So I'll admit it: I took an extended break from blogging. I didn't think I had a lot to say at the time because it was the off-season for racing. Since my Across the Bay 10k post, I ran 6 more races: Columbia Turkey Chase 10k, Jingle All the Way 5k, Kelly St. Patrick's Day 5k, Sole of the City 10k, and the Cinco de Miler! So I'm going to start to get caught up with race reports. Promise. I remember quite a bit about races. It's something about the movement of running that helps me remember a lot. (I think it's called kinetic learning. I used this to my advantage in graduate school when I had to study for classes and used flash cards while running on the treadmill.)
Columbia Turkey Chase 10k
It was significantly warmer in 2014 than in 2013. (For one thing, it wasn't in the single digits when the race started!) But I felt like the race was not as well organized. For one thing, they ran out of medals so if you registered after a certain point you would be sent one later on and they marked your bib accordingly. My husband and I ran the full 10k while my parents opted for the relay because my Mom wanted to get involved, and she was left behind by everybody because she's a walker. (So this race isn't walker friendly.) I remember passing her after the halfway point and feeling HORRIBLE for her because she was all by herself. It turns out she had made one last bathroom stop because there weren't any portajohns on the route or at the relay pass off area. When she came out of the portajohns, everyone was gone so she started a few moments after everyone else. (The organizers told her that portajohns weren't allowed in Columbia neighborhoods, when during their half marathon they had them along the course at water stops in neighborhoods.) Then she got upset because she didn't get a finisher medal. It turns out that they had marked my Dad's bib showing that he should've gotten two and the people handing out the medals didn't notice.
The first year I ran this race (2013), they had a chili cook-off at the finisher's area that was lovely along with water, bagels and bananas just because it was so cold. In 2014 though they had some chips, bagels, cookies and bananas. Not very many races offer sweets like this after races, so I stuck with the usual half a bagel (split with my husband) and banana.
I don't know if I'll run the Turkey Chase again this year, especially because of a race I ran with them on October 12th (the Let's go Hoco 5k.) The races have progressively become less and less organized, and they haven't done anything to pass along basic etiquette to new runners. For the 5k I ran with them in October, it was horrendous. Packet pickup was a nightmare because the line was out the door the whole time I was there, and the volunteers took a long time to find everything for a packet. Although I will give them this--There was very nice swag for the race. We got a long sleeved shirt, reusable shopping bag, and a stainless steel water bottle! Pre-race there were basic warm up exercises. The race itself left a lot to be desired though. This was a community race and there were a LOT of kids. Most of them didn't know basic race etiquette so I was nearly tripped by many of them. And there were plenty of adults too who planned on walking the entire race and started right up front.
Needless to say, the Let's Go Hoco 5k was my worst race time yet. At one point I put more effort just avoiding people who would just start walking in the middle of the course or kids weaving through the crowds than actually worrying about my time.
(Don't worry, if this means nothing to you I plan on covering basic race etiquette in a separate post soon!)
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