Just ran this race this past Sunday for the 3rd year in a row. This time I ran the half and last year I ran the half relay with my wife.

First, I'd say that about the only negative aspect for some people regarding this race would be the following: there is NO convention to speak of whatsoever. None, zero, zilch. Now, I love going to race with great conventions probably as much as most runners do, but honestly for this race I could care less about not having a convention. Perhaps I feel that way because this is a local race for me as I have lived here in Cypress for the last 13 years so I don't have to travel at all for it so it's not a destination race for me.

If you don't mind not having a convention, then there are plenty of positives to consider doing this race. The packet pickup is well organized and quick, in and out in less than 5 minutes. The bib is personalized with your name or whatever phrase you want it and the gear you get at the finish has been GREAT all 3 years. This year it was your choice of either a headsweats visor (pictured) or hat at pickup, then an AWESOME tech shirt and medal to all finishers. Last year, instead of the visor or hat, the extra item besides the tech shirt was a nice, solid gym bag you can actually use for more than just a couple of times. The year prior to that, it was a coffee mug with the race logo/emblem. It is clear they like to keep things fresh and have a variety of swag items as part of the race incentives, and in my opinion, it works. In addition, every year they include free professional digital photos as part of the package. In both prior years the photos have been of high-quality and much better free than some other races in which they have tried to sell me a package of photos, so needless to say that is a huge, icing-on-top type of bonus.

The race start and finish are both adjacent to one of the local high schools that has large parking lots on all sides so getting there and parking for the start is a breeze as well as exiting post-race. There are plenty of port-a-potties near the start and even though this year I didn’t need to use them at all, when I walked by them on my way to the start line I noticed that the lines were fairly short, maybe 6-7 runners in line for each one maximum. The race course is a perfectly flat, out and back loop that is well-designed in my opinion, with the bulk of it going through a nice master-planned community with nice houses, landscaping, and lakes to look at. There are just a few turns, all through roads that are nice and wide and in great shape. The hydration stations are set apart approximately 1.5-2 miles and staffed with plenty of volunteers. There are pace teams for just about every pace possible in 15-minute increments. This year I decided to follow the 2:00 hour pace team from the start and stuck to them for the bulk of the race and ended up with a PR of 1:59:54. The post-race is done mostly inside of the high school in the cafeteria. It fits the approximately 1,500 runners plus volunteers perfectly fine, as the high school is HUGE since it has approximately 3,500 students in enrollment. Post-race food this year was Papa John’s pizza, bananas, several choices of soda, pretzels, gummy bears, etc.

The temperature at start time (6:45am) this year was around 62F and mostly cloudy. While that doesn’t sound like the absolute best of running conditions, for me it was. I ran on a singlet and felt that the air around me for the entire race was just perfectly cool to keep me from overheating or having to slow my pace down.

The overall gist of this race is that it is well-organized and supported race with a good, convenient course and great included gear, with enough participants to be fun and yet small enough to have room around you to relax and run your best race.