Dang those targeted Instagram ads that sneak up on you. I was scrolling my feed one evening when a cute wine bottle shaped medal jumped out at me. I don’t know why- I don’t even drink wine- but I saw that it was in Santa Barbara, fit my training plan, reasonably priced and vineyards usually meant dirt of some sort. So I clicked through and registered.

Registration ran 70-75 for the race and wine festival after and 50 for just the race.
The website stated that all participants received bibs, timed results, finisher medals and wine glasses. Shirts (cotton) were only guaranteed if you registered by a certain deadline. I did not but I still received a shirt.

Race proceeds were for the Santa Ynez Valley Aquatic Foundation. I received an email the day before the race with a few last minute details. One thing that threw me was that the winery wasn’t actually in Santa Barbara but in Lompoc and spoiler alert- it wasn’t really there either- more in Buellton.

There was plenty of parking at the winery (dirt roads) and bib and shirt pick up was simple. There were port a potties and real bathrooms available prior to race start. Runners lined up for the start and that's when things got a little confusing. It was very hard to heard the announcer and there was only a couple hundred runners. Then it was go time and we were off through the vineyard.

The path was mostly fire road, though it was more uneven than I would have liked- I had a hurt foot. Some parts of the course took runners literally between the vines. The miles were all clearly labeled with cute wine barrels with painted feet corresponding to each mile. There were 3 water stations serving just water. They did a great job either blocking off side routes or having volunteers at certain points; if you've never run through a vineyard before- it is very easy to take a wrong turn. There was one bigger climb on the course in mile 3 around 300ish feet with a couple small down hills but other than that it seemed like a mostly flat course. There were also photographers throughout the course.

The views were pretty great. The vines, the view from the top of the hill, all great. Plus we got to run through a cute barn.

The finish line had an announcer calling out names as people crossed. Never mine- no one ever wants to pronounce mine. There was also a table with water, sliced fruit and granola bars.

Once across the finish line, there was some confusion. Registration claimed it came with a medal and wine glass for every participant but neither was anywhere to be seen. Now, I downgraded from the festival to just the race so the lack of wine glass was not a huge deal to me but the lack of medal was a little confusing as there had been zero announcements, at least that I could hear.

Runners did receive an email Sunday evening that said there had been a delay with the medals and that they would arrive Monday, then the race would be in touch with us after that. I heard from the race the following Friday that medals had arrived and they were gracious enough to mail it to me as I do not live in the area. Yay!

Communication issues aside, I really did like this race and would consider running it again if it fit my schedule.