I have to be honest, I signed up for this race because of the groovy medal! Definitely one of the perks is getting a medal for a 10K, not to mention they awarded the finishers of the 5K and 1 Mile fun run with them as well.
For starters, I only gave pre-race a B because of the limited time for packet pick-up and the fact I had to go to a Women’s Expo to get it. It should be every man’s dream to be in a place that primarily caters to women, but I just felt a slight bit uncomfortable. Other than that, the pick-up was extremely easy and I had no issues dashing in and dashing out with my bib, as well as my son’s (ran his first 5K….proud dad!). The day of the race was no problem. Plenty of parking, snacks at the start and just a totally far-out atmosphere.
The course I gave a B because of the late changes and the somewhat strange up and backs we had to do on every road on the NTC Promenade. Also, they weren’t fooling when they said we would be running by the water…one small slip and splash! There were some uneven parts that kind of consisted of a trail type run, but nothing a person couldn’t overcome. All in all, even with the odd course, it was still completely manageable and, at times, kind of cool seeing the same people each time you went back and forth.
The post-race was great. Lots of water, snacks, and freebies from the vendors. Race results were quickly put up, which was nice. And, the reason I was running….the medal was Groovy, Awesome, Gnarly….and any other far-out 60’s phrase you can think of. Oh, and the mini-busses were way cool. My son loved them!!
So, when I consider an overall grade, it goes from the top of, “Heck, yeah, I’m doing this again” to “you couldn’t pay me to run this race”. Using that criteria, I give the Peace Love Run a resounding A. Maybe next year I’ll wear a costume. 😉