Yesterday we headed out to Universal Studios Hollywood to cover the Jurassic World 5k (we promise, one of these times we'll actually run the race) and of course stayed after a bit to do a park update. 

Lots of activity at the park as they prepare for the Holidays and Grinchmas, as well as Secret Life of Pets and Super Nintendo World. 

Let's head in!! 

Something truly magical about heading into a theme park before it even opens. 

It was in the low 50's and perfect at the start of the race. It got up to the 90's later in the day. Winter in SoCal!! 

They used the digital boards to help the runners which was awesome. 

And of course, no theme park race would be complete without characters!! 

Lots of runners heading down to the lower lot. Be sure to check out our highlight video too. 

Some were going for a fast time, others were just enjoying the park and course. 

I'm sure people were flying down this hill!! 

We moved over to the finish

The kids race medals

Congrats runners!! We didn't hear that the T-Rex caught any of you, so that's good. 

Let's head into the park and check out what's going on. 

Now that HHN is over, the park has quickly switched to Holiday mode. ​

Lots of awesome Holiday merch

A collection of shirts, hoodies, characters and more. 

It snowed at the park apparently. 

Always love the Minion tree 

They're getting ready for Grinchmas 

Taken before the park opened as we were headed to the finish of the 5k, but totally loved this pic. 

Even the Wizarding World is celebrating the holidays 

Secret Life of Pets is coming along quite nicely 

The amount of detail on the building is impressive 

Super Nintendo Land is growing each and every time we visit the park 

Impressive, most impressive. 

The decorations are also all around CityWalk 

Tony Roma's is closed, NBC Sports Grill/Brew is coming. 

Cool new (to us at least) mugs at Voodoo Doughnuts 

And even some Universal Running doughnuts 

King Kong wishes you a GrrrGrrr Grrrrrrmas. 

We'll be back in a few weeks for Grinchmas!! Hope you enjoyed the update!! 

Last week was the Inaugural Minions 5k at Universal Studios Hollywood. Originally only supposed to take place on Saturday, the event was so popular that they had to actually do two 5k's, one on Saturday and one on Sunday. 

​We were invited out to cover the event early Saturday morning (good thing I was still on Orlando time). As somebody who's run over 40 half-marathons and 6 marathons, it was odd for me to be on this side of the race, but equally as fun!! 

Welcome to Universal Studios Hollywood!! 

Never have seen the sun rising on the sign, it was kind of cool. 

The racers getting ready, there were probably about 6-7 "waves" of runners. They did an amazing job making sure the course wouldn't be overcrowded. 

Run that way!! 

Even the Minions were excited to race

And of course, they were out at the start 

Check out some highlights of the race start and finish. We definitely did more video than pics. 

Pika, Pika 

The atmosphere at the finish was amazing

A look at the medal, very nice. And it's animated, you can spin it (totally should have done a .gif). 

​This was just the first race, Universal will be holding a Jurassic themed race in November, we'll definitely be running/covering that one as well. As soon as details are released we will for sure be sharing them.