The San Jose Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon, which has its 20th running this weekend, is like a progressive music festival with more than a dozen bands on pop-up stages around town. The only catch is you have to run 13.1 miles to hear them all.
But nearly 5,000 people did just that last year — along with another 3,700 who participated in the accompanying 5K and 10K runs — so there must be something about the music that gets legs pumping.
The lineup of bands and DJs is so eclectic that if you don’t like something you’re hearing, just run a little faster to the next spot. There’s mariachi, classic rock, country, electronic dance and plain ol’ rock ‘n’ roll with the local lineup including Mariachi Estelar, Math Class, Cadillac Jack, the Black Pandas and School of Rock.
At the finish-line festival at Plaza de Cesar Chavez on Sunday, alt rock tribute band The Last Decade will open at 9 a.m. — early enough to catch the 10K finishers — before Bay Area cover band Pop Rocks plays at 11 a.m.
The 5K, which starts at 7:30 a.m. Saturday, has its own soundtrack with DJ Johnny playing rock hits at the first mile, Mariachi Estrela performing at Mile 2 and Top 40 cover band Math Class performing at the finish line. And there’ll also be tunes at the Kids Rock race, which gets going at 9 a.m. Saturday at Market and Balbach streets downtown.
By the way, if you’ve got plans in San Jose on Sunday morning that don’t involve running a half-marathon, you should plan ahead. The course goes through downtown and includes Japantown, The Alameda and the Rose Garden neighborhoods. You can get more information at www.runrocknroll.com/events/san-jose.
FLYING HIGH AT 100: The Santa Clara Valley Bird Alliance — which changed its name last year from the Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society — is celebrating its 100th anniversary this Saturday with a wildlife fair at West Valley College in Saratoga. The event, which runs from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., includes a Q&A and book-signing by birder and author Kenn Kaufman (who will also be taking the Young Birders Club on a nature walk beforehand).
You can get the full schedule for the wildlife fair at scvbirdalliance.org/centennial-celebration.
FUN FOR SHORE: Despite some gloomy weather this week, it should be a nice autumn day for Day on the Bay along the shoreline of Alviso Marina County Park on Saturday. Alviso, of course, provides San Jose with its connection to San Francisco Bay and the marina there was once a well-used port.
Then-Santa Clara County Supervisor Dave Cortese started Day on the Bay in 2009 to celebrate that connection and history, and it’s great to see that Supervisor Otto Lee and the Santa Clara County Parks Dept. have kept that tradition going. The festivities at the 20-acre park begin at 10 a.m. and include kayak tours, a pumpkin patch, live entertainment and a resource fair focused on community wellness and environmental health.
By the way, Cortese still has a soft spot for county parks even while he’s in Sacramento. On Oct. 25, he’s hosting the third annual Picnic by the Lake Multicultural Festival and Resource Fair at Hellyer County Park.
GETTING CAMPY: It doesn’t surprise me when I run into people who have never heard of San Jose Family Camp at Yosemite, a 40-acre campground on the Tuolumne River, since I only first learned about it about a decade ago. The camp wasn’t open this summer to allow time for repairs and improvements, but the Friends of San Jose Family Camp is holding a fundraiser, “Wilderness Within Reach,” on Saturday.
