My husband and I registered for the Rock 'n' Roll Virginia Beach Half Marathon at the urging of my brother-in-law, who has run it for the past 10 years. Timing was a little inconvenient - it is held over Labor Day weekend, in a relatively popular vacation spot, and our son was already back in school, so we hated to pull him out. While we were excited for a beach/race vacation, coordination was rough.

That being said, as always Rock 'n' Roll put on a fabulous event. In fact, I had huge FOMO because I didn't think to sign up for the Mile on the Sand or the 5K that weekend. Even though the weather ended up being awful on the day of the challenge runs, it would have been cool to collect some extra bling.

T-SHIRTS/SWAG
Rock 'n' Roll always has great medals and gender-specific Brooks tech shirts. I loved the look of the giant Neptune statue on them for the 15th anniversary year. The medal was rather fun, too, with a beachy theme.

AID STATIONS
There were tons. Plenty of water and electrolyte drink, as well as Gu offered later in the race. In addition, there were tons of music stages set up along the way, offering entertainment to the runners.

COURSE SCENERY
For the most part, this is a pretty scenic course. I loved running through the downtown Virginia Beach area, and along the shaded streets. There is a rough patch through a military barracks. No shade, not much to look at, and while the cheerleaders and support groups were on point, it was a low point in the race. However, that ended up with a beautiful bridge over a waterway and almost a full mile on the boardwalk to the finish line. It was quickly forgotten.

EXPO QUALITY
Fantastic. Packet pickup was simple, and there was plenty to do, see and buy at the expo. my brother-in-law was even able to sign up in advance for next year's race at a deep discount. It's a nice perk to offer.

ELEVATION DIFFICULTY
My brother-in-law swears this is a flat course, but for us, it was a bit hilly. Some bridges and inclines and dips on the road. Not earth-shattering but good to note if you're used to training in flat conditions.

PARKING/ACCESS
The race is point to point, so we had to hop on a very early morning shuttle to the start line and then we could grab another on the way back. We actually ended up walking about another two miles back to our hotel after the race because we didn't want to deal with waiting on the shuttle. It wasn't my favorite, but it seemed to go smoothly.

RACE MANAGEMENT
For such a huge race, everything was in place as it should have been. Plenty of support, entertainment, and amenities. No shortage of bathrooms or on-course hydration and fuel. The bands were great and it's always fun to get to run in a holiday beach town.