Wednesday, November 6, 2013

BCS 5 & Dime Race Recap!

This race was the second of three in the BCS Marathon 2013 Distance Series - my recap of the first race is here, if you missed it.  We had the option of running either 5 or 10 miles, and originally I was going to run the Dime (10 miler) because it fit in perfectly with our training schedule.  But, my hamstring injury interrupted that plan, and I ended up doing the 5 miler at a very careful, deliberately easy pace - I didn't want to do anything to mess up the healing process.  I ran with Edith, who was just coming back after about six weeks off due to an injury, and Karen, who had been thrown by a nasty case of food poisoning and was still pretty dehydrated and not 100% - it was great to have some running buddies who were on the same slow and steady page as I needed to be for the race.

The race had a fairly small turnout - about 350 runners total.  Most of our running club was there, which made it fun - we set up our USAFit canopy and brought chairs and blankets to relax and stay warm before the race.  Even Sadie decided she was a lap dog...it was a little breezy with temps in the low 50s, and she needed to stay warm:
I'm pretty sure Sadie was going over the route in her head..."dis will be where I pee, and dat will be where I pee, and ober dere I might try to chase a bunny rabbit"

We took a group picture:
My peeps!  

And we were off!  The race started with the 10 mile people heading off first, and then the 5 mile group a few minutes later.  Guess what song the DJ played as we started?  "What Does the Fox Say?" - that song stayed with me for miles, ugh!  Anyway, we pretty much stuck to 1:1 intervals - occasionally we kept up the running beyond one minute when we were running downhill, or when we approached an intersection where the police were holding traffic for us, but we really tried to take it nice and easy and not aggravate our injuries.  We had lots of good conversation, told tales that will forever stay in the cone of silence that exists during a long run, and finished in the record time of 1:19 (hah!).  Hey - we weren't trying to be fast, just wanting to get out there and finally run.  Which we did, yay us!
Karen, me, Edith - 5 miles done!

Not too long after we finished, Jeff came roaring in:
I can't remember what his time was, but he was very pleased.  New shoes plus cold weather made for a great run!

Then we went to get our post-race treats - root beer floats!
Plus biscotti from a local restaurant...both were very tasty, although Pam and Sadie came in while I still had most of my biscotti - Sadie sat down so nicely in front of me that I had to share (Pam doesn't mind if we feed Sadie, as long as she's polite when she asks).

Pam got her float and saved some ice cream for Sadie:
I earned my treets dis morning.

We waited in the finish area for the rest of our runners to come in - I have to brag on my running club peeps, because they are so supportive not only of each other, but of all the runners who participated.  It can be hard to be a finisher when the crowds have thinned out considerably, so having a few people there who are genuinely cheering you on is pretty nice.

A couple of things rubbed me the wrong way about this race.  For one, we were around mile 3 and could hear the age group awards being handed out already.  It was weird to hear that going on while we were still running...don't get me wrong, we were going slow, but this was less than an hour after the start, and we weren't the only runners still on the course.  It seems like a lot of emphasis is placed on the winners versus the runners, and instead of celebrating everyone's accomplishment of finishing a 5 or 10 mile race, attention was focused only on the elite.  Quite honestly, I'm beginning to think that this race series does not value runners like me.  There was a time limit for the 10 miler, and the announcer began counting down the minutes left.  We could see our last runner (who has only been running for four months) nearing the finish line - he was at most a quarter-mile away, when the race clock was dismantled and the timing mats were taken up.  That was uncalled-for and just plain rude.

Also?  This is what we saw when we came up to the first water station on the five mile course:
A ghost aid station.

The supplies had been dropped off, but the volunteers never showed up to set it up and man it.  There was one more aid station on our route that was manned, thankfully, but the race director should have hopped in his car and driven the routes to be sure that things like this were taken care of before the race started.  And it wasn't just on our route - the first water station of the 10 miler looked just like this, too!  Some things are slipping through the cracks, and that makes me a little uneasy for the marathon/half marathon next month.  I don't know if the organizer has tried to grow his race business too quickly, but between the less-than adequate aid stations at the last race, and now this...sheesh.  Get it together, BCS Marathon.

22 comments:

  1. oooh the ghost aid station would have made me SAD and potentially feel defeated.
    apparently I need a LOT of cheering when I run---as Id want people waving water cups and me shouting YOU GOT THIS!!

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  2. Great race Shelley! Well done by both you and Jeff.

    They do that here in Holland a lot too: announcing the winners when there are still people running that distance. Sure I know I will never win a race but it's polite to wait. We also have time limits but I never heard that they took up the mats if someone was so close to a finish.

    And Sadie is adorable! Everytime I see her on your blog I'm a little bit sad that Bella doesn't like running.

    By the way, wondering if my blog shows up in your reader. Missed you on my last 2 posts and that's not like you :)

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    1. Fran, I did miss your last two posts! I see the Tuesday one in my sidebar; I must have been on a knitting frenzy when the other one came up?

      Sadie makes me wish Paco would run/play nicely with others, but alas...he isn't that kind of dog.

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    2. Bella goes to doggy day care 2 days a week and she plays with the other dogs there. She's best friends with a Dobermann Pincher there who's twice her size :)

      However when we do our walks she's has no or little interest in other dogs. People however she loves :) So if I would walk into you while you were walking Paco. She wouldn't give Paco a second look but you on the other hand ... she would be all over you :)

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  3. So are you saying they were announcing the 10 mile age winners too? That doesn't even make sense to me. If they had a time limit for the race, then ALL winners should have been announced once the time limit was up. So dumb.

    I actually ran a marathon where the aid station at mile 18 was shut down! It was raining pretty hard and the people left. I guess they thought we'd open our mouths and try to catch rain water. Sheesh.

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    1. I'm pretty sure it was the 5 mile winners while we were on the course, although they could have started with the 10 mile winners soon after.

      Not having enough, or manned, water stations bugs the heck out of me. Obviously, haha!

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  4. Yikes to the aid station that wasn't manned....NOT cool. Also very uncool to not wait for the race to be OFFICIALLY over for everyone before giving out awards. Seriously...that helps motivate people that were not the elite runners.....it's festive for EVERYONE!

    Love the doggie! :-)

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  5. I love your captions for Sadie. I think you could make some money doing doggie captions!

    Your club is a group of really nice people. It helps that the leader is so nice herself : ))

    So glad you were able to enjoy a race, especially having two companions that needed to go the same speed.

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    1. Cesar can be the dog whisperer; I'll be the dog captionerer!

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  6. Wow, what a poorly run race - I would have been pissed if I had been that runner that was so close to what probably was the longest run of their life!

    Aw, love Sadie - still trying to get Tony to get on board with getting another dog - I miss our Ed!

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  7. LOL at Sadie's "words". Hilarious! BOOO to the empty water stations though. I hope Sadie pee'd on them! Have a wonderful Wednesday Shelley!

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  8. How frustrating about the poorly managed race, but it's cool that you found folks to run with who were also dealing with injuries/illness. And how awesome that you're already back at it! Smart of you to do it as an interval run too, 'cause there's nothing worse than getting re-injured by trying to do to much too soon. Not that I have personal experience with that... :)

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    1. Yeah, I'm learning from prior experience to not do too much too soon...that is one lesson I hopefully won't have to repeat!

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  9. So what does the fox say? I don't think I have heard that song, which isn't all that surprising given my rock and all.

    That race organizer is really a race nonorganizer! So lame.

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    1. Lori, do yourself a favor and actively try to never listen to that song...you can't unhear it!

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    2. They used that song on Dancing with the Stars! That's the only time I ever heard it. The dance was pretty cute, but I can't exactly remember the song. I don't think I"ll look for it!

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  10. Love your shirts. And, wow, how do you not verify all your aid stations are manned? A quick cell phone call/text would have that all figured out. Good grief.

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  11. In my 10K in September, they announced the winners before everyone was done too (I think it was done an hour after the start, so at least half of the people were still out there based on my finish time and place!) and it bothered me. Not that I expected to win anything (ha!) but it just seemed rude. I'm glad I'm not the only one bothered by that kind of thing! I wasn't sure if I was just being an overly sensitive newbie runner. :) Jess

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  12. "What does the fox say" has become my new running song, it's so funny and I love how upbeat it is. Lucky, I hope my next run I can get that song played!

    SlimIntoONEderland.blogspot.com

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