I let my husband pace our race so we were not running a fast race. That said, the corral system needs better management because somehow we ended up behind hundreds of walkers who walked 4 and 5 abreast in the third of four corrals (with 16k runners it might be better to have more but smaller corrals?) - which made for an exhausting first mile.

Eventually I think we gave up on running for time and just ran intervals and enjoyed the crowd. After getting over the initial frustration, we had a blast!

Parking: We parked at the city hall and took the free shuttle to the start line. As a point to point race, it's important to note the shuttle from the finish will only return to this lot.

Start: You start next to the beach. How awesome is that? And the local community is out in full force!

Course: SO AWESOME. I have yet to run a race with the amount of community members out cheering. It seemed like every other yard had a band in it and it was like a moving street party. Loved it!

Aid Stations: Stopped at the first one and it was mobbed. I waited forever to get a cup of water and felt like I was in mosh pit. Gave up stopping after that. It was really hot but the battle wasn't worth it.

Photos: The only official photographers were at the end of the course so we took some selfies during our walk breaks.

Finish Party/Swag: You finish and have to walk several more blocks to the beach where the water and swag bags are. Inside the bags are several snacks, all items had nuts except a fruit leather and a juice. The shirt is not a tech shirt but it's super soft and apparently a local collectable. We skipped the post race party choosing to head to the return shuttle asap.

Return Shuttle: Super glad we made the choice to leave right away. First, the walk to the shuttle is up a massive hill. My poor husband was in pain at this point having pushed himself on the hilly oceanside course. We then found a rather long line which apparently only grew behind us. It was over twenty minutes before we got on a bus but as we pulled out we saw the line was around the corner an all the way down the giant hill! I wonder how long some people waited! The traffic of people going into Santa Cruz was slowing down the shuttles which hindered them returning in a timely manner to pick up more people in Capitola. Good organization but poor circumstances. I think next time we may arrange with a friend to have a car at the start and finish.

This was like a giant hilly party and as long as you aren't worried about your finish time (or you manage to end up in the first corral) it's an incredible way to spend a Sunday!