2016 is my third year running the Livermore Half Marathon. This year I am also running the two other half marathons organized by this company (The Town's Half and The Golden Gate Half) to earn the glittering golden bear medal for the Golden State Half series.

Like last year, I didn't make the expo and bib-pickup. That's because the expo is held on Friday, which is a work day for most of us, and Livermore is about an hour away without crazy traffic. While many people make a mini-vacation weekend out of it and stay in Livermore, it's just not practical for the locals. The race organizers were all excited to announce that the 2017 race is going to be on a Sunday, but that just presented an entire mess of other problems (see below). Anyway, Livermore DOES allow someone else to pick up your packet, as long as they have a copy of your ID. I snapped an iPhone pic of mine, and had a friend pick up my bib and shirt (I did this last year too); we met at the starting line, I attached my bib and then took the shirt (still in the little envelope) to gear check. I did attend the expo the first year, and it had maybe a half dozen vendors of running products or things of potential interest to runners, some of which were local businesses clearly aimed at securing local customers.

The course has been the same all three years I have run this race. It starts and ends in downtown Livermore, right on Main Street. After passing through some streets to get out of downtown, then running along some subdivision-type housing, the course takes a few miles through a local park. There are aid stations at both ends of the main park, and some photographers and course marshalls in the middle. It's a nice break to run a half marathon that seems a lot like a park run. Exiting the park, the course heads past and through several vineyards before running through another park, down a stretch of road, through another park, back to downtown, and loops around a few blocks to the finish. There are very definitely HILLS involved--not epic ones, but significant ones. I like to stop at the top (signalling appropriately so as not to knock my fellow runners over) and enjoy the views when I work that hard for them!

Course support is pretty good. While there are a few designated cheering areas, there were a significant number of people cheering at various points along the street portion of the course. Aid stations were well-staffed, friendly, and well-stocked. There is even one that has a DJ and the volunteers dance. Fun!

The race finishes right back where it started. Livermore has been trying to do unusual things with their medals, and it's been a mixed bag in terms of success. The first year was a metal medal featuring grapevine artwork and a spinner center that is a wine glass-themed piece. The second year's medal was a coaster. The backing is metal, with a raised edge that has raised wine and grape designs; the center/main portion is cork, and the very center has the race logo in color. It looks awful in photographs, but is kind of neat close-up. (the design on the rim of the coaster doesn't show up well in pictures.) This year, the medal is wooden and looks like the butt of a wine cask. The outside edge is metal, like the metal bands that run around casks. Instead of a ribbon, there is a leather cord. The center has a painted race design that is wine-themed. There is also a wine glass charm shaped like the state of California that said 2016 that attaches to the bottom of the medal. Unfortunately, the ring portion of the wine glass charm was cheaply made (unlike any actual wine glass charm I have made or used) and did not stay fastened. As a result many people lost California. (I dropped mine, but found it again. Eventually I used pliers to bend the charm holder loop shut, but to do so required bending it out of shape. I may spend the extra dollar to get a quality charm holder from the local bead shop and replace it.)

Post race food no longer includes a donut, unfortunately. There were bananas, Kind bars (which made the gluten-free crowd happy), and a few other items to munch on.

Just outside the runner shoot was the finish line festival and wine tasting. All runners receive a glass, and there is a brewery pouring half pints (or at least I assume those Riedel-style glasses hold half a pint) and assorted wineries pouring tastes. In past years, spectators could buy a glass and enter the festival, but this year they changed it so that all non-runners had to pre-pay for their glasses. I dislike that personally, since I generally don't plan for someone to come with me but sometimes a friend will come along at the last minute. I also wish I had the option to get a full glass of wine instead of tastes, as I spent a good portion of the after party waiting in lines when I would have preferred to chat with my friends (who were in different lines). I'd be willing to pay for this option, too.

The finish line party also featured live music and a dedicated area for dancing, which kept spectating children busy and out of trouble. (Most runners were there for wine/beer and relaxation, not dancing, though I appreciated the music.)

The 2016 race had gorgeous weather, starting with cloud cover and ending with sun. All of the restaurants on Main Street seem to have an outdoor area, and they were doing a booming business after the race.

While I really want to go back in 2017 and continue my streak of running this race, the race directors decision to move the race to Sunday means it's likely impossible because that means next year the Livermore Half Marathon, Rock 'n' Roll San Francisco, and The Oakland Running Festival are all on the same day. If Livermore were still on Saturday, I'd definitely go run it. (Last year, I ran Livermore on Saturday, and Rock 'n' Roll San Francisco on Sunday.) There are a group of us trying to get Rock 'n' Roll and ORF to work together to let runners who want to do the half at ORF complete a full marathon by first running RnR SF then taking BART to Oakland to run ORF. The Rock 'n' Roll team seems open to working on this, and when I talked to the ORF assistant director at the RnR expo, he said he they were aware of the conflicting schedule and would be interested in trying to work something out. We actually spent about 20 minutes discussing how the two races could work this out and help runners who wanted to do both,without compromising either race or requiring too much to accommodate us. When I approached the Golden State Half Series about it at the Rock 'n' Roll expo, their rep's response was "it's not our fault that Rock 'n' Roll and Oakland decided to take our date. That's always been our weekend." He wasn't even interested in discussing how to make it possible for runners to do 2 or more events that weekend. In fact, he kinda bordered on rude. That was a HUGE turn off for me. (Seriously, there is a decent-sized group of runners who want to run all of these races, and it could be a fantastic cross-promotion for all of them.)

So it looks like I can't run Livermore next year. The timing is such that it isn't possible to run Livermore and either Rock 'n' Roll San Francisco or The Oakland Running Festival. Essentially, I have to pick between a perfect record at Livermore and a perfect record at Rock 'n' Roll San Francisco. I know Rock 'n' Roll has legacy recognition, plus I have the potential to run two races that day, and Livermore's attitude about the whole thing left a bad taste in my mouth. I wonder if they will change their plans after next year--when many other runners will be faced with the same choice I'm facing.