Brazen Racing Almost New Year's Eve and New Year's Day

On January 1 in 2010, Brazen Racing held their first New Year's Day event. I ran the 10K that year, my first Brazen race, first trail race, and first 10K (I had walked a Marathon a few months earlier, so this was my second race of any kind). At the end of 2011, they added the Almost New Year's Eve event (and actually, that year it really was on New Year's Eve), pairing it up with their NYD event to make a fun way to kick out the old year and bring in the new one. 

Since then, I'd run that pair of races 10 times, missing the NYE event the last three years since it's always on a Saturday, and I was always booked that day with Byxbee parkrun. However, I'd never missed the NYD event, and had run it 14 times. (Note that both events were cancelled once due to COVID and the NYD event was cancelled in 2023 due to an epic storm that closed the park.)

With the Baylands parkrun shut down this year, I finally had the chance to run both events again, so Mrs Notthat and I signed up for the 5K for both events.

The NYE event started at Lake Chabot in Castro Valley (same place as the NYD event), was switched to Quarry Lakes in Fremont for a few years, then moved back to Lake Chabot. For the 5K, the Lake Chabot course is completely paved mostly out-and-back with some rolling hills, lots of trees, and wonderful lake views. (The 10K is a mostly out-and-back with The Bridge of Death and a challenging climb, while the Half Marathon goes around the lake, counter-clockwise on NYE and clockwise on NYD.)

What's all this about Streakers?

At the end of 2010, Brazen realized that three runners had run all 15 of their events that year, and decided to honor those three runners by giving them a permanent bib number, a couple shirts with that number on them, and a framed display with the medals from all of that year's events. (Actual streaker goodies have changed throughout the years.)

It was astonishingly cool. 

Little did Brazen know that they were starting something that would grow to be an epic undertaking, both on the runner's part and on their part. The next year, 18 people ran (or volunteered) at all 21 of that year's events. The NYE event has become known as Streaker Graduation Day - in 2017, Mrs Notthat and I graduated in a class of 52 new streakers, along with 38 returning streakers, all having participated in all 27 of their events that year. Yes, 90 people participated in all 27 Brazen events that year - astonishing!

Mrs Notthat and I on the red streaker carpet!

Our streaker shadow box (we opted for a combined one). We supplied the medals, and the bits around the edge are taken from the medal ribbons. (They no longer do these boxes.)

This year 36 people struck. Streaking is much harder than it looks like it should be. You really have to work hard to avoid having a vacation or some other event derail you. We found it challenging, and only did it one year - many have done it multiple years - several have done it ten or more times! There have now been 335 individual streakers that have struck (streaked?) a total of 645 times!

The Almost New Year's Eve event for 2025

It was a beautiful morning. Sadly, we failed to arrive in time to watch the graduation or get in on the annual streaker photo, but we got to wear our streaker shirts!

Mrs Notthat and I just before the start.

It was fun seeing so many people that we hadn't seen in a very long time. (My last Brazen race was 2025 NYD - Mrs Notthat's was Western Pacific in 2024.)

Mildly interesting, at least to me

To nobody's surprise, I have a spreadsheet that tracks a lot of things about the races we've participated in. There are also a few bonus spreadsheets that I've let get a bit out of date. 

One of those tracks how many Brazen races we've participated in, either as a runner or volunteer. I hadn't updated this one since mid-2022, so I decided it was time. Once I was done, I realized that when I ran the 2025 NYD race, that was the 200th Brazen race I had participated in! I would have bragged about that so much if I had known! (For the record, that was 182 races run and 18 volunteered at. This also counts 6 DNFs.)

All of that is to say that this was the 201st Brazen race I've participated in. For Mrs Notthat, it was her 168th.

Back to the NYE race

The actual race was uneventful. Most of the course is drenched in tree shade, but occasionally you would break out into a sunny section, which felt very nice.

The Canadian in the shade but also showing off the sunny lake view.

As I was pulling into the aid station, Ekim, not his real name, was really hoping to see some soda-can action (IYKYK) involving The Endorphin Dude (who is the one holding a "platter" of drinks). Amazingly, sodas did not come up at all!

Egroeg, not his real name, at the 5K turnaround. Note the conflicting arrows on the signs. Many teeth were gnashed.

After the turnaround, you get to head back through the aid station!

And that's about it for this race. There were 224 5K finishers (517 across all distances). Mrs Notthat came in 4th out of 8 in her age group while I was 11th out of 11 (I walked the 5K).

The New Year's Day event for 2026

Remember when I typed how beautiful the morning had been for the NYE event? The NYD event chose to make up for that. It was decidedly moist. Not a downpour, and no meaningful wind, but a steady rain made me very happy that the 5K course was entirely paved. (There was a time when I would have loved attacking a muddy trail in the rain, but man, that time was a decade or so ago.)

As opposed to the NYE event, the various awnings were very popular for postponing the inevitable drenching that you were facing.

 

Standing under a tree was almost as effective as standing under an awning.

Water Dumper was a fun volunteer position!

There are always great lake views, but there is something special about those views on a rainy day.

This waterfall was nearly dry at the NYE event.

The aid station volunteers were wildly enthusiastic - rain did not dampen their cheers, which could be heard a half mile away!

The 5K turnaround - note the synchronized arrows! No gnashing teeth today!

Nats, not his real name, loves flat and fast courses. He ran the 10K which, not only is NOT flat or fast, but in the rain, partially becomes a slip 'n slide. (Not to mention the Bridge of Death he had to cross twice!) Nats now has an epic trail race adventure to brag about for years to come, and ended up bringing a significant chunk of the trail home with him as proof.

The rain stopped just long enough for my traditional NYD photo with The Canadian. I've worn that thing on my head at this event 14 times now. 

There were 198 5K finishers (444 across all distances). Mrs Notthat ended up 2nd out of 10 in her age group! I ended up 5th out of 5 (again, I walked, but this time stopped to take a lot more pictures, even though wet touchscreens make taking pictures with a phone an adventure, and took nearly five minutes longer to finish than on NYE).

Let's wrap this up

We did it! Mrs Notthat and I finished our NYE/NYD events in glorious, if a bit soggy, style. My 15th NYD and 11th time running both events!

My medals, bibs, and pretty worn out NYD headgear.

As Brazen does at several paired up events each year, there is a bonus middle medal if you do both of the events.

It was so much fun catching up with so many of the Brazen regulars. It was also fun experiencing the Brazen race day experience - they create such a fun atmosphere, even in a steady rain! A huge thanks to Brazen Racing and all the amazing volunteers that made these events such a blast!

That's it - move along…