Scottsdale Giant Race...a Home Run!

  "Disclaimer: I received a complimentary entry to the Scottsdale Giants Race as part of being a BibRave Pro. Learn more about becoming a BibRave Pro (ambassador), and check out BibRave.com to review find and write race reviews!"

This year I was doing the 10k with 2 other friends. Went to packet pickup on Friday afternoon, which was a piece of cake. I’m not even a Giants fan, but I was really tempted to buy some of their swag they were selling. Nice stuff!  They get a significant number of SF Giant fans that come from out of state for this race.

I was able to chat with the race director Brian.  We received our bib and shirt, which I really like. It’s super soft and performance tech.

Race morning was an early day!  The 10k starts at 7am, so we met at my house and were on the road before 6.  I was also able to meet up with fellow BibRave member Laura, who was running the 5k.

There are some fun startline festivities for this race. There is a “singing cowboy” with his horse Dusty. The cowboy hangs out with us at the start, then sings the national anthem.  Luckily he’s always up for photo opps!  Then there are native American hoop dancers – including the reigning national champion – who performed just before the gun went off.  Really unique Arizona touches to this race!

We started right on time, with the 5k folks just 15minutes behind us.  The course took us through Old Town Scottsdale, then onto the famous greenbelt, which runs alongside the golf course.  This is where we would spend the bulk of our race. It was a glorious sunny day and perfect race temps (50’s)! The course was well marked and plenty of aid stations. I brought my own fuel, so I didn’t need to stop for water.

In the last mile,  we merged with the 5k participants , which were mostly the walkers by that point.  One of the cool things about the race is finshing on the field inside the stadium.  So we came in around the back of the stadium, where the singing cowboy and Dusty were there to greet us. He assured us the finish was just to the right…and it was!

I heard my name announced, which is always a nice touch.   I squeaked in just under an hour at 59:59.   I met up with Laura for some finish pics before finding my friends.  Time for free hard seltzer, snacks and more photos! There were an assortment of chips, fruit cups, yogurt and oat bars.  The music was fun and there was a good after party vibe. However, there is a spring training game being held there a few hours later, so the staff did seem like they wanted us to not get too comfortable and move along.

All in all, my friends and I had a great time – we all had a good race experience and said we’d come back and do it again next year.   Their only complaint was that there weren’t separate medals for 5k and 10k, but you can’t have it all!