The expo for this race seemed a little empty this year -- the quality seems to degrade each year I've visited it. There was not a lot of vendors there to keep anyone around for long, so it was simply in-and-out to grab t-shirt and bib. I've always liked the shirts for this race, so thankfully they did not disappoint.

I hadn't paid too much attention to the weather until I found an poncho in my race pack. It was only then I realized how bad the race weather could turn out. ;-)

And it rained. It rained hard. When it was time to line up for the half marathon start, it rained even harder. I was wearing the poncho, but removed it just before we started. The road turned into a literal river and my shoes and socks were soaked through before I even started. For the first time while lining up for a race I seriously wished I'd stayed in bed. The media were reporting 400+ people did just that.

The race started and off we went. The rain kept coming down hard for the first 30 minutes or so and then became much lighter. To be honest, after the first mile or so the rain didn't bother me much at all. It's also something completely out of the control of race management.

This was my longest race distance since running a marathon back in March and working through an injury. I've always enjoyed running this race, but this year I did not like the course changes.

It felt like a lot of turnarounds had been introduced, and all within a single neighborhood area. I used to like this race because of the downtown city feel, but this felt more like a training run, running in my local neighborhood and trying to make up a few extra miles before heading home, in the rain.

I still recommend this race to others, because maybe if it was sunny and bright I may not have been annoyed as much with the course.

Usually the after-party is GREAT, but again, it just had a washed out feel this year because of the weather and no-one really wanted to hang around very long. I just grabbed my can of beer and took it home with me.