Lon Freeman breaks down the Brazen Ultra Half Series

Aerobicmonster.com coach, top Brazen Ultra Half Series finisher and Western States 100 veteran Lon Freeman has put together an analysis of every race in the series and his interpretation of their relative difficulty. This is significant because Lon is always in the top 3 of all of the Ultra Half Races and always walks with a check at the end of the series championship. In other words, this dude knows what time it is.

Check it out here: http://aerobicmonster.com/news.php?s=ranking-the-brazen-ultra-half-series-races

Brazen's Ultra Half Series offers up more prize money in 2015.

New Prize Money in the 2015 Masters Division

Brazen Racing just recently wrapped up the 2014 Ultra Half Series and two weeks later started in on the 2015 series. In between those two events they announced a new sponsor for 2015, Aerobic Monster Coaching. With their support the prize purse has been increased to $10,500. That is $1000, $500 and $250 for both Male and Female overall winners. It also means a new Masters (40+) division and 1st, 2nd and 3rd in those categories will receive the same $1000, $500 and $250, just like the regular series.

 The series is growing in scope as well. In 2014 Brazen took over the management of the quad crushing Double Dipsea Race from the Dolphin South End Runners, the oldest Bay Area running group and one of the oldest running groups in the United States. The Double Dipsea is a perfect fit for the Ultra Half Series as it is a little longer than a half marathon and much more difficult than a regular race. Brazen also added a 2nd run at Mt Diablo called the Trail Adventure Half in November. The Tarantula Run, originally managed by the Contra Costa Water District, is now under Brazen's management and is also a part of the Ultra Half Series. 

 That brings the total to 16 races in the series but you only have to run 5 of them and the Championship race at Rocky Ridge to be a finisher. 

 For those who are unfamiliar with this series the scoring is based on your cumulative time back. The series winner will be that runner with the lowest "time back" for their five best races, plus the Rocky Ridge Half Marathon. "Time back" is the amount of time a runner is behind the overall male or female winner. The lower the total amount of time, the higher the runner will rank. The winner of each race will have the lowest "time back" for that race, which is 0.

Drag-N-Fly half marathon race report 2014

Brazen Racing has some interestingly named races that all tie into their respective event site in one way or another. Drag-N-Fly's connection to the event remains a mystery to me. I heard one person say it was meant to describe the course where you drag your ass up one side and fly down the other side. Over and over again. My wife saw a few Dragonfly's out on the course and thought that might be it. Perhaps. But I think they got creative with the initials D.N.F. because they knew the course was crazy.
 This race is said to have 3000' ft of elevation gain over 13.5 miles worth of very exposed trails during the bay areas warmest time of year. I know people who have attempted this race without really being aware of how tough it was and ended up dropping. In 2012, just a week before I started SFTrails.com, my wife and I ran this race unaware of it's difficult reputation. I remember finishing in 2:33:00 and being absolutely trashed. Ever since then I have spoke of  it as a"top 5 toughest races I have ever run" and that includes 50k's and marathons.

Wildcat Half Marathon 2014 race review

 Looking back on last Saturday's race the one thought that dominates my recollection of this race is just how wrong I was about the level of difficulty this race represented. That seems to be happening a lot lately??? This course has 3 distinct climbs that are not to be taken lightly. Even though the elevation chart says 2200’ of gain, which is (for me) on the lower side of most trail half’s that I run, I soon realized that these climbs were really steep and long lasting.