Before doing this race, I had heard mixed reviews. Some people said the weather is never good for this race due to the time of year. To be quite honest, I only did this race because it is the finisher race for the series. If it weren't, I don't think I would be signing up for a half marathon in December (when it comes to weather, I'm a wimp) or a Saturday race (because timing wise, they just don't work as well for me as Sunday races do).

Race is on Saturday which means race pickup is on Friday. If you're not in Walnut Creek (or can't get there easily), packet pickup can be a bit of an issue. Thankfully, they do offer LIMITED packet pickup the morning of the race (this year, it was from 5:30am to 6:30am).

Since I knew I was doing this race no matter what (to finish out the series), I didn't really spend a whole lot of time reviewing the race course or details (other than to know where to show up and park). The morning of, a friend told me a little bit about the course...and then I found out for myself!

Miles approx 4 through 7 are uphill. I hadn't been training as much as I should have...so those were tough.
Miles 7 through 8 or 9 (ish) are downhill which was great and the view going down was nice.
Miles 11 (ish) through 13 are on a paved trail through residential neighborhoods.

The course was okay. The post race festival was great. Finishing the series was the best part.

Link to this review