I would have never thought I’d drive up to Redding to race.

And I would not have thought back when I signed up – specifically because I thought it would be an incredibly difficult, 100+ degree, day of misery in the heat and hills – that I would have such a great time.

You don’t need to go race the Northern California 70.3 for the course. You should go race the Redding Half Ironman for Redding and the people who made this race incredible.

I can’t speak highly enough of this event. It blew away all my expectations for a half iron distance event that “fit into my workouts for the Sacramento Full in October”. That was the other half of the reason I signed up. The first was “well that sounds like it’ll be brutally hard and hot… honestly sounds like it could be miserable. I’m in!”

But Redding surpassed every expectation I’ve had about how great an inaugural half distance event could be. They all but did the pedaling for you, or carried you along the run, during the event. hahaha!
Leading up to the event I did start to see the usual posts online with some locals already complaining about road closures and redirects going on during the race. And I shrugged it off as “people always have to complain about something”. And I also pointed out that I hoped this wouldn’t turn into “another Morro Bay 70.3” where a new West Coast location starts and dies from a combination of loud NIMBYs and potentially rough weather.

But those posters were quickly ratio’d on social by other locals who were thrilled about the upcoming event.

Arriving in Redding at our hotel on Friday afternoon we were immediately greeted by a huge sign in the lobby and fliers on the counter. Around the Iron Village were tons of signs, of course. And that night at dinner Downtown was decorated and setup for a huge welcome party for all the athletes and guests! It was so much fun.

But let’s get to the race report..

Overall Target – 6:30 to 7:00

This race was somewhat of an impulse signup “because it fit in with my Iron California training”.

So, when it came to figuring out exactly where I thought I might be in training and fitness, and where I thought I might finish… it was anyone’s guess.
But going sub-7 I figured was certain, and honestly if I went slower I would have been upset. That includes racing in the expected heat.

I prepped for a brutally hot race day.. and got a bit of reprieve  

I also signed up for Redding because of the heat.

I knew it was supposed to be incredibly hot, and possibly one of the harder Iron races now on the calendar due to the location and time of year. I was 100% down for the challenge.
The last month here in SoCal we’ve been having a record heatwave. I took every opportunity to run in the hot weather to prepare for the heat on the race course. That was 6 mile runs after work during the week on the hot cement of the rivers, and 12+ mile runs on the weekend for my long workouts.
For the bike portion I’m not close enough to hills to train those conveniently. So I downloaded and road the digital course on my bike trainer several times during my lead up to this event. It worked really well for me training up to Hawaii last year. So I was certain it would help with Redding.
For swimming… pool work. Every scheduled workout I made sure I hit, most of them are 515am at the gym before work. Tiring to get up that early, but the pool is mostly empty at that time of the morning.

Bus to the Start Line

Because this was a point to point race, which included road closures on the main road to the lake, we would be required to take a bus race morning.

They also just told everyone straight up “Just don’t go to the start to see your racer. You will have to wait until the last racer is out on the bike before the busses will start running again to bring you back to the Village. You are better off driving to somewhere on the bike course and cheer them on from that spot. The busses will also prioritize Athletes over everyone else that morning.”

My family ditched me. And in a first for me, personally, I had no one with me at the start. 

Race Day started early and Kellie and my Dad drove with me to Ironman Village for drop off (so they could take my car back with them and I wouldn’t have to worry about leaving my keys in my Morning Bag to track down later.
The traffic backed up on the highway a bit for the exit to the Village, but they had police directing traffic at the exit to funnel people quickly into the parking lots. I was dropped near-ish to Village for a short walk to the busses.

Once at the bus line they were (loudly) directing people into two lines right away. “Athletes this way! Spectators THAT line!” Extremely effective and they were loading Athletes up FAST and getting us out of there.
The road closures were already happening on the main highway to the lake and the police were prioritizing and escorting the busses to the start. Incredible move by the police and I’m positive this sped up the entire process of getting people to the start.

Swim

Projected Time: Around 40min
“Good day” time: 38-40 minutes – average pace I was expecting after zero open water training this time
Actual official clock time: 48:44 (absolutely terrible swim for me)

That swim was terrible.

I was really expecting my swim to be much better than it was. The water was fairly clear-ish, and a freshwater lake.
But ho.ly.shit was it hot. Race day temp was 78.1. GROSS.

I realized while swimming in this very warm water that I don’t think I like swimming in warm water. lol.
There was the usual bumping and splashing. A brief moment choking on water as someone splashed by me. And I spent a lot of the swim feeling my swim skin/tri suit cutting into my skin near my shoulder blades near my armpit where the material binds slightly from your swim stroke. It.was.miserable.

Oh yeah, then sighted wrong after the turn. First time ever.

See the the main turn around section on the map above? At the turn you’re headed directly into the sun and you can’t see anything at all. It’s only 100 yards or so. Honestly if they could set up a 100 yard buoy rope, that would be amazing for the athletes next year. I saw in online comments that I was not the only person that misread the buoys and went off course. A kayaker had to come correct me.

Anyway, the swim was terrible for me. Nearly 10 minutes slower than I expected to go. A course correction. Weird warm water that I’m def not used to.
In hindsight, I should have just swam it in my trisuit alone, like I did when I raced Puerto Rico. I would have been more comfortable than I was in my swim skin.

But I will say, prior to the start and standing there hanging out with everyone was a blast as always. The sheer amount of first-timers out there was so cool. And then there were people like me and a 60ish year old woman next to me who have done lots of races and had lots of things to chat about with the new racers. I specifically remember one guy, probably in his 30s, who was a total chatterbox. I’m guessing it was nervousness about his first ever triathlon. I wish I had got his bib number to followup and see how he did. Oh well.

But it was definitely a beautiful morning and great swim start. Now if only the water was like 10 degrees colder. ha!

This is one of the first events that my family wasn’t there at the start of the race, and exit of the water due to the bus situation. Definitely a bit strange, honestly. I’ve been spoiled to always have support at my events.

T1

I had a 6 minute Transition that felt much longer. I honestly do think the swim really threw me off in my head.
I kept feeling like I was taking forever to get my socks on and situate things like my bandana and helmet. I also managed to skip using the bathroom before my bike start. As I passed them some volunteers were running the other direction between me and the bathrooms so I just… kept… going? to the start line?

As soon as I crossed to start the bike I was thinking “why the hell did I skip the bathroom break?” hahaha! I mention this solely because it was on my mind the entire bike ride cuz I actually did have to use the restroom. And I’m not a person who pees on my bike. Oh well. T2 is only 56 miles away!

Bike

Projected Time: 3hr 45min
“Good day” time: anything under 3:30
Actual official clock time: 2:55:43 – ZOOM ZOOM!

I had an awesome bike – way better than I expected going in the event.

I rode the course on my digital trainer to give myself the best chance at preparing for hills of this course. I live in a very flat area of SoCal, so getting to the mountains just to train is not really economical with the limited free time I have. But riding the digital course on my smart trainer still does an excellent job at prepping for “ok there are hard climbs here, here, and here” for an upcoming event.

The full digital course took me around 3:45. So I figured if I do that on the course on race day that would be a win. But I also pointed out to Kellie that I raced Hawaii 20 minutes faster than I did the course on the trainer. There is still the huge variable of gravity in real life. Ha! The trainer requires you to pedal constantly, and a course like this with tons of downhill will allow a lot more coasting, speed, as well as relief for your legs in general throughout the miles.

Turning out on the first stretch opens to a longgg climb out of the valley that the lake is in. I talked about this with J when we went to drop my bike. This would be a “take it easy and warm up for the day ahead” five miles or so.
After that was a huge downhill where I topped out at nearly 43 mph.
The hardest part of any of this course were the turns, and that was due to the amount of less experienced cyclists on the course. Lots of people slowing wayyy down, taking the turn veryyy wide, and then cutting it really sharp. It made it very difficult to judge where people were going. And this course has quite a few very sharp turns as well. There are hairpin turns at miles 11 and 29 that you need to slow way down for, and there was also a bit of sand/gravel on those corners from the amount of bike traffic. I’m positive that Redding will be all over that and have sweepers on the ready next year though.

The amount of support on this bike ride was incredible

I think I shouted “Good Morning!” close to 300 times during the bike. There were SO many people out in their yards and driveways along the course to cheer on the riders and support the event. It was truly incredible to see how much of the city came out to just hang out and watch and cheer. I made it a point to try and acknowledge everyone I saw.
Even in the last several miles of the course there was an area we passed that I think was an elderly care facility and a large group of older folks were out in their chairs and walkers clapping for the racers!

No super cool photo of me in aero position on this course. My fault because I was sitting up and waving to the camera guy

Finishing the bike I still felt pretty strong. Maybe the slightest twinge in my legs – which didn’t shock me since I knew I was flying through the course much faster than planned. Garmin put me at an 84% Stamina Potential at the start and at 39% at the finish.
But I was damn proud of my high average speed and watts beyond what I went into the race thinking I was ready for that day.

T2

Approaching T2 came up MUCH faster than I expected.
You come over the highway overpass and are on a very slight downhill, so I was ready to ride/coast much further as the route curved. Then suddenly you have people yelling “SLOW DOWN! DISMOUNT HERE!”. But again, I’m positive next year they’ll correct this with a couple signs and people flagging you to slow down.

The paddock was already feeling hot in the direct sun on the grass. A preview of the run ahead.

Oh and I finally got to use the bathroom. Thank god. hahahaha

Run

Projected Time: 2:20 or so
“Good day” time: 2:20
Actual official clock time: 2:37:17

The run at the Redding Half was amazing, really a great course.
You start out running over the Sundial Bridge before heading into the foothills for a 2 mile loop (approx.). Then you’re back running along the river before turning around to come back, cross the bridge again, and do it all one more time. The map looks confusing, but when you’re out there on the course, it actually makes perfect sense and there’s no confusion at all as an athelete.

Tons of support on this course along the river. The loop in the foothills has support stations, and is certainly hotter than the other parts of the course. But mannnn, the river course is really great.

You pass along multiple parks. All of them full of people, aid stations, volunteers, and locals out cheering you on.
I’m positive many of the people I saw were not official volunteers, but just locals out supporting and having a blast yelling, cheering, and throwing water on everyone!

The aid stations were packed with plenty of water, ice, and other items. They also had plastic bins on tables full of water and ice for you to dunk your arms, hands, hat/bandana, or even face in if you really wanted to. Those were incredibly helpful. I used them to dunk my arms many times just help stay cool.

 

I had prepared for a hot race day. but about four miles in I could feel my legs start to cramp up. I didn’t take in nearly enough salt during the bike ride to prep myself for the run.
And I knew I was going to pay for it in those last 10 miles. I tried to take in electrolytes at the aid stations as often as I could without filling my stomach with liquids to a point of discomfort. So I was annoyed with myself for leaving my salt at my bike when I emptied my pockets.

Looking at my Stamina in Garmin I zeroed out around mile 8.. and that tracks with about how I felt on the course. I remember thinking “I think my legs are about done running”.. I didn’t feel bad, per say. I just felt like doing a jog/walk like I was doing at that moment would be how I would be wrapping that race up.

It was not the stronger run I felt I was capable of. And I was frustrated I would have a slower run time than I planned. But I also reminded myself that my fast bike ride was still putting me ahead of where I thought I might be that day.

But oh man, the SUPPORT DURING THIS RACE.

It really did make everything amazing. I saw the Mayor running the opposite direction of me, twice. He had entered as a relay with others to do the inaugural Redding Half Iron. Amazing.
The little kids cheering and helping and having a great time.
The speed at which I saw two people, who were throwing up due to heat, receive aid on the course from others.

It felt like every part of the course was covered with cheering locals. Amazing.

The finish chute involved running around a building first. Honestly since that was all on flat land I was cruisin’ and felt pretty good again, lol.

I also didn’t realize how close I was to a 6:30 finish. I think I would have found the speed to beat that if I had been paying better attention the last two miles.

Finished Time: 6:32:25

Officially I was 42 of 94 in my age group for Men. There were 11 DNFs, and 1 DNS in my group
And 422 out of 810 All Men.
And 535 out of 1,121 racers.

The finish line was just as bright out and hot out as this photo looks.
I was fortunate that I finished around 1:20 in the afternoon.. which was also about 45 minutes before the temperature peaked for the day around 97.

My thoughts on the Northern California (Redding) 70.3…

Every race finish is shortly followed with the thought “Would I race here again?”.

And it varies widely. Lake Tahoe? In a heartbeat if it came back. Oceanside? Nah, One and Done.

Redding? Perhaps somewhat surprisingly, Yes. And that’s 100% to do with the city itself, and the incredible support they brought to the event.
You can point to races like Lake Tahoe and Morro Bay and say that a factor in their discontinuation was the locals fighting the race and not wanting it back. An incredibly loud case of NIMBYism. Two beautiful locations and great events that died, in part, because a loud minority complained about traffic and road closures – and plugged their ears to anyone who pointed out they’re tourist destinations that are fighting an event that brings in tourists.

Redding, however, basically rolled out the red carpet for everyone race weekend.
I’ve followed a few different comment threads on social media this week following the event and locals are still SO proud of the event. Many shared where they were watching the race from. People found and shared one of my posts on my social feed to others as an example of a positive experience in their town.

As I said above, you may not need to do Redding for the course. But you should 100% race Redding for the experience you’ll have due to the people.

And if you’re a First Timer, or a haven’t specifically done and Ironman branded event, then you should do Redding.
You will be hard-pressed to find another location that comes together to put on an event that compares to what the city and citizens of Redding did. And I’m sure the races ahead will only get better.

 

Pre Race and Post Race Gear Drop Off & Pick Up.

Because the race is point to point you have two completely different transition areas for this event.

The first drop location we did Saturday was T2 for our Run Bag. This was at Iron Village, which also gave my Mom and J a chance to check out the Village and everything going on.

For bike drop we needed to drive out to the Whiskeytown Lake Marina – about a 25 minute drive or so. This is T1 and the swim location, of course. Once there I was told not to leave my Bike Bag, which was a small change from the day before’s Athlete Briefing. But that’s no problem at all, easy enough to bring it in the morning. So on race day I would be bringing both my Morning Bag and Bike Bag with me on the bus.

 

And after the race was just as straight forward. You grab your bags at T2 (all of them are brought there from T1, then go collect your bike. You exit through the same “bike in” you used during the race where they check your wrist band race number against the number on your bike. Only racers are allowed to pick up their bikes – so be ready to carry everything out yourself.

And where we stayed.

I booked our hotel room around March for an August race date – still plenty of rooms available in a lot of locations. But I always really try and look at the maps and locations of the Village, potential traffic, and what the morning of the race might look like.

So I booked Holiday Inn, right off Highway 5, and only one stop down from where the Village would be. At the time of booking (March 2026) a double queen room for three nights was $616 after taxes. Not too bad. Our room was similar to the one the in the image above. So, plenty of room to store my bike the first night, apply stickers, and layout and prep the rest of my gear. (More photos down below)

Here’s a quick look at the map from Google.
Our hotel is in the bottom right rectangle I’ve added. And the Ironman Village is on the left where the red circle is. So to get from our hotel to the Village we simply drove down two lights to turn left onto Highway 44, and just stayed to the right since we got on and then immediately off at the first exit. Could not have been easier I don’t think.
I also booked the third night, the night of race day, just so my family didn’t have to rush to check out while I was cycling AND MORE IMPORTANTLY so I could shower and clean up after the race before we got on the road since we needed to leave that same Sunday.

And there was plenty of restaurants, grocery options, and shops by where we stayed if we needed anything at all.

Total Cost:

Different events that I write about I will add in costs from time to time, and always think “Maybe a better breakdown would help people out that might read this…”

Overall Redding Half wasn’t terribly crazy for me compared to other destination events I’ve done.

Entry Fee: $500
Race Photo Package: $85
Ironman Village / Souvenirs : $310
Hotel Booking: $616
Gas / Drive to Redding from Orange County and back: $440
Food: $162

Total Spend: Approximately $2,113
There are a few things not included. My family got themselves to Redding in their own vehicles/gas, and got a second hotel room. My dad paid for our Family Dinner the night before the race. Kellie paid for coffees. And I could have saved a night at the hotel if I really wanted to pinch pennies – but I had ZERO interest in driving several hours after a race without showering. lol.

Alright, let’s get to the rest of the photos:

Kicking things off with the other official race photos from the course

Exiting the water I was thinking “Damn, that swim SUCKED…”

And here I’m pretty sure I was thinking “My family is looking at my chip time update thinking ‘what the hell happened to John’s swim?'”

Honestly I was on my handlebars a lot this race through rollers because it was clear there were a lot of new/ less-experienced riders out there. Many times I had to swing very, very wide to pass because people were riding-left instead of riding-right. I still was able to keep up an overall higher speed during the race, but perhaps not as quick through some sections as I otherwise would have been. All good though.

Crossing over the dam was pretty cool though. The view is left of this photo and I made sure to slow down, sit up, and check it out

Waving to the camera guys

Heading out to start the run it was already hot on the cement pathways. I’m just heading out toward the loop in the Bluffs area.

Coming out on my first loop in the Bluffs and heading to the river I managed to completely miss my family. And managed to have a terrible face in this girl’s photo running behind me! ha!

This is probably where I started to really feel the heat of the run crossing through the big open area by the sundial bridge. This is also where the path goes down toward the river and parks so you immediately get some shade and relief

The bridge surface really reflects the heat, but you gotta smile for the photographer

During my second lap Kellie and my family found me. This is Kellie attempting to run across the bridge and not be in the photographer’s photo. hahahahaha

there’s literally a whole series of her trying to run across and not be seen. I could prob make a gif out of them

I’m actually completely soaked between sweating and dumping water on myself during the run.

Coming in to finish

Just over 6 1/2 hours

This year they’ve switched to giving out Finisher Towels instead of Finisher Hats. Which honestly, I’m cool with. I have so many hats that I never use because I really just don’t wear hats. I tend to prefer a visor if anything – you can see my Chicago Triathlon one that I’m wearing at this race

 

Anddd photos from the rest of my trip, from my cell phone and my family as well

and a few more details thrown in, like I normally add

Friday – arrival day

Time to get on the road!

Arriving at the hotel and snapped a quick photo for my stories on social to keep people posted on my race weekend

Plenty of room in the hotel room. Lots of space in the back to setup my bike and get gear prepped that weekend

Heading to the Iron Village, it was one stop down the highway

We got there right around when it opened. So there was still some minor setup going on

Empty racks for T2

Time to go check out the merch!

Oooh, but first we had to get a photo with the artwork!

Check in tent. I was among the first group there I think

Athlete Briefing getting started

And now that the meeting is wrapped, everyone heading back to the booths

This guy was pretty funny

They just finished building the arch and were getting the sign working

New bag for my huge collection of triathlon bags

Made the mistake of going for a shakeout run…

there was a ton of downhill at the start, which took more of a toll on my legs than I realized. I felt it the morning before the race

But I did get a short preview of the run race course

totally sweaty after just a couple miles

Signage at the hotel. Everywhere had signs and support up. it was pretty cool

That night we headed to downtown with Mom and J who had just arrived in town right when we finished our run. We all grabbed dinner and enjoyed the nice weather eating outside with everyone

It was a pretty great night. The scorching weather from the week before had ended, so it was really comfortable to eat outside and enjoy everything going on

 

Saturday

Starting off the day with one of the local coffee shops before prepping my gear and doing Bag and Bike drop

Both J and I ended up wearing our IMCA event shirt from 2021!

Ok, pretty much ready. that was easy

Bike stickered up and ready to go also.
Driving to this event meant I didn’t have to break my bike down into my bike bag like Hawaii, and rebuild it for the race.

Back at the Village so Mom and J could check things out
Mom wore her IM Arizona Finisher shirt

Waiting in line at the luggage tag booth

These were fun little souvenirs they were doing

Lonely bag at T2, for now

I took this picture so I could remember the row I was on. Totally forgot by the race though

Alright, done here and time to drive out to T1 and check out the lake

Walking to find my bike rack

I’m def standing there annoyed at how people don’t know how to rack bikes and then I had to move a couple of them around to make things fit

Alright! Bike is ready to go

Looks full in this photo, but it was still only partially filled up at this point in the afternoon

Water looked good

Kellie, lookin for cool rocks

Iron fam iron shirt crew! haha

Honestly it was just a casual afternoon at the lake, this would be great

Swim exit was up the boat ramp

Alright, time to head out.
After this we drove the bike course to check that out before dinner

Breakfast for dinner that night is pretty typical for me before a race event

We went to check out the bridge since everyone really wanted to see it at sundown and we wouldn’t have the chance the next day

The whole trip Mom kept asking J “does this make you want to do one more? Maybe a little bit?” hahaha! I think Mom has one more half left in her. J is fine being retired from full and half distance tris though.
I still haven’t caught up to him in number of races I’ve completed though. I’ve done seven half distance now which I thinkkk matches my mom at this point?

 

Sunday – Race Day

Time to get up!

Honestly these were pretty decent Garmin numbers for the morning. My Training Readiness peaked the day before, bummer. But 96 was still solid

And honestly a 98 Body Battery is about the best I could have hoped for. Sleep Score a bit low at 82. But I felt more rested than I did before the Hawaii half last summer when I slept terrible the night before that event

Mom and J came over early to say Good Morning and Good Luck

Dad and Kellie were going with me to dropoff so they could drive my car back

Like I said previously, the exit was only a single stop down the highway, and was already backed up pretty far.
However, Redding had police out there directing traffic and were moving people really efficiently to the parking lots and off the roads

Later that morning – the fam driving around to find me on the course.

I’m a bit bummed I don’t have photos from the bus trip and some of the morning start. But I wasn’t about to leave my phone in my morning bag.

This was around mile 33 or so

I came ripping through this huge wideeeee turn and was trying to look for everyone assuming they’d be there.

But, like the previous spot they cheered for me, I didn’t see them at all until I heard my dad yell and I turned back just in time to see them

Comin down one of the long rollers about 10 miles later

Shortly after this photo I was able to sit up and actually say hi and acknowledge everyone

After the finish, and after getting my plate of food.

It was hot, mid 90s at this point, and the heat on the course was really starting to kick up

I was soaked between sweating and dumping water on myself on the course – which meant soaked shoes that scraped up my ankles and cut into my achilles a bit. That was painful by the end of the run. I honestly went out and bought different shoes the next week since I was originally concerned about the design and shape of these new HOKAs I bought a few months ago

Great medal design featuring the bridge and trees

I didn’t realize til later that night that this was the only group photo i got after the race with everyone! Whoops!

Got all my gear, and about to head out.
Me and my P3 that I’ve had and been racing on for 11 years now! Still works great

Grabbing a burger after our drive from Redding to Sacramento

And dropping Kellie off at the airport. Long day. Been up since 330am. Raced. Packed up the hotel. Drove a few hours. And now Kellie has a couple hours flight home.

 

Monday

Ha! Waking up on Monday, after sleeping pretty terrible.

I had a 7 1/2 hour drive ahead of me, too, to get back to SoCal. But, it was a great weekend. Busy. Lots of fun with family. And a great race!