Cindy Lu's Staging Area

Pros: The medal is huge and has a lovely design on it. The course is scenic (running across the bay bridge and into Marin) and the finisher area provided plenty of space for finishers, friends and family and event sponsers. Sierra Nevada as a beer sponsor with four different types of beer on tap was wonderful. Thank goodness Kettle Chips was there (see cons below for reason why).

Cons: They ran out of food at the finish line! I don’t know if other runners were taking too many or if the event organizers did not purchase enough food for a SOLD OUT 5k/half marathon race. The volunteers should have been tasked to only give out one of every type to the finishers. My brother finished well before me and the oranges and bananas were gone. By the time my sister and I finished, ALL of the food was gone. 250 people finished after me for the half. I can only imagine how equally frustrated they were. Additionally, the organization running the Golden State Series half needs to coordinate between their different races better. I purchased a complete my tour pass in Livermore and had to contact the organization multiple times to get added to the Oakland and SF races. The shirts this year were held up in customs and were extremely ill fitting for men and women. I do not know if the race was looking at a cheaper supplier or if So-Fi, the event sponsor, had a say in the change in supplier.

Neutral: The beer garden area was large and the space accommodated the long lines easily. There were various tables in the no alcohol section that probably should have been moved into the beer garden, or at the very least, provide extra chairs and seating. There was an extremely strong feces smell near the doughnut truck, right after the finisher area. I’m not sure if a runner had problems “holding it in” or if there was some sort of other unknown issue.

In a nutshell/ TLDR: Medals are heavy, large and feature a nice design. Course is scenic and challenging enough to keep you on your toes. Food was gone at finisher area.