PRE-RACE: packet pickup was in a less than desirable spot – at a store on a busy street with limited parking. I did appreciate that they extended pickup for an extra hour until the store closed. That was a big help. The cotton t-shirts weren’t all that cool, just an average shirt. Parking was ample and free at the race site. Race started on time. It would have helped if they had asked the walkers and strollers to stay toward the back of the pack, as it was a bit difficult to get around them at the start. There were 3 portapotties right by the start/finish line and that seemed to be enough for the small crowd.
COURSE: Was all on dirt, some of it pretty unstable and sand-like at times! The course was very well marked, which was much appreciated. There was a bit of a bottleneck in the beginning, but then everyone spaced out nicely after maybe a half of a mile. There were only a couple people along the course to navigating – one at a turn around and two at the split for the 5k and 10k. They were enthusiastic though! I didn’t see any photographers along the course and I know someone was snapping shots at the end, but I’m still not sure if they’re being posted anywhere or how we can see them. There was one water stop on the 5k course and no bathrooms.
POST-RACE: There was a Farmer’s Market which provided a lot of fun things to look at and see. The reading of awards got a little hairy and confusing, but the announcer was pretty funny and entertaining so I didn’t mind it that much. It was a bummer that the overall winners also won their age brackets. I kind of like to see different people win those! A lot of confusion was caused when someone who had registered for the 10k only ran a 5k and they thought he had still run the 10k and were tying to award him a medal. It was straightened out though. There were plenty of water, bananas and mini balance bars to go around. There were fun things for kids to do too – like little crafts and coloring pages while they waited for their race.
OVERALL: The more I think about this race, the more that I enjoy it! The energy was really great surrounding the race and all of the people were very nice. Pretty well done for an inaugural race! I would probably do it again.
