Race Discount Code & A Race Change-Up

FIRST THINGS FIRST!

Back in May 2012, I ran my first official sub-1:40 half at the Windsor Green Half. It was a hot day and kind of a hilly course so I was in no way expecting that this would be the race where it happened.

For all that it was an utterly miserable experience at the time (there was definitely some dry heaving at the finish, NBD), I look back on the race fondly and sometimes even kinda-sorta think about running it again. It's small (which I like), and was very well-run logistically, and if you're into series of races, it has two sister races (Water to Wine Half, Healdsburg Half) and if you run all three, you get a bottle of wine.

I can't run it this year because it's the same day as Bay to Breakers, but if anyone out there is interested, you can give the discount code AXWINDSOR2015 a try & save $10. (I got it a while back, so just hoping it still works.) My race report, it seems, is sadly lacking in logistical info, so in addition to that I refer you to its RaceRaves page for additional details.

SECOND THINGS SECOND:

So, I had been kind of kicking myself for getting distracted in Mexico & forgetting to register for the Santa Cruz Half before the price increase on Feb. 1. Once I remembered I figured there was no rush, since I still wasn't 100% sure I'd be able to run it

Which ended up being good, since it turns out we'll be in Paso Robles picking up wine that weekend (April 11-12). I'd honestly totally forgotten that that tends to happen right around the same time as Santa Cruz, so thanks, Universe, for doing me a solid & preventing me from wasting $85 bucks (especially given that I'm about to have a bunch of dental work & just found out my car needs a $1300 repair. Good times!). On the down side, I'd been looking forward to running it & to seeing what kind of shape my half marathon chops were in post-NVM.

But! All is not lost. The American River Parkway Half in Sacramento is on Saturday, May 2, and though I've never run it, my research turns up several pluses:

• Small
• Cheap ($50 before 2/18)
• Paved trail with no turns
• Generally not-terrible weather (mid-50s at the start & low-60s two hours later, on average, though it seems like they've had one significantly warmer year in the recent past)
• Kinda scenic, apparently (which, gotta be honest, is not the first thing that comes to my mind when I think about Sacramento)

Also, it's more or less in the same range in terms of driving distance as Santa Cruz (1.5 hours, maybe, vs. 1.25).

Apparently there are bag pipes?

Any local peeps out there in Blog Land run this race before, or know someone that has? Most of the race reports & reviews I read sound pretty positive, but it would be cool to get some additional input if it's out there. :)