I chose this race to PR big! I was told it's a downhill, beautiful and scenic course.

EXPO/START: The race expo was great. There were a lot of vendors and a great first timers clinic (I highly recommend attending these sessions if it is your first time. They gave so much good information about the course, how to pace it and what to expect). Logistically speaking, everything was perfect. Traffic was light for such a big race getting to the shuttles. Once you are bussed to the top, there are fire pits spread out to keep you nice and warm.

RACE/COURSE: The is downhill yes, but there is also some good uphills thrown in there as well (I'm looking at. you mile 7). I didn't prepare enough for the downhills and by mile 24 my quads were pretty useless and trashed. I've hear a lot of people tout how beautiful and scenic the course is, but not to sound stuck-up, but I didn't find it beautiful of scenic. The scenery is very reminiscent of northern Nevada/California. Brown and sagebrushy. There was one section (maybe visible to about a mile) that showcased some beautiful red rocks, but that was about it. If you're not familiar with Northern NV/CA then perhaps this is beautiful to you. As far as crowd support goes, there were very few spots where people were cheering. There were some at mile 7 (the uphill), but until you hit around mile 23ish, there wasn't much else. I will say that mile 23 and beyond the crowd support was great. There are plenty of aid stations along the course. Some have extra snacks. There aren't a lot of areas for shade along the course and unfortunately, this year was a hot one.

SWAG: I loved the medal and long sleeve tech shirt!

ADVICE: Train for downhills! Mentally prepare yourself for some uphills along the course. If you're a first timer, hit up the first timers clinic at the expo!

I ran the 2nd half of The San Francisco and it seems to be the red-headed step child of the 5 race options. I however though it was great!

Expo:
The Expo was held at Fort Mason. There weren't any signs (at least that I saw) that pointed to where the expo was actually being held. I knew it was at the Festival Pavilion, but not being from the area and the Fort Mason being so big, I had no clue where it was. I had to ask someone that I saw carrying a San Fran Marathon bag where they got it from. There were a ton of vendors at the expo. It was smart on the races part (for the vendors) to put the bib pickup at the very end of the expo. I was in a bit of a hurry, so I didn't get a chance to stop at any of the vendors. I did stop and speak to the pacers, and I hate to say it, but they weren't very helpful. I asked about their pacing (negative, positive, or even splits) and the pacer said they didn't know, they were just going to run by feel.

Swag:
You get a long sleeve tech tee which fits true to size. It is really cute and I'm excited for cooler weather so I can wear it. You didn't get any swag in the bag they give you, but there were a lot of free samples at the expo and a lot (and I mean a lot) of free samples and food at the race finish. You also get a medal at the finish.

Race:
At the start of the race, whoever was on the microphone, was not very exciting. I think they should have chosen someone with a little more energy to get us pumped up, but that is a small and insignificant detail. the race was well organized. There were plenty of porta potties at the beginning, during, and end of the race.

The course:
The course was a good mix of hills and flats. The first 3.5ish miles are uphill, the next 5ish miles are small rolling (with some big downhills) hills, and the final 4 are super flat. According to my watch (and other results I saw posted on Strava) the course was long. My watch showed 13.37 miles, and I ran all the tangents. Because the course was long, I was hitting the water stops later than I had planned, but I was still taking gels on the scheduled mileage. This meant, I didn't always have water available when taking a gel. There was also quite a bit of uneven roads and fulled in (but still kind of holey) pot holes along the course. I spent much of the race looking down to avoid this holes.
There were some areas of bottle necking in the first few miles, but it was still pretty easy to get around runners by going up in the grass. The spectators were awesome with great signs (some were handing out bananas and watermelon, others were handing out tequila shots).

Final thoughts:

I would definitely recommend this race to someone. I think the 2nd half if great for someone looking to PR, just know some of those downhills can really get you and if your not careful, you could end up with Jello-O legs for the rest of the race. The course was actually hillier than I thought it was going to be. After you exit Golden Gate Park, there are a lot of downhill and gentle rolling hills.
http://www.runlove.net/2016/08/the-san-francisco-2nd-half-marathon.html

This is a great race. The race is targeting toward women (although men can still run). Pre-race there is an 80's themed warm-up, post race you get free chocolate and champagne. The course is beautiful, you get to see the entire San Francisco Bay area including Golden Gate. It is very flat and which makes it a great PR race. The race was very well organized.

The expo was great! It included free clinics about injury prevention, running tips, etc. The expo was a little hard to find. They only had one sign that looked like it was pointing down a certain hallway, but it was really trying to point us around the corner. Me and about 5 other women were completely lost.

This is a half marathon along a beautiful course. The entire race takes place on the American River bike path. Which means a lot of trees and a flowing river. This course is very flat overall, there are a few bike ramps you have to run up that are pretty steep, by they are very short. My only gripe about this race is that it was so hot. It's not something that the race directors can control (they already start the race at 7:15am), but despite all of the trees along the course, there was barely any shade. The sun was in front of us or behind us for most of the race and the trees where on the sides. See the problem.

Awesome race! The race is one of Reno's largest races and it is very well organized. It offers all of the standard race distances, which all travel along the Truckee River and through downtown Reno. The course is pretty flat with just a few hills. There is a good amount of spectators throughout the course.