This race was just okay. I didn't have a full training cycle going into this race, but I was moving out of state in a month, so it was my last opportunity to run a half marathon in CA. I lived about an hour to an hour and a half north of the start line (which was in Solvang, NOT Santa Barbara), so I didn't bother to stay in a hotel. I drove down for the expo the day before the race for packet pickup. It was raining all day, so it was a pretty dreary expo. I was one of maybe only 20 people there. Parking was impossible, since so many streets were shut down, and all of the parking lots were for the businesses only. On race morning, parking was just as difficult, despite getting there VERY early. I made my way towards the start line, which was easy to find since there were so many runners, warmed up, used the restroom, and got lined up to start. The first 2-3 miles of this race were EXTREMELY crowded. There was a steep but short hill about a half mile in, which separated some people, but it was still congested. The entire first 10K was all slightly uphill at about a 2% incline. And then came the dreaded CORKSCREW HILL. I had read horror stories about Corkscrew Hill, so as I got going I up it, I just kept telling myself "one foot in front of the other, DON'T YOU DARE STOP!" As I made my way up, I just kept thinking, wow, this is not nearly as bad as I had anticipated... And then I turned a corner and realized I WAS ONLY HALF WAY UP. It was almost 3/4 of a mile up that damn hill... So freaking hard! But coming down the back side felt amazing. The back half of the course was rolling hills, with two other pretty good inclines, before finishing near where we had started. My legs were DEAD. It was a killer race. I picked up my wine glass and went into the garden area to do my tastings. The lines were extremely long, and the wine was very average. Since I am from that area, I have a laundry list of my favorite wineries in SB County, and none of them took part. From what I could tell, it was a bunch of small wineries looking for advertisement. Wasn't impressed by any of them, and probably wouldn't buy a bottle of any of the wines that I tried. It was hot, and I was sweaty and tired, so I only had the patience to try about 5 wines before getting bored of waiting in long lines, and heading home. There was next to no community involvement or spectators, which is fine because the views were above average. But again, being from the area, I wasn't SUPER impressed. The medal was super cool, and serves as a wine stopper that I use regularly. For the price, and all things considered, I don't think I would run this race again, nor would I recommend it.