Registration was available online up until the day before the race. Online communication was on point- just enough without being too little. I never had any confusion about where I needed to be and when.

Packet pickup was spread out over 4 days at various locations throughout the city and nearby Berkeley. If those dates didn’t work for you, there was an EXPO-in-a-box option that would send everything to you in the mail as well as race day VIP pickup. Both of these did include an extra cost.

I chose the expo-in-a-box option but there was a snafu. Come race week, my packet never arrived. I reached out to the race and they confirmed that due to an error of some sort, my box was not going to arrive. They were able to refund my money and arranged for me to do race day pick up.

The race started at 7:00 and I was staying at the race hotel so I headed to the start line around 6:00. There was a little line at that time but it moved quick. Then I headed off to the portapottie line which was the longest I’ve ever seen. It moved fairly quickly though.

The race started exactly on time after a singing of the National Anthem.

The first few miles saw us running out towards the Jack London area then doubling back towards downtown. We then headed out to Lake Merritt and looped around it. And then around it again the other way in a long out and back. Then once back downtown, we ran 2 more out and backs along Broadway and the street with the Fox Theatre. It was then back to the start alongside the Frank Ogawa Plaza.

Once across you were handed your medal and a cute Mason jar.

Swag- Medal, race shirt which was a nice cotton and cute, mason jar. I can’t speak for anything that was given out at the expo. There was also one free beer for runners and the best- FREE race pictures!

The aid stations did a great job but I feel like they were oddly spaced out. That could be due to the out and back nature of the race. The stations offered water, Nuun and Honey Stinger Gels.

Elevation- by my standards this race is pancake flat. Flat, flat.

While I enjoyed the scenery of the lake- there was a lot of it. There were a lot of out and back portions that I think broke my brain. This race did have the better scenery compared to other ones I’ve run in Oakland though I did miss the chance to run by more murals.

Overall this was a fun race and I would keep it on my list of races to run again.