This was my first time in Pittsburgh and I came solely to run the half marathon. I had heard mixed things about this race from bad reviews to good, but I went into it with an open mind and wanted to form my own opinions. I LOVED this race.

The course: The course was really good- rolling hills some with varying levels of difficulty and the steepest hill at mile 11, which was tough for someone not used to hills. But the challenge of this course made my PR all the more sweet! It was definitely a hard race, but I came away with a win and loved the fact that I got to tour Pittsburgh on foot. The scenery was pretty good- its very industrial, so maybe not as scenic in terms of sunrises/really cool architecture as some other places, but the city definitely has its charm. I loved how much city pride Pittsburgh natives have. Everyone was wearing black and gold and I did too to get in the mood.

Crowd: It felt like the entire city came out to support the runners which was cool. There weren't many parts that were accessible to pedestrians that didn't have someone cheering on the street. Everyone held signs and high fived strangers. Several people were handing out gummi worms, candies, alcohol, water and other goodies to the runners should they want them. There were even a few people who came out in costume (a storm trooper and a t-rex notably).

Medals: The medal was really cool- it was heavy and pretty sizeable. I do wish they did the same thing I've seen from prior years where the city was on the medal- I think it's cool when there's a nod to the city on the race medals. However, this was their tenth anniversary which was the reason behind the large X on the medal. It's still a high quality medal in my opinion.

Expo: This was a pretty good expo. There were plenty of booths giving out free samples, they had some drink samples, there was an abundance of official merchandise to pick up and they had a cool wall where you could write Why I Run. Nothing seemed too overpriced in the official merch tents so I appreciated that. They even had their own shoes made by Brooks.

Organization: It seemed like a really well organized race. Corrals were easy to get to and even though they only had 4 corrals for 40,000 runners, it went smoothly on race morning. There were plenty of aid stations with both water and gatorade and medical personnel out on the course. They had two stations with gels in case runners needed fuel. I didn't bring my own water and was fine throughout the course. The course was very well marked and they even had cute signs welcoming you to the various neighborhoods in Pittsburgh which was nice for people from out of town like myself who didn't know where they were.

Extras: Bag check was well organized and free which is nice. There seemed to be plenty of photographers on course, but I'm still waiting on the official photos to be released to see if they got good shots of me. I don't like that they use Marathon Foto because that company is so expensive its kind of ridiculous. They had plenty of food and amenities at the finish chute and pretty clear directions on how to get to various areas after the race. I didn't visit the after party because by the time we got done waiting on our friends to finish and stopped chatting we wanted to head out.

Overall, this was a really great big city race experience and I would definitely do it again in the future!