I ran the 5K as part of the remix challenge. I did the 5K on Saturday and the Half Marathon on Sunday. Extra bling for days!

Packet Pick Up: either at the expo on Friday or pre race on Saturday. At the expo, if you were picking up for multiple races, you were given a wrist band to claim your remix medal on Sunday after race #2. Packet pick up on Friday was with some longer lines, but quick. They really only separated into 2 lines which slowed things down some. Shirt pick up was close by and you could go explore the expo

The Start: race started at 8 AM at Lafayette Square. 10 corrals total for the 5K.

The race: takes you through part of the business district, Canal Street, Bourbon Street, the French Quarter and Jackson Square. It's an out and back type course with one water stop right before mile 2. With the wave start, it makes things less congested. Since it's so early, not many people are out. You get a quick view of the big parts of town.

The Finish: right around the start in Lafayette Square. You're met with medals, food and water. There was a brass band post race and a few vendors, but not a whole lot to do.

Overall, great quick race to see some of the highlights of town. Flat course and great race for the family to run or walk

I first ran RnR NOLA 6 years ago and came back for the first time since then this year. I did the 5K on Saturday and the Half on Sunday.

The Expo: Option of going Friday or Saturday. No race day pick up for the 10k/half/full on Sunday and you had to pick up your own bib, something I've never been a fan of, especially if you get into a bind. Not a whole lot at the Expo, but I was able to try the Normatec Compression sleeves (must do if you can!). Local races and some other set ups available. Also had the option of exchanging your t shirts for any of the Sunday Events if something didn't fit.

Parking: you could park at the finish of the race and pay for a shuttle to the starting area. If you were staying downtown, shuttles back downtown post race for free

Prices: for the half, up to $150 (open around ~50 if you pre register)

Course: flat. Really flat. Did I say flat? My only issue with the course were the roads. So. Many. Potholes. My hips and low back hated me because of it the second half of the race. The first 7 miles were out and back starting at Lafayette Square (ish) and going through the Garden District out through Loyola New Orleans at Uptown Carlton and back. Around mile 9 we were close to where we stared and went through the Business District and the French Quarters. The French Quarter portion was similar to the 5K route from Saturday, where you saw the big stuff (Cathedral, Jackson Square, Cafe Du Mond, the Market). We ultimately turned and passed through the 7th Ward and headed towards the Art Museum. The half and full split about 12.5 miles in and we continued on into where the Botanical Gardens and the Museum of Art were.

Aid Stations: every 1.5-2 miles with some combination of water, gels and gatorade. Never congested, which was good

Weather: expect some sun, tends to be in the 70s.

Post Race: you got your medal, water and food pretty quick. Kind of annoying to have photographers in your face. Post race party was all in one place with the merchandise tent (where you could also get your medal engraved), the info tents, the remix/heavy medal pick up etc. The Normatec group was also there, but only the marathoners could utilize this, which was really disappointing (literally, no one using it for a good 3 hrs until marathoners started coming through). Music was on going, but really not all that much entertainment wise. I was kind of expecting more.

Shuttles: free back to downtown, which was a plus!

Overall a good race, just wish there was more going on post race and that half marathoners could also utilize the normatec compression.

This was my second year doing HC SF. I ran last year, however, the 15K was rerouted and only ended up being 5.9 miles. This year, the weather cooperated and we were able to get the full course in this year.

Registration: Done through RAM racing. the 15K can go up to around $75

The expo: Held at the South San Fransisco Convention Center with the Expo going until 7 pm on Friday and 10-6 pm on Saturday. I was able to head over on Friday after I got in and was quickly in and out. They assign your bib when you check in. You're then directed to the gear part of pick up. Nice thing is they have an area where you can exchange sizes if you want to go up or down a side on the pull over. Fairly small expo. Some race vendors and local SF vendors. I stayed 30 minutes tops. Only downside is it's outside of downtown so not necessarily the easiest to get to and not a whole lot of parking

Shuttles: offered from a variety of points throughout the city on race day starting at 5 AM. I took the Union Square shuttle and got there around 620 and there was a line. It moved fairly quickly. The downside we ran into was that 5K runners didn't realize they started at 720 so a bunch of 5kers ended up jumping the line in order to make their race. My thought was is it's not my fault you didn't get there soon enough, but that's just me. From Union Square, it took about 15 min, maybe 20 to get to the start

Hotels: if you came from out of town, there were discounted rates at some of the Union Square Hotels, though I ended up finding a cheaper hotel 1/4 of a mile away and ended up walking to the shuttle on race day.

Race Day Site: Golden Gate Park.

Start times: 5K at 720, 15K at 810 AM

Course: Starts in Golden Gate Park and takes you through the park for the first 5K or so with some mild elevation. You then go along the ocean for the next 5k plus before coming back into the park for the last 2+ miles or so. There's aid stations every 1.5-2 miles with everything from chocolate chips, M&Ms and marshmallows, water and nuun. Some elevation, but nothing major considering what SF is known for. The only thing I'm griping about is if you're calling this a destination race, you see absolutely none of San Francisco. If I'm coming from out of town, I'd expect some of the course to take you through the city. Instead, I saw Golden Gate Park (again) and the ocean and nothing of what people think of SF

Aid Stations: something chocolate related, nuun and water. The only downside is that they were only on one side of the road. I missed the chocolate side of things the first two aid stations because I couldn't get over to the side they were on. Also, rather something gatorade/powerade related over nuun.

Post race swag: A HC Medal with a cable car key chain. kind of a downgrade compared to last year when the entire medal was SF related. I kind of feel like it was the cheap way to go considering the race cost is around that of some half marathons.

Post race party: After picking up gear checked bag, I went to pick up the finisher's mug. You got a banana, marshmallow, rice Krispy treat, some pretzels and a few other things. There were some vendors set up for you to get some free stuff. Not a whole lot there, but fun to hang out for a bit afterwards.

Overall, glad I got the full course this year compared to last year. However, I wish we'd get to see some actual SF and not a park and the ocean

9th marathon overall, 1st in Dallas. I did it as part of the Dallas Marathon series and did the 10K the Saturday prior to the race. I flew in Friday of race weekend and left Monday morning

The Expo: Held at the convention center. I went Friday afternoon and got as far as picking up my bibs and shirts before the convention center was evacuated for what we later learned was a bomb threat. People were annoyed and blaming race organizers, but it was beyond their control. They did offer packet pick up day of for the Saturday races because things shut down early on Friday, but nothing for Sunday. I went back on Saturday and explored. OK amount of stuff there

Places to stay: I was at the Hyatt Regency, but the Omni was the host hotel

Pre race: porta potties available, but I felt like more would have been good. Gear check was available as well. Corrals had a rolling closure depending on what corral you were in. Kind of a pain in the butt to get into, as you had to weave your way through a bunch of metal gates to get there.

The Course: Hills at 10K and 20 miles for the full. You see a good part of town. The first 8-9 miles were with the half marathon before we split from the half marathon. A little bit of hills around mile 10K and mile 9. we continued to White Rock Lake, went around and headed back. Some of the last 10K had some hills, which were crappy that far into things. Overall, course hit Oak Lawn, Highland Park, Lower Greenville, and Lakewood. Fans were great (though fewer around the lake). Water stops every 1-2 miles, but there were times that they were more spread out. It would have been nice to have bananas or oranges or both on course.

Post Race
You got your medal and some water right away. If you did the series, you showed your black wristband from Saturday, your medal from Sunday and checked in with a tent at the finish and you were given a third medal and a jacket. You kept going through the chute and got some post race food in a box and a finisher shirt if you did the marathon. Post race food needs some work. Would have loved to see some chocolate milk (beer doesn't seem appetizing) and some bananas. I mean who does edamame trail mix and oreos? iHop had pancakes there, which was a plus.

Good race, but definite room for improvement. More post race food (bananas, chocolate milk, oranges...). With the expo shut down, ok communication, but would have nice to get more updates, but some of that may be on Dallas PD.