It also meant that some trees fell over night and the race was delayed while a lot of things happened...Trees were cleared away. The routes for the 10K and 15K were altered. The registration tent location changed right before registration started.
A lot of that would have been more understandable had the race director spoke to us a little more frequently or in a different way. The race was supposed to start at 9am. At 9:30 the race director came on the mic and told us what was taking them so long. Apparently to keep us entertained and stall a little longer she decided to explain a play by play of the race course for the 5k.
"You're going to go around the port-a-potties and take a right, then another right. Then at the second bridge you go straight for the 5K and left for the others." Of course there were volunteers at each of these places and a lot of clearly marked turns, so it wasn't any big deal. After her 10 minute description of the entire course, she said, "Are there any questions?"
John, of course, asked, "Could you repeat that?"
A lot of people running the race were sort of pissed that we were delayed a total of 45 minutes and she seemed annoyed that they weren't interested in listening to the "pre-race meeting." Still, I felt sympathy for her since it was their first race and the bad storm the night before probably did create a lot of problems for them.
Once the race got going it was wonderful. The second mile was especially beautiful, with the trail weaving in and out of a field of really tall, purple and white wild flowers. I was thinking, "Where's that guy from the starting line with the camera? This should be the publicity shot." My time wasn't so great - about 37 minutes - but that's what I expected for a trail run. It was nice not to think too much about speed and just run comfortably.
We came home muddy but happy.
Wow, trail run. You're hardcore.
ReplyDeleteOn a different note, your toes look phenomenal!
ReplyDelete