My first half marathon ever...and it was a GREAT experience. I don't like to run with music too…read moremuch so I need nice scenery to motivate me and this course did just that. Not only that, since it's near halloween people come decked out in costume and running which made it also fun and entertaining to see. Water stations every 1.5 miles along with port-a-potties were just one of the major bonuses of how organized this race was. Organizers also had bus to shuttle runners to and from start/finish. At the finish line get ready to eat, drink, and mingle. Everyone was having a good time and families even reunited to celebrate. Very fun atmosphere. I even opted to go to the finisher's party at Clos Du Bois which was very nice. There was lunch provided along with two glasses of wine. Great time all around. I'm already looking forward to going to another one. BONUS: I thought it was adorable our medal is actually multipurpose with a wine stopper and cork screw on it. awesome...

OMG - this was so fun! Since it was Halloween, lots of runners ran in costume (including me... I…read morewas Wonder Woman). We started in the dark, under a spotlight, but then the sun began to rise over the vineyards as we set off for our 13.1 miles. I got lots of encouragement through the entire race from Wonder Woman fans, which I really needed to keep my energies going. For those intrepid wine tasters, one of the wineries on the route was offering a tasting at mile six. Lots of runners were lining up, otherwise, I would have been in there too! At the end of the race, you get lots of whooping and yelling as spectators give you their love as you cross the finish line (I finished in 1 hour 56 minutes). The best part of all is going to the wine expo after the race. You're exhausted, sweaty, and floating on an endorphin high, proudly wearing your flashy medal on your neck. You then get an engraved keepsake wine glass and start sipping tastings from around 30 wineries. Who needs Gatorade! By 9:30am, I had run 13.1 miles, gotten rave reviews for my Wonder Woman costume, was wearing a freaking cool medal, and had a wine buzz. A nice way to start Halloween. I'll be doing this again next year!

Definitely one of my fave 5k runs that I've done in NorCal so far! First off, the crowd here seems…read moremuch more lively than the ones at most of the other events that I've attended lol. Even many people were actually sporting the given branded tech athletic shirt.....loyalists here! As for the 5k run experience itself, a good chunk of other runners were destroyed by the steady but long slight incline that's less than a mile from the starting line lol. I continued running and with me being a slow runner I was a bit surprised that only a handful of people passed me after that first incline (course is out-and-back so net downhill closer towards the finish line). 5k course is purely running through downtown and the adjacent neighborhood. Overall wouldn't say that it's the best beginner 5k running course, but of course you can walk the whole way and still get a good workout!

Fun marathon and fundraising for the local educational system. Lots of people come out and it's a…read morebig event in downtown Petaluma that's been going on for 10 years. Come see Clo and enjoy a run for all levels. Moooove as fast as you like!

Half marathon cut short by 3 miles due to a mud slide on part of the trail. But still, I feel kinda…read morecheated. For the expensive price, we had to carry our own water (only one water station) and no metal for half marathoners. It's been over 24hrs and no official race times yet. So basically, I paid $80 for a glorified t-shirt. Babbling creek was as advertised. Good/Bad (depending): The trail was extra challenging. Around 1000ft elevation gain per loop. Think burning calves on the uphill and a lot of knee-pounding on the steep downhill. Half marathoners go twice round, 4x for full marathoners. Scenery is pretty, but my eyes were pretty much glued to the ground the whole time to avoid tripping and falling. A few people took a bad fall and pretty much everyone I spoke with (and including myself) tripped several times. Trail is narrow and filled with roots and rocks and fallen trees. And if running with wet shoes and socks are your thing, you're in for a treat. A few miles in, we had to pass a full river of water-- over a foot deep, 10ft wide, and unavoidable. We also had to pass a couple creeks. Some parts of the trail were very rocky and had me questioning if it was even a trail. There were post-run snacks that included trail mix, pretzels, and red vines.

On Saturday during the half/full race, I showed up to the edge of the race course from the south. I…read morewas racing the next day so I was planning on cheering on some racers on my team. The rain had picked up and I knew the racers must be suffering. It was around 10:30 so most people were on the bike course. The first thing I see entering the bike course was slow and struggling cyclists. They looked cold, but I didn't think much of it, I just thought they must be tough. I continued towards Putah Canyon Campground and saw about 3 EMS vehicles pass by. I never saw any race officials or coordinators helping the racers. But whatever that happens, races get cold, shit happens, we can accept that. I get to the intersection Pope Canyon and Beeryessa Knoxville and saw ambulances and police cars with their lights on in the parking lot. I pull up to a friend and the first thing he says is, "It's a shitshow". He continued to explain that people were dropping out of the race because of hypothermia and were still out there. I immediately went out Pope Canyon to help racers. I saw many people walking on the road and shivering uncontrollably. I grabbed two people and turned the heater on max in my car. I met a few other people out on the course that were helping, but no one looked like they were in charge. Everyone helping were random people. This event had no one out helping the racers. No aid stations for a FUCKING IRONMAN DISTANCE RACE. What do they expect?!?! I still wonder how many people dropped out of the race and how many people got their bikes back. But it gets worse. As the race unravels, we try hunting down the race director to figure out what's going on. Apparently he was "out in the course" and couldn't talk. Yeah we never saw him. Did he exist? Didn't seem like it. We talked to CHP and EMS personnel as they were pissed. They had to call almost all of Napa County Ambulances to deal with hypothermic racers. It's a waste of resources and since only one person was hospitalized, they probably lost a lot of money. What if there were other major emergencies?! The county wouldn't be able to respond! Ok ok, the race was super dangerous, the weather was shitty, but we can't control that. They are a well known triathlon organization so they did fine otherwise right?? No fucking way. Traffic control was a mess. People from our team actually worked the traffic near the entrance to the campground toward the campground. The bike in and run out road was super congested. Racers had to wind around spectators and cars just to race! One member on our team crashed because of it. There was no mount/dismount line. People just biked straight into transition! Anyone could've walked into transition and stolen a $10000 bike; no one checked us! The swim started with some dude that counted down with his hand and just said 'start'. The buoys were very difficult to see and no one was out there to help. Pretty much everyone got lost (cost me about 30-60 seconds). The second day we demanded there be aid stations but surprise surprise, they weren't there. The results were all messed up. Every other person had something wrong with them. It was indeed, "a shitshow". So how can such a well known organization do so bad? They have many events and seemed to professional. Their advertising and general race information was impressive. My theory. It's just business. They are here to make money, not put on a triathlon. They put all their effort into making sure their events get sold out for cheap. They do all that's necessary (get the right contracts, hire enough 'volunteers', do the bare minimum). That's it's. Business as usual. They don't care about you. They care about your money, but that's about it. Don't do HITS Napa. Don't do anything HITS. They need to figure their shit out (shut down this race), have an intervention (fire people), before they become a viable triathlon race. This is the least organized event I have ever seen. Also the dude who started the waves and did the awards was a dick. He was rude to everyone, and didn't look like he wanted to be there. He didn't give me my award. Fuck that guy. That's all thanks.

After witnessing the unprofessional race coordination of HITS Napa Valley this past weekend, I will…read morenever be competing in any HITS affiliated race ever again. The lack of concern for safety for any of their participants is incredibly concerning. Just to list a few of the things that were poorly executed about the race(I elaborate on each in the following paragraphs): no medical tent, no medical contingency plan, no mount/dismount line, transition area was not monitored to check if bikes were being stolen, unorganized race coordinator communication, dangerous road into/out of transition, bad swim course design, and overall lack of care for athletes of the race. First off, there was NO medical tent/facility for the race. The race expected that the single ambulance and firetruck would take care of the 1500 participants of the race. One of the members on my team crashed during the race on Saturday and was refused medical service (i.e. dressing her wounds) because EMS needed to ration their bandages for emergencies. After/during Saturday's race we demanded that there be a better medical response on Sunday for the safety of the 1500 athletes competing. They promised us a medical tent on Sunday. Guess what?? STILL NO MEDICAL TENT ON SUNDAY. Sunday morning after not seeing a medical tent, I went to find EMS and CHP. They were just as pissed as I was. On Saturday, the Half and Full Distance races were an ABSOLUTE DISASTER. Although it's hard to account for bad weather, the race had no contingency plan for the cold weather. All news articles are estimating that 30 people started to get hypothermia; after personally helping about 30 people at ONE SPOT on the bike course, my guess is that the number is upwards of 60. There were still dozens of people stranded, freezing on the course. Random people started driving the course and picking up athletes who had gotten off their bikes and were shivering on the side of the road. There were NO race affiliates sweeping the course. Also, apparently EMS dispatched every unit they had in the entire surrounding area to HITS on Saturday. The race had NOTHING planned. NO mount/dismount line. Maybe I'm privileged to have competed solely in races that had mount/dismount lines, but I thought this was a stable of triathlon? We talked to the HITS official in charge of the mount/dismount "area" and suggested that they put down a line with chalk or spray paint. THEY THOUGHT THAT WAS A GREAT IDEA AND ASKED US TO DO IT FOR THEM. THEY HAD NEVER HEARD OF A MOUNT/DISMOUNT LINE BEFORE. I honestly wonder if they had ever seen a triathlon before trying to host one themselves. I easily could have walked into the transition area and stolen TENS OF THOUSANDS of dollars' worth of bikes. Several athletes on my team walked into transition to grab the bike of another friend who had to drop out of the Half on Saturday and NO ONE checked the bikes as they were walking out. I personally tried tracking down the race director for 3 hours on Saturday and no one knew who was in charge. No one knew where or who he was. Finally, someone who was in charge of registration, Sara, took our request and that's when we were promised a medical tent for Sunday which never showed up. Also, I told Sara (basically in charge of everything at/near Transition) that there was basically a disaster on the bike course in the morning and she had no idea there were well over 15 ambulances, firetrucks, CHP Officers etc. There was a single road going from the course/campsites/run course/bike course into the transition area. This one road was where all cars, spectators, bike in, bike out, run in, and run out all traversed. Did I mention that the road is roughly 15-20 ft wide(this might be a generous estimate) and laden with potholes? An athlete on our team was basically forced to crash coming in on the bike, because a car was in the road, a spectator on the other side, a huge speed bump in the middle and nowhere for him to go. Finally, I genuinely don't believe that the race cared for anything except your money. The start of the swim wave was a person quietly counting down: 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, go. Hardly any volunteers for the race. I was planning on cheering on the race all weekend, but ended up volunteering the majority of the time by directing traffic, helping the hypothermic athletes and simply trying to find someone in charge to make the race safer. On the bright side, the race course is in a beautiful area. The hills were a beautiful green and lake was full. If you are looking for a "pretty" course, and have ZERO CONCERN for the safety of yourself, safety of others, safety of your equipment, and a race that barely cares that you are there, then this is the race for you :) I'm probably missing several things, but my fingers are still cold from giving away my gloves and jacket on Saturday. Please beware triathletes. Thanks!

My response to the previous two reviews is "wah, wah, wah." If you wanted rock bands, fancy…read moremedals, technical tees, and a pancake-flat course, then you should have entered a different race. Those details were clearly laid out on the website, so none of these things should have been surprises. (Seriously -- "There seemed to be more rolling hills than expected from the elevation map"?? These sorts of things are not subjective; learn to read an elevation map, please.) I do agree that $80 is a bit steep, but that has nothing to do with rock bands or tech tees (which is all tourist bullshit as far as I'm concerned anyway). I just think that ~$60 is about all I'm willing to pay for a half marathon under normal circumstances. (I paid the $80 for this one because I wanted to run a half on this particular weekend and I didn't have a lot of options.) If you need bells and whistles, this might not be your ideal race, but if you just want to race a slightly challenging but fun course, you could do worse. Well-organized & well-run by great people. I would totally do it again if it were just a touch cheaper. You can read my full race report here: http://sfroadwarrior.blogspot.com/2013/04/race-report-napa-valley-silverado-half.html

I did this half-marathon this year and now reading the past reviews after the fact they seem…read morespot-on. Of note, it is a gorgeous course, but the execution of the race had some flaws this year (some of which seem to have been problems before) that made it not worth the $80-$90 entry fee to me. Here were the cons: - They ran out of medals. I have done all kinds of races, the majority without medals even offered, and the medal was not really a factor in my registering for this race. But if you are going to offer medals, please have enough for everyone. They apologized and will mail it, but it really left a bad feeling at the end of the event. - On a similar note, there was almost nothing to eat at the finish line when I finished. There were no volunteers manning the "snack" table, which consisted only of a half empty bowl of trail mix, and some lukewarm plastic gallon jugs of water. - They ran out of smaller sized t-shirts even though it appeared we ordered specific sizes on the registration form. - The course was poorly marked with some random mile markers here and there. Not every mile was marked. - The 5K turnaround point was not staffed and several runners in that race were asking other runner on the course where they were supposed to go. - As another reviewer noted, there is no chip start time for the race so the official result did not match the real start time for the majority of the entrants. The pros: - The course was really beautiful and the weather was perfect. It was nice to be on the Silverado Trail with no traffic. - The Girls on the Run group staffing one of the water stations was fantastic - lots of energy and cheering on both the way out and back. In the end, the experience at the end of the race really ruined it for me. I did not go in expecting a corporate-type race with lots of bells and whistles, but I did expect the basics of what the registration fee covered to be there and they were not.

I ran this race a couple of weeks ago and had a great time. Well-organized, great volunteers, great…read moreprizes (you can win wine instead of medals!), & a lovely (if somewhat hilly) course. Quite reasonably priced at $65, with the option to register in groups of four for a discount. I would totally run this race again & am planning to run the Wine Country Half in October, which is put on by the same group. You can read my detailed race report at http://sfroadwarrior.blogspot.com/2012/05/race-report-windsor-green-half-marathon.html

Yay. My first ''race'' since I completely jacked my Knee up 4 months ago! Ok, so it wasn't my usual…read moreHalf Marathon but still fun nonetheless and a great event to celebrate my Birthday. The event organizers did a really good job and setting this event up and getting the word out with lot's of residents of Mountain House getting involved with delivering flyers, myself included. Packet pick up the Friday before was a breeze and with entry we also got ourselves a nice Tech shirt. Sadly the shirts come up huge. I went for the smallest Woman's size possible (a Small) and It's so big I could fit two of me in it. I usually go for XXS or XS so it would be nice to have those sizes as option for future years. Race day was well organized if a little behind schedule. The turnout was pretty impressive with around 250 people taking part with people coming from all over the East Bay to take part, lot's of which were ''serious'' Runners like myself. The course was a great choice of location - on my beloved Mountain House Creek Trail and was marked out with arrows. However, at the end of the trail around mile 1.80 was a little confusing as there were two sets of arrows and I went following the wrong ones, going off course and having to double back on myself (Boo. Lost some time there). One Aid station was placed along the course along with 2 groups of singers at various points to encourage people and singing Christmas Carols. Post race had lot's going on - Refreshments supplied by some of the local businesses (Hot Chocolate, Coffee, Fruit and Bagels), someone dressed as Santa on hand for photo ops and a couple of the sponsors. Home Team Pest Defense were giving out Water Bottles for finishers and lollipop rings and Prime Nutrition giving out goodies in return for Burpees / Push Up Combos - 15 got you a water bottle and 25 got you a T-Shirt. Naturally I carried on my workout and did 25 for the T-Shirt. All finishers also got a medal and additional ones given to age group winners, which most of the age groups were a whopping 10years! * Personal experience * After jacking up my Knee 4 months ago and being in Therapy and resting since then I wasn't all that confident in Running but with a Taped and Braced Knee I went for it as an early Birthday present to myself. The race went really quickly and I placed 1st in my age group and 2nd out of all the Women. Woohoo! I missed out on 1st Woman by like 5 seconds but kudos to the lady that beat me, she put up a good race. This injured oldie just isn't as fast anymore. This was the first ever Jingle All The Way Run for Mountain House and really was a great start to what I hope will be a yearly tradition. It was great to get out and meet the community as well as a few of the people from the Mountain House Running Club I recently became part of. Happy Holidays!

This run is a nonprofit event that benefits local schools. Approximately 180 people ran in 2015,…read moremaking it a great race to focus on running instead of the logistical headaches that larger events bring. The course starts at Central Park with a northerly departure down Central Parkway. The course makes an abrupt U-turn into a sidewalk bottleneck that prevents passing. The course then opens up as it follows the creek and its surrounding open area uphill to the southwest. The grade is slight but after a quick start, holding pace through the third kilometer is a challenge. The race finishes with a descent down the grade on the opposite side of the creek for an easy finish. Information on the race (e.g., map, start location) was difficult to find in advance, doubly so as someone else registered me. The event website wouldn't take my safety waiver and I was unable to generate a barcode for my daughter. This created some concern that was alleviated the next day, as the race is small enough that one can simply pick everything up in the morning. I'll be running this again next year. BELOW is a URL to 2015 times: http://app.lap.io/event/2015-jingle-all-the-way/results

Overall a really pleasant race in the Bay with gorgeous views of SF, the Golden Gate Bridge, Angel…read moreIsland, and more. It's one of the better-organized races with very frequent water stations. It felt like there was one every 10 minutes or so with plenty of electrolytes and Gu. A sprinkling of friendly supporters that take you through the stunning views of the Bay and a neighborhood tour of some really nice houses. It's a nice-sized race where you have runners around you but it doesn't feel crowded. The Tiburon Half Marathon also has the sharpest race t-shirt I've gotten in all the Bay area races. Be warned though that there are a couple of very serious inclines that take the air out of you. That and the 7am start-time is pretty early if you're traveling in but you'll appreciate it since the sun comes on strong around 8-ish.

Event Date: 03/30/2008 This small hometown half marathon was…read morea perfect training ground for my upcoming Santa Cruz run. The course consisted of 13.1 miles of residential streets and valley roads with several rolling hills. The start and finish line was at the San Ramon Dougherty Community Center and organized by the city and local residents. This was its second annual half marathon with nearly 1,000 participants making it a perfect start for first timers and heavyweights like me. This was cool because I was able to work on my pace and breathing without being distracted by elite runners. I was able to stay focus and really concentrate - getting into the zone and testing my limits. I did really well the first six miles. My past injuries didn't resurface. My momentum stayed consistent. And my thoughts of the Santa Cruz Half Marathon were in motion. Once I reached the ninth mile, I started to run out of gas. The fear of fatiguing out was upon me. I took a short pause, fueled up (gel pack), and finished up at 2:35. Not bad considering that this had several tough hills. After crossing the finish line, I was totally surprised that they had finisher medals! OMG! I totally stoked! Moments after the adrenaline faded away I fatigued out and felt a sharp pain on the arch of my right foot. I suffered a minor injury that's going to take my off my feet for three days. Now I got two weeks left before Santa Cruz and a bottle of Motrin to ease the pain. Thanks Omar T. for joining me at this event. This was his first half marathon and he kicked ass. Onward to Santa Cruz my brotha!!! Notes: All flat course. No. Inclines ranged from 15-25. Running shoes: Merrell Overdrive Continuum Timing chips: No Restrooms: There was only one portable at the seven mile marker Water stations: Two. Will do this event again next year? Yes. It's a great warm up to future events, but wear long compressions (spandex). It's cold as hell when you "Run Like the Wind" in San Ramon.

I was very disappointed! This time they were not organized at all! They started late; Parking was…read morehorrible, there were bunch of obnoxious people leading before the race started. And worse of all, I didn't get the T-shirt size that I wanted. I look forward to this event every year. But unfortunately, this year, it wasn't what I was hoping for, at all! And this is not going to stop me from participating next year! Thank you!