The American River Parkway Half Marathon was my first marathon. It travels along the bike path right next to the beautiful American River in Sacramento, CA. The parking is seperated into sections and when you sign up, they tell you where to park. I might have had to walk about a .5-1 mile to the start line from where I parked, but it was not too bad.

The race itself is great. I have been riding my bike on this bike path for over 20 years and love the scenery. The path is about 8-10 feet wide with decomposed granite along each side, which is really nice to run on (it reduces the impact on your joints). The bike path is windy at some points but is fairly flat. The largest hills are the bridges over the river, which aren't bad at all.

The beginning of the race was a bit more crowded than most races probably, but the crowds thinned out after the first mile or so. The aid stations were all fully stocked and you got a sandwich, cookie, and fruit after the race.

The medal is decent. There were only two complaints that I have. The race was measured wrong and ended up being about 13.6-14 miles overall. They did provide an estimated finish time for 13.1 miles though. The other issue I had was the design of the tech tee was kind of boring. Other than that, I really liked this race and would recommend it.

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