Walnut Creek Half Marathon

Walnut Creek’s first (and now hopefully annual) 5K, 10K, and Half Marathon was well organized, successful, and a fun event to run. The routes were well planned, somewhat challenging, but not overly so. There were plenty of volunteers to manage the events, and plenty of refreshments (drinks, fresh fruit, etc,). The electronic timekeeping worked like clockwork. .. well, ok, so that’s the idea, I know. Also, despite the other online review which mentioned only 6 port-​a-​potties, she must not have found the main area because I’d say there were about 20 – 25 of them in the area I found.
The expo which accompanied this event (at the WC Marriott) was also surprisingly well operated. There were many local businesses, mostly sports and running related, that participated in the expo to help it exceed expectations. If you’re a runner who has visited an event-​related expo you probably know how lame these can sometimes be.
While the WC event may not be world class, the 1^st event was really a great event to participate in. .. and hopefully now will return annually to just get better and better. I’ll be back to run it again next year !!

The inaugural Walnut Creek Half Marathon, 10K and 5K race event just took place this past weekend, and it was a blast!
Other than the start being a shambles, with only six port-​o-​potties being supplied for a huge crowd of runners, the event was very well organized and conceived. Traffic was handled especially well along Ygnacio Valley Road, and my thanks to the police force who dealt with traffic during the race event.
Volunteers were great too, although more than once, I tried to take more than one cup of water per aid station and was surprised when a volunteer would move their hand away as if to keep the water from me! I’d never had that happen before at an event (all runners are usually handed as many cups of water as they feel they need), so I was not happy about that aspect — perhaps it was the way they were briefed? Other than this, the volunteers were terrific and very supportive. There was one group who had a couple members dressed up as lemons, and were holding many signs — they were great coming and going. And the Sports Basement team were vocal and out in full force as well.
I highly recommend this race event if you’re looking for a challenge: the hill up Ygnacio Valley Road is steep and feels longer than it is. But once you’ve conquered that and turned around, you’re rewarded with a great view of Walnut Creek as you patter downhill to the finish line at Civic Park.
Kudos to Peet’s Coffee for supplying post-​race coffee, and the bananas and oranges were much appreciated. Oh, and the medal is very nice too.