I ran this year because the Pittsburgh Half has been a bucket list race for me. It's 2.5 hrs from Cleveland and with family outside of Pittsburgh, I have a free place to stay (and free laundry afterwards to boot!).

The expo: really, one of the better expos I've been too. You pick up your shirt and bib on one side and your swag bag on the other side of the expo (obnoxious in my opinion, but it seems to be a common theme to get you to walk through the expo). You could sign up for other races if you wanted (to sign up for the 5K the day before was $50). Tons of vendors and races, a lot of race/city specific decorations, etc. There's a T-shirt exchange as well if you want a different size, but there are more women's sizes than men's sizes to be exchanged

Getting to the race: if you're staying with family on the outskirts, take the T (public transportation). It drops off/picks up right at the start and finish and saves you the time of trying to park (there's always construction and knowing me since I'm not familiar with downtown Pittsburgh, I wouldn't have been able to get out). There's garages if you drive in

Pre Race: plenty of porta potties. Easy to get to the Corrals. Things are kind of spread out in terms of bag drop off, etc. If you check a bag, you pick a fed ex truck to drop it off at (#1-14). They have stickers to put on your bib/markers so you remember.

The course: HOLY BRIDGES! Regardless of half or full, you go over all 5 bridges in downtown Pittsburgh. I have a tendency to block out things I don't like (i.e. bridges, which include gradual inclines). There are gradual hills and inclines, so hill training would have helped me out. I was drained by mile 9-10 and my legs didn't want to run any more. Maybe the half marathon 8 days ago and the 15K 2 weeks ago also played a role. You really get to see Pittsburgh and the crowd support is good.

Post Race: you finish and have enough room to keep on walking through the chute to pick up your medal, food, beverages, and a bag to put everything in. I wish races would have food already in a bag and just hand it to you, it would make things so much easier. Plenty of medical staff for people who needed it as well. I wondered around the post race party they had. More food vendors, etc there, but you had to pay for that food. There was some bottle neck of families waiting for runners where we exited, which was kind of crappy.

The weather: nothing that the race can control. Started out really nice. After 2.5 hrs of running, it was in the 70s. I was feeling it for sure. It was good weather, but I felt for the marathoners who were still going