Always gotta tape it up. I love KT TAPE. I got blue to help go #BostonStrong for this race.
Shirt from Raw Threads
It took me about 60 minutes to get to the parking lot. When I arrived I saw a sea of pink and thought phew I knew that black was the right choice haha.
Once I parked I went to visit the table to check in and get my bib and I knew I was interested to see what the tech shirts looked like. I missed out on the deadline for the shirt with registration but when I heard it was only $18 I am completely okay with paying under $20 for a tech shirt. So check in table. I arrived to the table and stared awkwardly at the woman responsible for those with last names A-D...Stood in silence for about 30 seconds and then told her my name and said I was here to pick up my bib. She sounded somewhat snotty when she repeated the town I live in, it's on the other side of Hartford...She was almost confused why I drove an hour to get there...I said I love to run, so I'll drive anywhere. She gave me a fake smile.....Then the awkward silence began again...She didn't tell me hold on right here we will get your bib. We just stood there. Silent. Again. So I asked if I was to pick up my bib somewhere else and she rudely explained the girl behind her was getting my bag. Oh. My bag, cool, actually its one of those eco-friendly grocery type bags, but did you tell me that? Did you even pretend to have any experience with customer service? No. So that immediately turned me off to this event. This was the first interaction with race staff I had and I had a bad taste in my mouth already.
I then walked over to the 'Glam Table' which is an adorable idea. I waited behind a woman and her daughter trying to decide how many butterflies they wanted in their hair for the race. I wasn't in a rush so I smiled and waited. A line formed behind me and just as it was my turn to ask for the race shirt a woman and her mother barged, yes barged in front of me without an excuse me, without a word. The mother stood there blocking the table from me and was loudly proclaiming that her daughter was a brat.....really? I don't know where she could have gotten that from. I proceeded to stand there silently It was my turn, I got my shirt and needed to remove myself from the estrogen mine field.
So I went back to my car to continue to hydrate, stretch and get #poweredbybits. I have an EnergyBits review earlier on my blog. I will link it to this. I am in love with EnergyBits by the way. Check them out!
Sat down to stretch for a little and relax before not being able to find the start line. Boston Wicked Strong! Raw Threads shirts are so soft. If you haven't bought one yet, do it! You wont be dissapointed.
Waiting in line for the one, single port-o-potty I saw this. So cool This is one of the only things I liked about the race. The girl power aspect of it. Another negative to this race...the continual lack of respect and manners. A woman who was not running let her daughter who was not running take 10 minutes in the port-o-potty with 15 minutes left till the start of the race...there were 15 women in line with me. I was 4 away. So I scratched the idea of getting to pee one more time before the start...this was just another check in the category of not doing this race again.
I followed the herd of women in pink to the poorly identified start line. There weren't corrals because it was only a 5k of about 500+ women which is fine and all but I had women pushing in front of me to get closer to the line to walk...Again. If you know you are going to walk and there is an option to run I think it is only respectful to not put yourself in a dangerous situation of being trampled/run into...So gun goes off and away we go. The course was probably the only plus, it was gorgeous along a lake relatively flat and had many straight a way parts. I ended up finishing with my best time ever! Thank goodness! I was so happy there was good outcome to this race.
Even though I will without a doubt never run this race again and never recommend it to anyone I am glad I did it. It has not only helped me remember how lucky I am to have been brought up with manners and respect but it is another stepping stone to my next running goal...
COMPLETE A FULL MARATHON
Yes, you heard it here. More to come about that.
I have another 5k this Sunday, Mothers Day and a 10k the weekend after! Woohooo! Full steam ahead! I cannot wait for the Wine and Dine Half (and the Tower of Terror 10 miler if I have a say).
Sorry it didn't turn out to be the greatest race atmosphere. That's too bad b/c it sounds like it would have been fun! Congrats on the PR!!! MARATHON!!
ReplyDeleteMe too, but any bad experience will help me when I want to organize a race. I know what NOT to do. And thank you! I am so happy I had a good finish time. And I think I might have lost my mind with thinking I can do a marathon but we will see :)
Delete