed a bottled water from a ice-​water-​filled tub, and saw that some of the vendors were leaving or gone. While I was among the last 10 – 20 finishers, I was not the last. I understand the vendors’ people wanting time with families and friends, but they are there to advertise their products and services by being part of runners’ race experience. Firstwave needs to work on these things.
I was under-​prepared and misjudged the course. I had had health and injury problems in previous months. Both limited my preparation. I was too aggressive early in the race, and around mile 11 or 12 my calves started cramping, hampering me. Mea goofa!
Would I do the Jungle Run again? My June, 2015 answer is, «No, not anytime soon.» I’ve had further, discouraging, experiences with Firstwave. Things were less than good at Firstwave’s 2015 Santa Cruz Half Marathon. When I finished I went straight to the T-​shirts table. I had registered early, but they were out of my size, and the next larger. I took the next smaller, which did not fit, to have something. There is a Unilocal SCHM review by a woman late finisher who was similarly disappointed. I exchanged emails with Firstwave, but that fizzled into nothing («Fs» for Communication and for Customer Service!).
I did the SCHM as one of three for the Bay Area Running Series, and was registered for 2015 Jungle Run. About 6 weeks before race day, Firstwave canceled it. I could say more, but late cancellation made finding an alternative race a scramble; I couldn’t get an early registration discount.
The Jungle Run is practically in my back yard. The SCHM and MHHM are easy drives from my home, but I will not do them as long as Firstwave is the organizer, unless I learn Firstwave has improved their organization. I’ve done 19 halfs and 7 races of other distances since late 2011. I don’t burn up the asphalt or the trail, but I know the SF Bay Area has many excellent race organizers and indie-​organized races! I hope a time comes when the Jungle Run, SCHM, and MHHM have an excellent organizer — another organizer or an improved Firstwave.

Ran the Half Marathon race on 7÷13÷2014. Good course with a few hills especially at the start leaving Los Gatos High School. I liked how they had pace leaders with signs running showing race target race time so you could pace yourself on the run. Good idea with the early start time to avoid heat, traffic and pedestrians on the Los Gatos creek portion of the run. However for a Half Marathon the number of aid stations with water and very diluted Gu or Electroytes was extremely poor. Also, no power gels or gu shots on the race? For the amount paid for to do this race not having a water station until mile 4 is poor planning on their part. Fortunately, I had enough water on me to cover my needs. Also, we heard someone asking for the First Aid station at the finish and many of the volunteers had no idea. Really?

Between mile 3 and mile 4 of the half marathon the cop stopped all the runners for 35 seconds to let traffic and cars go by. This is not a usual practice compared to other Half marathons I have run. All the runners complained because they tightened up from the stoppage of the race and it disrupted their paving and there cadence They need to address this problem in the future

i first ran this race 3 years ago and very much enjoyed the event, but was not able to participate the past 2 years. fortunately, my schedule allowed me to return to los gatos and participate in this event this year.
for this event, participants had 2 events to choose from:
half marathon (13.1 miles)
10k (6.2 miles)
i chose the half since it was the distance i ran 3 years ago and i’d hoped to better my time this year! i guess 3 is my lucky number, b/​c i beat my time by 3 minutes!
the pros:
+GREAT RACE DAY conditions, about 59 & cloudy at the start which was awesome for july (sun did not come out until about 1 ½ hours into the race)
+MEDIUM-​SIZED event with 1000 or so total participants, most of whom were local runners
+BIB AND PACKET pickup party 2 days before the race at running revolution in campbell and on the eve of the race at athletic performance in los gatos, both of which are near the event site. if you couldn’t make either one, you could pickup your packet the morning of near the start line.
+at least 3 different areas with PORTA-​POTTIES near the start line, along with portable soap and water dispensers. lines weren’t too bad pre-​race.
+FREE PARKING at los gatos high school, either by the track (right next to the start line) or at the front of the school (just a couple blocks away)
+AWESOME PACERS! i saw signs ranging from 1:30 to 2:15 and know that these volunteers gave their time and efforts to helping many of us achieve our goals for this race. i want to especially thank my pacer, linh, who paced the 1:50 group for keeping us entertained and motivated throughout the entire course, especially the last stretch going up the hill!
+SCENIC COURSE from mile 5 to the end along los gatos creek trail and heading up to the lexington reservoir area, decent amount of shade while on course!
+CLEAR MILE MARKER signage at every mile, except for 13 since it was the final turn before the finish line
+VARIETY OF POST-​RACE REFRESHMENTS, which included bagels, cream cheese, bananas, plums, nectarines, and strawberries. they also had snow cones this year, which was a nice bonus since it was very warm after the race!
–LOTS OF FRIENDLY VOLUNTEERS assisting with bib pickup and registration pre-​race, manning the aid stations on the course, directing traffic (especially on some potentially confusing turns) and handing out medals and bottled water at the finish line
-$ 50 for half marathon if you did early bird registration, $ 65 if registering closer to the event date. very reasonable considering what you get in return.
–UNIQUE JUNGLE RUN FINISHER’S MEDAL with a tiger on it!
–DRI-​FIT SHIRT with a big colourful tiger on the back (matched the medal this year!) i especially appreciated the fact that they had both women’s cut and men’s cut tshirts this year.
–JUNGLE-​THEMED TOP FINISHER PRIZES. while i didn’t place at this event, i did get to see some of the awards ceremony and the unique «jungle-​themed» awards that were presented to the top finishers, including a totem-​pole-​like plaque and small tiger statue.
the cons:
–not really an ideal «pr» course since this course has many rolling hills, is net downhill for the first half, and net uphill for the second half, with a steady incline from miles 10 – 11.5 (when legs are very tired)
–first part of the half marathon (up to mile 5) was a bit boring since we ran along residential streets
–while mile markers were present at every mile, i found that most of them were a bit short of the actual distance, esp since my garmin signaled each mile completion after i passed the official race markers. i also got 13.04 miles at the end, which falls slightly short of the true half marathon distance of 13.11 miles.
overall, a very well-​organized local event and a great excuse for visiting los gatos, one of the nicer towns in the bay area that i rarely visit since it’s a bit of a trek for me. i hope to be back next year for this event and attempt to beat my time again!

Great medal, smaller event. I thought the race would be great. The after party was great. The course wasn’t good, at all. I hated that we had to stop for traffic, we interrupted by soccer moms pushing jogging strollers on the trail, had to weave through walkers and bikers too. The event was organized and would’ve been a lot more fun had the course been better managed. I’ll do it again, I just hate splitting the road.

It’s an enjoyable race, and this was my second year running it. Both times I set a PR, and this year I’m especially proud that all the training paid off.
Let me start with what’s good. The race goes through the beautiful Vasona Lake Park, you get to run by the lake and enjoy the view. The parking is easy to find, and it’s very close to the start line. The finish line, with the food and different booths, like stretching and massage, makes for a nice post-​race experience. Oh, and the top finishers got little toy pandas this year (every year it’s different).
What could be improved. I really want to enjoy this race in the years to come, so here’s what I’d like to see changed:
— The park is already filled with walkers/​casual runners/​bicyclists at 7:30−8am when we were running through it. That is expected. What didn’t help is that all of the 10K runners got to the park at the same time as the fastest half marathoners. 12−15min/mi pace 10K runner/​walker would be in front of 6.5min/mi half marathoners. This made for some dodging around. A possible solution is to modify the 10K and ½M routes not to intersect, or start 10K a little later. This probably only matters to people that are trying to set a PR or running faster than 8 min/​mi.
— The mile markers were all over the place. I think mile 9 marker was at mile 8.5, and mile 10 was where it was supposed to be.
— Just a suggestion, that it may be good to start the race a little earlier next year. 6:30am would be great; it started getting hot towards the end.
— It was weird that they did a shout-​out to look around us and notice any bandit runners (i.e. unregistered runners) before the race started, saying how bad, bad it is to be a bandit runner. If the organizers want to enforce bibs, it’s their right. But runners that did pay and register, such as myself, don’t need to hear that. Better start the race on time, and not 1.5 minutes late :)
— The shirt — and I’m sorry to hurt someone’s feeling — is ugly. Walking near the tent that gave them away, that was what many people said too. A colorful rectangle over the entire back is *not* a good design style. I have a few dozen of race shirts, and this one (as well as the shirt from last year) scores probably the lowest. I myself designed some shirts for my team at work, and know it’s not easy. But please get a designer to help for next year. Or don’t give a shirt away, and use the money to put up better mile markers.

If you run this trail normally, the only thing different when you sign up for this race is that there’s more people and water stops.
If you haven’t run this trail before, it’s alright. Pretty boring unless you’re into trees and creeks. Where else are you going to run? The sidewalk? Too many stops.

This is a very well organized event. I have run the ½ marathon for 2 years now and my husband has run the 10k for both years. This year my mom even flew out to run her first 10k. The course is fairly flat and there is plenty of support. I would definitely encourage anyone who would like to try out one of these events to start with this. It is well managed. There are lots of awards and even participant awards. Get there early because there is some issue with not enough bathrooms for the event. They try but the lines are still ridiculous.

GREAT FUN SUMMER RACE!!! i ran the half marathon with my girlfriend and her husband and my boyfriend ran the 10k! LOVE the fact that they have both a 10k and half so different level runners can both enjoy the event. Finishers medal was great! There are some hills but nothing too hard. The food/​expo area after the race is so impressive for this size of race too. Lots of great sponsors and yummy treats.
I will def run this event next year again!

The Jungle Run was my first ½ marathon in the Bay Area, and I had a fantastic time! The race was very well organized, and I appreciated that it started & finished in the same place (the Los Gatos High School track). The course was well marked & easy to negotiate, there were plenty of water/​Gatorade stations, and as far as I remember it was fairly flat. Having the track to warm up on was also great. I thought it was a really nice (full color) finisher T-​shirt & medal for a small (ish) local race. The volunteers were awesome & very enthusiastic. The only downside is that parking can be difficult if you get there on the late side, so try to get there early (or resign yourself to a nice warm-​up /​cool-​down walk to & from your car). Would definitely consider running it again (though it would be a longer drive now that I live in SF).

Perfectly fine local run.
Positives:
–Nice size race, not too much crowding at the start.
–Lots of porta-​potties, which is an underappreciated feature – long lines before a race are so irritating.
–Nice t-​shirt
–Good announcers
–Easy to get to for us South Bay types
–Convenient packet pick up at Running Revolution so you can also get your gels and any last second stuff like new socks
–Nice medals for a local race – above expectations.
–I like the finish on the track at LGHS
Negatives:
–The race route is not completely closed off, you share the trails with walkers and bikes etc. but that’s not too bad (unless you are running for a PR in which case you may be irritated).
–The course is net downhill for the first half and net uphill the second half – not too much, but enough to be notice. Argh!

So I couldn’t pick up my packet on Friday or Saturday cuz I work those days so it’s great they allowed you to pick it up on race day without charging you a fee like the San Jose Rock and Roll which is ridiculous $ 30 to pick it up day of; you must be the 350^th participant to sign up for it or else you are out of luck to pay $ 30 to pick up your stuff day of race. No way. I digress…
The place was packed and it was difficult to look for parking but we found street parking not too far away.
It was funny the announcers repeated several times that the 10K started 15minutes AFTER the half marathon because people weren’t too smart last year and messed up the timing by running at the right time. The porta potties weren’t backed up so it didn’t take too long to wait to go to the bathroom before the race but there was NO wash station after using it! Gross.
The first leg of the race you go up a slight inclining hill that turned so I just walked most of it because we were packed like sardines! Then we went through some streets which were blocked off for the race. The drivers at the intersections didn’t look too happy.
We then went onto the Los Gatos park trail and it was nice because the weather was good that particular day it wasn’t too hot because half the trail was unshaded. The bikes going down the trails weren’t happy with us and yelled at us for blocking up the trail. The water stations began at mile 3 and I felt they were sufficient because too many and then you slow your time down. I wasn’t too thirsty between the stations and they offered gatorade and water and one station offered energy gels.
I agree with the previous reviewer that I didn’t like the overlapping of the 10K with the half marathoners. I mean who comes to a race and walks it? Especially a 10K –Go walk a 5K right? So I had to run around a few walkers of the 10K. The last part of the race was just plain ridiculous. It was confusingly marked and the dust and dirt flew in my eye and I had to squint the last leg of the race. On top of that, when you think you’re about to finish, they tell you to run one lap around the track to finish. Didn’t like that at all.
The food after the race was decent: good fruit and good bagel and also good yogurt with granola by Bear Naked. They give you a nice gorilla metal and a cotton T shirt. All in a all a decent race but definitely not the best.

I ran the Jungle Run Half Marathon this past Sunday and I am happy with my time. The course was challenging and on mile 12 I had the biggest burst of energy as I sprinted to the finish line.
Positive: There were plenty of water stations that had water, power aid, and glu shots, which is always an added bonus. There was a lot of shade around the pond and creek areas keeping it cool as the morning temperature slowly raised. It was a warm day.
Neg: I didn’t like was that the 10K and the ½ marathon course combined on the trail, which became really crowded. I had to constantly run around 10K walkers. In addition, there were many people from the general public sharing the same trail that we were racing on. It was not a good experience. Also, the 10K runners and the ½ marathoners got the same medal. This is my first event that gave medals to 10K runners and I was disappointed that my medal had the words 10K on it. I wish they had a separate medal for ½ marathoners. I run for the medals and train hard for my accomplishments and wish I was rewarded for my hard work, not just with a general medal that was shared with everyone.
I will not run this event again. I had the choice between the SF Half and this one. Since I ran the SF Half 2 years in a row, I figured I would try something different but it wasn’t as great as I wanted it to be. If you are looking for a Half Marathon around the same time, I would recommend the SF one.

This is an intimate ½ marathon on a beautiful course through Campbell and Los Gatos. I loved the Los Gatos Creek trail, especially running through Vasona park on a Sunday morning. If the crowd got any bigger, the venue wouldn’t work, so I’m hoping more people don’t discover this race.

I think this will always be my favorite half marathon… the last 2 years it’s exploded in the number of participants which is great, just means you gotta get there a little early so you can find parking. This was my first half marathon back in 2004. I remember when I finished I could barely walk because I was so exhausted. i’ve improved by 24 minutes since that first race.
The only regret I have is not starting to run a year earlier so I could run the innagural running of this race… I wanted all of the different animals you get on the medals each year! Speaking of which… I love earning a different animal medal each year and the past 2 years medals have been the best!

This was my first time doing this race and it was great! I train on LGCT every weekend and was sure that I’d be all set for this race. The first 5 miles or so are not directly on the trail and have some inclines. I definitely wasn’t prepared for the first hill right out of the starting line chute.
Finally, we got onto the trail in Campbell near the dog park and headed south to Los Gatos through Vasona Park. Eventually, we crossed over Hwy. 17 onto the dirt portion of LGCT. By this time it was hot, dusty and there’s minimal shade. For over a mile you are running on a slight uphill. Finally, the turnaround is in sight and it’s a breeze getting back since it’s all downhill from there. After a quick right turn, it’s only ½ mile to the finish line. The last ¼ mile is on the Los Gatos High School track. The squishy track felt great under my feet and allowed me to pick up the pace as I approached the finish line.
I didn’t set any PRs and actually came in a minute slower than my usual race pace. I’m still pretty pleased with my time since I wasn’t prepared for the inclines in this race. My quads are killing me now.
PROS:
~ timing chip race
~ well organized
~ finishers medal and t-​shirt at the finish line
I’d definitely do this race again next year!

Thank you Jungle Run! You’re my 400^th review on Unilocal!I had high expectation with this run since I participated in First Wave’s Santa Cruz Half Marathon in April. The run was fun, yet I felt that the Santa Cruz run was better.
PARKING: Got to the parking lot at 6:15am, and parked in the smaller lot. I nabbed the last parking spot. Yes!
REGISTRATION: All fine and dandy. Got the bib and the chip in a couple minutes.
THE TRAIL: Start at the Los Gatos High School, go through some hills and streets, into the creek and park areas, and end at the Los Gatos High School track.
The last two miles were killer! I had no idea when mile 10 – 12 was going to end with that funky loop at the very end of a pathway. I was thinking that it was the 10k people, but it was actually half marathon participants running back from a circle. Hmm. very confusing.
I also had issues with the marking of the trail. Yeah, I saw the spray paints on the floor. However, I was really confused during mile 12 where that overpass was located. There was a ramp to go to another part of the trail. Was I suppose to go up the trail? I didn’t see the spray painted arrow.
WATER STATIONS: Not enough!!! I felt like passing out in the middle of the run since there wasn’t a water station in the park and creek area. In addition, it would have been nice if someone passed out the gels at station 3, rather than runners picking them up on top of a box.
THE AMENITIES: YAY for bagels, strawberries, plums, bananas, peaches, and orange slices! Yum Yum. I grabbed a handful of strawberries and inhaled a blueberry bagel.
I love the zebra medal! I was expecting a technical shirt, like the one from Santa Cruz. I was severely disappointed when I saw the cotton t-​shirt.
I didn’t get a chance to do the Nike Body Fat testing. Hmm. I would have wanted to know the percentage of body fat that I had. Ah well.
The race is more of a 3.5 stars. GO DO THE SANTA CRUZ HALF MARATHON instead! In my opinion, the ocean is better than the trails.