I drove down to Battle Ground, WA, for the North County Wine Run with a friend and fellow BibRave Pro, Bradley. The race had two options: a half marathon, which had about 200 runners, and a 3-person half marathon relay, which had about 50 teams. We both ran the solo half marathon.

Package Pickup & Swag: We woke up early to pick up our packages before the race and there were no lineups. They gave us our bibs, timing chip, bonus goodies, and a race t-shirt that said “run now, wine later” on the back. After the race we received a really cool medal and a wine glass for some free tastings. Overall, I was impressed with the race swag and goodies!

Course & Aid Stations: The race started at the Rusty Grape Vineyard and went through two other vineyards where the relay exchanges were located as well as aid stations with water, Gatorade, and tiny wine samples. The route was a bit hilly with scenic views of fields with cows and horses. I had one issue with the race – traffic control. The roads weren’t very busy but they also didn’t have shoulders. The race had set up cones along the very edge of the road which forced runners ta little closer to traffic. There were signs posted about the race and most vehicles were great moved nearly fully into the other lane to give runners space … but some vehicles didn’t seem to care.

Post-Race: The post-race party was top notch. They provided a post-race meal of pasta, which was vegetarian (yay!), and Caesar salad. It was simple but delicious and again there were no line ups! The vineyard was a great setting and had a few areas with picnic tables set up where runners could enjoy their food and drinks.

Overall, I would recommend this race! It's quite the drive from Vancouver, BC, so if I did it again I'd make a bigger weekend out of it. But for those of you in the Seattle and Portland areas it's not much of a drive! Huge bonus points for the race for having photographers on course and making the photos accessible on social media for FREE!

Read my full race report here: http://brielikethecheese.com/blog/2016/09/race-report-north-county-wine-run-2016/