I ran this marathon with my husband this year. It was my 5th marathon. If you are looking for a fun, great swag marathon with a little fun to be had afterwards, this is a great race. I was expecting what the website promoted: a flat fast course. Here are a few things we loved about the race:
Likes:
1. swag - great wine bottle for full finishers, nice tech shirt, and the expo had lots of inexpensive wine for runner's to purchase and was gorgous to visit
2. medal - ridicoulous big! Very nice to add to your collection
3. weather was great for late August (compared to Texas)

Dislikes:
1. Course was not flat
2. course was crowded because it was so narrow
3. potholes were bad (5+ people were injured in the sub 3:45 full/or 1:30 half group in the first 6 miles requiring medical assistance which crowded course even more)
4. very little crowd support
5. training for a summer full in Texas is brutal (doesn't have to do with the race but the race's date does affect whether I would do it again).

My husband and I were surprised that 6 miles in, we hit a trail that was sloped for 5-6 miles (and it's an out and back course so had to run that same sloped road again). During that stretch of paved sloped trail, there wasn't any place for crowd support to be had, and the sloping caused serious issues with our gait. We tried to take turns as to who got the more sloped side every few miles but our hips and back definitely felt the unevenness. I was coming off a toe infection, so my time did not reflect my training because I had to take 2 weeks off just shy of the race. I'm not disappointed about the race because of my time because I understand you reap what you sow. Perhaps Texas flat and California flat are different (aka Californians call slanted road flat).

I still enjoyed the experience and my husband and I made a great trip out of our visit to the Napa Valley with this race. I just wish I had known these factors prior to signing up for this marathon.