Laura Waldo's Staging Area

I flew from Michigan to visit family and run this race and I would do it again in a heartbeat! I run marathons and ultra marathons to experience different race venues, experiences and this race is the perfect way to experience Northern California wine country! The rolling, hilly course wound thru spectacular vineyards that were vibrant with autumn colors and the hot air balloon that emerged over the hills just added to the beauty. It is hilly but at the top of the hills the views were incredible and worth the increasing heart rate to get there 🙂 The race directors were wonderful and things were organized beautifully; the ONLY thing I would offer improvement on would be ensuring that there was enough water and post-race food for the marathoners when they finished….it must be difficult to plan amounts of food and water when shorter races are finishing so much earlier (and I was not a back-of -the-pack runner so there were a lot more people coming in after). The prizes were wonderful and so appropriate: Wine bottles, Champagne, Beer, lol. This was, hands down, one of the most beautiful marathons I have run; keep it up!!