I finally got the chance to run a half marathon in my home state and I was very pleased that this was the race that I selected.

EXPO: I was not able to go to the expo proper the because I didn't fly in until Friday evening and the race was on Saturday. My parents picked up my race bib for me which they told me was easy and smooth with plenty of parking and easy access. The said the expo was pretty small but had a decent number of booths.

Parking/Access: There are two options in regards to getting to the start, you can get dropped off at Lucky Peak Park or you can park at the finish and take the bus to the start. I chose the option of getting dropped off since I had family in the area and I thought this worked out really well. We had no problems getting in and out although if you were running late it might have been hard since they stopped letting cars in and stopping along the highway would be problematic. The bus option seemed to work well for most people as they were steadily being dropped off. Apparently there were some traffic issues that caused the final bus to be late but they were kind enough to delay the start by 10 minutes so that everybody could start together, although jumping off a bus with no time to stretch and then quickly toss your gear bag was probably less than ideal I think that is more on the people for cutting things so close with which bus they chose than a negative reflection on the race. Parking at the finish was plentiful and pretty much 100 yards or less from the finish line. Doesn't get much easier than that.

T-Shirts/SWAG: I am never a fan of shirts and medals celbrating the number of years of a race because they often look similar and are not very creative. The grey shirt is good quality and soft, a potato of course easily lends itself to act as the '0' in writing and they used that here as well. I don't hate it like some of the anniversary races I have done, but I didn't love it either. The logo was repeated on the race medal. It is a small but sturdy gold medal with the race logo on it and a relatively small lanyard compared to most races. Again good but not great so a solid 3 stars.

Course/Aid Stations/Elevation: Aid stations throughout the course were at good intervals and had both water and electrolytes. They went pretty smooth although a few of the aid station volunteers were not doing enough vocalizing who had water vs. electrolytes so i missed getting anything at the final aid station but I find it hard to really be critical of people who volunteered their time early on a Saturday just to hand out water to sweaty runners for a couple hours. I chalk this up to just some bad luck and since I was towards the front they probably figured it out as things went along.

The elevation on the course was very easy. You pretty much follow a very slow gentle downhill along the river from Lucky Peak to downtown. I think the worse hill on the course was going over an overpass over the Boise river and even that isn't much of a hill to speak of.

The course itself was a pretty diverse mix of scenery. You start by running out of Lucky Peak through the canyon along the highway with the river at your side. You then get to run along the base of the Boise Foothills before turning and running on the greenbelt for several miles. Towards the end when you are entering downtown you run through a few neighborhoods and over a couple bridges before reaching the finish. No majore cool Boise landmarks on the course, but enjoyable and pretty just the same.

Race Management: This is a smaller race, ~900 people in the half but I still feel like they did a really good job with it. Everything was pretty easy to manage and navigate and I really didn't have any complaints. The finish area was quite enjoyable and had the giant potato truck for some pictures as well as quite a few booths with chocolate milk and of course their signature baked potato bar. I have to admit that when I heard about the baked potato bar at the finish, I thought it was a cute local idea but not likely something I would enjoy at 8:30 am. When I finished however I decided to give it a try and to their credit they had all the toppings you could want on a baked potato. I also need to admit that while I originally thought that a baked potato would not sound good after a run, I was very very wrong. A carb rich baked potato right after a run was amazing! It was a uniquely idaho way of finishing things and I loved it.

Another nice thing about running a race back home was seeing current students from my high school running and representing as well as running into several old high school cross country teammates and friends. I'm sure this type of thing is common for people who still live near where they grew up but for me coming from out of town it was a great bonus.

This was a truely amazing experience. I have run large races before but this race was on an entirely different scale. It is also a race that I will never forget.

I managed to get extremly lucky and get in via the lottery on my first attempt. This race also thankfully gives you a 9 month lead time to plan and prepare since you are notified of your acceptance pretty soon after you apply. This should be standard (WTF London Marathon). They do a good job of sending you lots of emails in the months leading up to the race, lots of them are ad type things but you can't just ignore them all because important things like your registration confirmation email which you have to take to bib pick up is sent via email, the ferry/bus selection email and well as the email notifying you of your need to pick a post race poncho or check a bag are in there as well so it is not all spam.

I flew cross country from Seattle on Thursday and then went to our hotel on the upper west side. I highly reccomend staying in the upper west side if you can afford it for two reasons: First the exit for people who got post race ponchos dumps out there so you can find hotels that are only a few blocks from the finish, also the #1 red subway line has various stops in the area and drops off at the staten island ferry which is also how I reccomend that you get to the start line. You can take the #1 red line without having to make any transfers.

It is important to arrive a few days early to adjust to the time change, but unless you are from the area you will likely want to see some of the sights while also trying to stay off your feet. A few things I would reccomend are taking in a broadway or off broadway show and then something I never would have though of on my own was the bus tour of the marathon route that my wife bought for me. This was nice for two reasons, it allowed me to see the city and familiarize myself with the course and hills. It also allowed me to have a much better picture of the course in my head in my memories, when I am racing I tend to get in a zone and don't really notice the scenery around me, i tried to do a little more of this while I ran this race but there are many things I would not have seen without the bus tour.

EXPO Quality:
We took the subway accross town to get to the EXPO which was a thing to behold. A massive building with banners and decorations everywhere. If you really only want to get in and out to get your bib then you would have an easy time because it was very well organized and not crowded. The rest of the expo was actually quite crowded even on Friday afternoon/evening when I was there. There was tons of merchandise (something I never buy at expos but for a marathon major i made exceptions) and tons of vendors selling everything under the sun. An expo tip for NYC would be that if you find something you like but they only have the item available in giant sizes that won't fit you, you can find it all online in the weeks after the race for the same price or cheaper. Just take pictures of the tags and item numbers and get it shipped to you, very easy. Do yourself a favor and buy a shirt or two for the memories then at least spend some time walking around. They also have a booth where you can find all of the pacers (I was able to meet the guy I would be running with 3:15) and they also have pace bands you can put on your wrist which would give you all your split times for your goal pace.

GETTING TO THE START:
I was scheduled to take the 6:15 Staten Island ferry since I was in Wave 1 (9:50 start time). I took the red #1 line from the upper west side and got to the terminal around 6 am. The terminal was packed and it quickly became apparent that I would not make the 6:15 ferry. My family and I were able to make the 6:30 ferry, barely. The ferry is nice because it allows you to sit down during the transit and it also allows you to go to the bathroom if needed which you can't do if you take the bus. The ferry also goes close to the statue of liberty which means you can get some nice pictures. Once you get off the ferry things get much more crowded. My family took the free ferry back to Manhatten before heading to the course while I got in a giant line of people waiting for the bus. This probably took close to an hour slowly shuffling forward in a giant crowd of people before we made it to the bus. Then it was a 15 minute drive to the unloading area and another bit of a walk to the start area, security was very tight between the bus and the start area.

THE START AREA:
I found this area to be remarkably easy to navigate and really not overly crowded. I was able to find a place to sit down, I was able to walk around and get some free breakfast and the bathroom lines were very short. This all must be taken under the lens of me being there from 8:30-9:00am, i was leaving in wave 1 so not many people from later waves were there, I'm sure things got a little more crowded as the day went on and people who missed their start mixed with people who made it on time. I had warm throw away clothes from good will and was not checking a bag (they still give you a bag for the start area so you can carry a few things), which is what I highly recommend you do. When I entered my corral they had a little walled off area with bins for throw away clothes and plenty of bathrooms although finding a place to really stretch out was a little tight. We were in this area for a long time (probably 30 minutes) but it was completely fine. You then trudge to the start area in a big crowd and hear the national anthem and cannons.

COURSE/ELEVATION/AID STATIONS:
The first two miles of the course are the bridge, it is both oddly quiet as there are no spectators but also exciting because you are so amped up to start the race. Do yourself a favor and make sure to take in the view while you are on the bridge. If you are on the lower deck stay near the center as people are famous for peeing off the upper deck and showering those below them. I really don't understand why because I found bathrooms to be plentiful in the start village.

When you come off the bridge the spectators are there in full force, make sure to move to the side from time to time to get some high fives. Also if you can write your name on your shirt do it because people will cheer for you directly. Brooklyn is most peoples favorite part of the course due to both the fan support and I suspect that fact that you always feel your best during the early part of the race. You are on slow rolling hills that you need to be careful on to keep your pace. People were on their stoops cheering, church choirs were out front cheering, it was amazing. Queens had fewer fans and was pretty short before you head to manhatten via the queensborough bridge.

That bridge SUCKS, it feels like a 1.5 mile uphill that just wont ever end. The downhill into the wall of sound in Manhatten is great and gives you a lift but that bridge really takes something out of you. The early miles in Manhatten were well attended and fun and it where you finally really have room to spread out across the full breadth of the road. The long straight to the Bronx can really feel long since there is not much to break up the monotony. The Bronx was also quick but well attended and had good cheering sections but it is also at the 20 mile mark so you will probably start to feel it at this stage.

Coming back into Manhatten there is a very long slow uphill which really started to hurt my pace until you finally reach Central Park. It was a minor boost to make it there and know only 3 miles remained but I was getting tired so it felt super hilly and hard and I wasn't able to enjoy the beauty because I just was ready to be done. You leave the park for a quick half mile then enter back in on the southern end of the park to "sprint" to the finish. I crossed the line with a 3:18:15 PR. My GPS watch showed I ran an extra half mile which of course is partly due to sattalites but also due to not being able to cut tangents due to how crowded it was and due to the amount of weaving around people I was doing. The course doesn't have steep hills other than the bridges but it is almost never flat, lots of slow uphills and downhills, I would call the elevation deceptively hard. Aid stations throughout the course were plentiful and well stocked, due to the number of racing amateurs you will likely encounter aid stations can be a bit frustrating with people who get a cup and just stop dead in their tracks nearly causing colissions, but that is not the fault of the race just inexperience.

The finish chute is long, very long. You get your medal and lots of pictures taken then have to walk a good .5-.7 miles even if you did the poncho option which is much shorter than the walk to the gear check line. You get a finishers bag with some food and then you get the wonderful fleece lined poncho. We had some drizzling rain through most of my race so this poncho felt fantastic. I can't recommend the poncho option over the gear check option enough.

TSHIRTS/SWAG:
The free shirt is long sleeve and pretty nice. The design and things were not amazing but because of the race it represents I still really like it. The medal is all one color and if it were a normal race you would call it pretty bland but the medal has been similar for so long that I would call it more classic and understated and again is one I cherish.

RACE MANAGEMENT:
First class all the way. It is crowded and you are on your feet for a long time before the race, but when you consider the logistics of organizing the largest marathon in the world and making it go as smoothly as it does it really is amazing. The app they have for the race is great because they have timers at every single mile so your family will have an easy time tracking where you are within less than 5 minutes. Make sure to set up places on the course where you know your family will be, the crowds can be 5-10 people deep in places so you need to know exactly where they will be and again where they will be after the finish so you can find them.

If you like to run, do this race, enter every year for years if you have to, but if you get the chance to run it you will never regret it.

I would rate this race higher but during the 2017 race they commited the cardinal sin of race management. Their course was too short by bewteen .5 and .6 miles

Expo Quality: I didn't attend the Expo proper but the morning of there were a few booths set up around the start area which seemed approptriate for a race of this size.

Parking/Access: This race was run out of a mall parking lot which meant that parking was plentiful and easy to find very close to the start area. Probably the easiest access of any race I have ever run.

Shirts/SWAG: The shirt for this race was actually a pullover which was a nice change of pace from the many T-shirts you begin to accumulate over time while racing. The medal was also of nice quality and size. No real complaints although the designs were nothing special which is why only 4 stars.

Course/Elevation/Aid Stations: Aid stations were pretty spread out on this course which adds a little difficulty especially when this was such a hot day, but I didn't find them to be lacking in water/electrolytes and the number of stations was decent for a race of this size. It really is a flat course for the most part, you essentially run a big loop/square, the first half along the shoulder of a road and the 2nd half along a green belt path. About the half was point in the course you find the only out an back, just a quick jut up the trail for what should be a half mile to add distance before rounding a cone and following the green belt back to the finish. This is where the error was made, likely just a miscommunication between a volunteer and an official who told them to put a cone at a half mile, someone thought it meant total distance added, the other thought it meant a half mile out and a half mile back, most people with GPS watches immediatly noticed that the 6 and 7 mile markers were way to close but hoped that it was just a misplaced mile marker and not an error on the course, sadly it was the latter. The first half of the course is not very pretty and just along the road, the 2nd half if really quite nice along the green belt and is enjoyable.

Race Management: Aside from the already discussed short course I have a few other things that could be improved and some to really compliment. No real start corrals or division by expected pace meant quite a jumble at the start and some very slow people to dodge in the first few hundred yards, very frustrating. Also the green belt is still fully open to the public which means people running on the course or walking on it sometimes in the opposite direction. Some things to compliment, aside from the ease of access they had plenty of port-o-potties to use before the race although they were not immediatly noticeable and instead people were waiting in huge lines for the public mall bathrooms. Also I'm a sucker for any event that has a free kids race/ kids dash which helps get the future generations of runners interested.

Overall if they didn't mess up the course I would give this race a 3 star rating and am still willing to recommend it. If they could keep the course a little more closed and do a better job seperating people by pace I would even consider giving it 4 stars.

This was a well organized fun half marathon. I would certainly do it again.

Expo: This is a Rock & Roll series race so it is going to have a large well attended expo. If you want to get in and out quick and just grab your bib it is pretty easy, the Events Center is big and well laid out for these kinds of things. If you want to walk around the expo you can find all sorts of things to fit your running needs. The only annoying part of this expo location is that there is virtually zero parking in the area unless you have someone drop you off you are going to have to pay

T-Shirts/SWAG: I was a bit dissapointed in the medal and shirt for this year, it was the 20th year for the event and the shirt celebrated that with balloons but nothing on the front unique to san diego. The finishers medal was similarly dissapointing, it was meant to look like a silver colored vinyl record complete with a middle spinning disc but in the end just looks like a big silver circle with again nothing unique to San Diego about it. Other years have looked much better so hopefully this was just a one off problem. The shirt and medal are both of high quality the designs just felt like they were lacking.

Parking/Access: Parking was going to be difficult for this race since the start and finish were a decent ways apart and parking isn't plentiful for a race this size. I was dropped off by a friend which made things pretty easy, they were doing a good job policing the drop off area and it was an short walk to the park where I could do my pre race routine and stretching.

Course/Elevation/Aid Stations: Aid stations during the course were well stocked and offered electrolytes and water. They were also well spaced throughout the course. The race started on the edge of Balboa park then headed to the northeast winding through neighborhoods. The elevation changes at this point were not much although the scenery of just running through neighborhoods was nothing very exciting compared to the overall beauty of what i normally think of in regards to San Diego. Eventually you head back towards the park and go up a decent sized hill entering the park, then a pretty signifigant downhill through the park before heading to downtown and finishing on a nice decline. The course is pretty flat overall but the few hills there are can be a bit steep both uphill and downhill which left my hip a bit sore by the finish.

Race Management: They did a good job with this race. The corrals are well managed and the finishers area was well organized and very large, it was pretty easy to meet up with family and friends near the waterfront when I was done. An ususual thing I will give the race credit for managing was when someone went through cones and drove onto the marathon course at some point there were quick notifications and the police were all over it (this didn't affect me in the half thankfully). This race also started really early in the day, 6 am, which was a tough start but also made sense considering how hot the weather can get especially for those running the full at a slower pace. The bands along the course also offer a welcome break along the route. The combination of the bands, cheerleaders, and start corral organization are all things that I really enjoy about Rock and Roll races.

Overall this race isn't particularly pretty other than when you run through the park however the management and size of the event make it fun and worth it.

This was a very unique experience and one of the most fun races that I have ever done. The combination of the bands, running at night, the lights of the strip, and just being in Vegas make this a destination race that every runner should do at least once. I often tell my friends who are not serious runners or who would like to do a half marathon once just to say they have done it that this is the race for them. Yes the entry fee is a little steep even with early entry and yes the combination of flying to vegas/getting a hotel can be expensive but it is an extremely unique experience that you won't forget. Can't recommend it enough, now the details:

Expo: All R&R Races have good expos but since vegas is their biggest event it also has the biggest expo. Plus Vegas is kind of made for conventions/events. You can find pretty much anything you would need/want at a running expo of this size. Its as close to a marathon major expo as you will find without actually being at a major. Getting in and out of this expo was a bit harder than most smaller races but taking the bus there was pretty easy, just crowded inside.

Parking/Access: Parking is actually decent at/around hotels in vegas but some could be pretty far from the start/finish. The best advice I can give would be to stay at a hotel between the start and finish (you can see them on a course map). We stayed at the Luxor which is right by the start and was actually a lucky break that we didn't stay near the finish because the finishers chute in Vegas is actually quite long so it takes you quite a ways back towards the start and backtracking up the course can be difficult due to the crowds cheering the finish and the ever growing pack of finishers milling around.

SWAG: There was a decent amount of freebies in the bag they give you at the expo, more than most races. The shirt was a bright neon yellow which can look a bit crazy if you just want to wear it around but it showed well in a night race and it is actually a good shirt to wear if you are running in the early morning or near dusk when visibility to cars can be hard. The event design was pretty blah on the shirt. The finishers medal was a unique slot machine design where the slot machine wheels were cards that could flip from symbols to a 13.1 or 26.2 depending on your distance, very cool.

Course/Aid Stations/Elevation: It doesn't get much easier elevation wise than a pancake flat course, a complete non issues. Aid stations were also well stocked and well spaced, i heard there were a few issues with temporarily running out of things for the later runners. Also for aid stations it should be noted that this race has a TON of first time half marathoners and other people who may not be well versed in the ettiquite of starting in your correct corral and how to go through an aid station. Many of my slower friends and family said they would be running behind someone when they got to an aid station then the person would take the cup of water and then stop dead in their tracks and then get run into. It's one of those things that you don't know until you run a few races but it certainly can be frustrating and a little dangerous for those used to drinking on the go or getting a cup and then moving to the side after they get their cup so they can drink. As for the course itself it was really cool, you started with a quick out and back around the welcome to Las Vegas sign then started a 5-6 mile straight run back past the start towards the heart of the strip, it is such a long striaght stretch that it makes it hard to motivate youself with the usual tactics of just run hard to that corner etc but the cheering and lights and scenery make up for it. Around the 8 mile mark you make a quick jut off the strip before coming back on freemont street then heading back down the strip. Heads up for those who are unprepared like me and the pack I was running in were for freemont street. There is a 30 foot tall metal praying mantis that every so often shoot eplosions of flames out the top of its head. It sent a group of us cowering and ducking a few steps to the side when it scared the crap out of us, very cool if you are expecting it, heart attack if not.

Running back to the finish was a bit into the wind but it is not consistent because the casinos will shelter you off and on. The wind blows strong through the gap between the buildings then shoots up both directions of the course so you end up running with the wind in your face as you near an intersection then get it at your back for a little while as you continue past the intersection. The finishers chute is long, it can take a while to get through it, get your gear and then get back towards the finish if you are trying to watch family and friends. Also you want to make sure you have warm clothes in your gear check back as you will cool down quickly at night since you will be sweaty.

Race Management: They do a great job at this race, the corrals are well orgainized and so is the entire event. One thing that can be challenging for slower runners is that because there are so many corrals the slower people can be waiting a long time to start. They also enfore the time limit pretty strictly with a car picking up stragglers which can make for a tight window for people starting in the back to finish, they probably really need to work on starting that hard time limit when the final people start not when the first people do. Overall though I can't recomend this race enough.