So I found this race on Active and figured I'd sign up while in town for Surf City and it's hard finding any good longer races over the winter in Washington. It's pretty cheap which is a plus. The only downside is that I couldn't find the actual race website, which would have been useful.

Race communication: sent out the Monday before the race, which I think jumped the gun b cause it got lost in the email shuffle. I ended up running the 10k instead of the half. Email said 730 (which I ended up not finding until after the race), Active had the 10k and 5k at 8 am. Needless to say showed up according to an 8 am race start and ended up keeping my own time to correct for it

Packet Pick Up: race day 30-45 min before the race

Race itself: pretty basic. The 5k went out the running path 1.55 mi and back, the 10km, 3.1 mi and back, the half did the 10 k out and back twice and the Marathon did the out and back 4x. Time kept on a timer (handheld). Any sort of arrows were drawn in chalk on the ground so you had to look down to see if you missed anything. No flags or anything. The course was along the running path along Long Beach, which was calming, but you also dealt with other runners/walkers not associated with the race on the same path. In terms of water and Gatorade, it was only at the start/finish area so if you were doing the half, you had one water stop and the full had 3 if you didn't carry your own.

The finish was where you started and the only reason you.lnew where to go was a race flag.

Swag: just a medal, no shirt

Thoughts: I don't mind small races, it I really don't know what I paid for for this race. I felt like I could have done my own 10k and saved money and a 25 min drive one way. The local crowd seemed to enjoy it, which is good if you live here, but I didn't see many racers on course. Seems like on the RD's website, he prefers managing small races, which is fine, but maybe some investment in flags/ mile markers and basic race stuff may be useful. Also, would prefer communication the Thursday/Friday before a race so jigs don't get lost in the email shuffle