It has been a really long time since I posted here. Life just seemed to get away from me for a while. I thought I would come back and update after my last race.
Great Pumpkin Run 5K 2019 - September 21
I was really excited for this run. The race looked fun with cool swag and a great atmosphere. I was highly disappointed and it is a race I would not run again. The race was about a 30 minute drive from our house in Hampton Falls, NH. It started at 9:00 AM, but they recommended that everyone be there by 7:30 AM so you had time to park, do bib pick up, etc. We left around 6:45 AM with a quick stop for coffee for Peter as he was not running. The drive up was very uneventful and it was looking like it was going to be a lovely day. This race was taking place at an apple orchard. We were making great time and about a mile from the farm we came to a dead stop and didn't move. Now initially we were not that concerned. Figured that there could be a variety of reasons for the stop, maybe a light, stop sign, etc. But after 30 minutes and going less than .5 mile, we were beginning to wonder. Now as we slowly inched along and the time to the start ticked down, people started panicking. I knew that I could make it to the race if needed by hoping out since Peter was not running. We finally got to the farm, but it took an hour to go that 1 mile. We thought it might have been a parking issue, but there was plenty of parking. The issue was they were waving people in from both sides of the streets and individually waiving cars to a parking spot, which was not a good system. We ended up parking right around 8:30 AM.
Luckily, there was no line for bib pickup. I got my bib and my light weight tech hoodie. Now it was pretty warm and sunny on Saturday. I had worn a tank top and leggings. I had really wished I had worm shorts. However, walking around I could not believe how many people were wearing the hoodies. I was thinking they are going to be melting. I handed the hoodie to Peter who ran it back to the car as I got in line for the bathrooms. Now it is a farm so there was no real bathrooms, but they only have 20 port a potties for 2000+ people. Not the best idea. I was concerned about not making it through the line before the race started. Luckily that was not the case and I had about five minutes to spare and quickly headed to the corrals. We did self seed and I was in Corral C, which meant you planned to run the whole way. They went all the way up to J for those planning to walk.
Th race started promptly at 9:00 AM with corral A. Now they didn't really space the corrals out so it was more like one massive herd of people at the start. We start running and immediately come to a dead stop. The path was too narrow to allow people to run more than 2 abreast. And it was like this for the first .3 to .4 miles of the race, which really killed any mojo that people had. I guess it helped me from going out to fast. Now I knew that it was in an apple orchard and that it would not be a paved road, but it was tough terrain. Even once the orchard opened up at .4 to .5 miles, you really needed to watch your footing. There were rocks, holes, and apples everywhere. I saw more than one person go down with an ankle injury. I decided then that this was not going to be a PR day and I just wanted to make it through. When we hit mile one, there was a water stop. However, they made you get off the path to get a cup so there was confusion as some people were stepping off and others back on. On top of that, for an additional medal you could sign up for the tough pumpkin, where you ran with a pumpkin that was up to 10 pounds so you had people struggling to carry a pumpkin that you also had to watch out for.
By this point, the sun was out in full force and it was hot. I continued along and was happy to see mile marker 2. What I was not happy to see was the continued uphill that we needed to climb. They failed to mention on the race sign up that this course was primarily up hill. It was brutal. About 2.25 miles in, we hit a downhill patch on grass that gave a much needed break. We then ran through this mud puddle and got our shoes soaked and then immediately hit a dry dirt patch so everything was covered in dust. As we neared mile 3, we hit another uphill that was very steep. I was over it at this point and walked this section. After that it was a quick jaunt to the finish. The weird thing was the finish was very chaotic. I saw Peter at the finish, but he missed me as you couldn't really see the runners come across the line due to the trees. They only had bottles of water at the finish and your medal. No other foodie treats. I got my medal and then went to pick up my free pumpkin. They also had apple cider, but I saw that the cups had been sitting out since I arrived in the sun and decided that looked less than appetizing. I went and found Peter who was shocked that he had missed me finish. We stood around for a few minutes, but decided that we should try and get out of the parking lot before the masses. Luckily, there were very few people leaving right away and it took less than 5 minutes to get out.
Overall Thoughts:
*I think this race had great potential, especially with a cute theme, but fell far short of the mark.
*The parking was terrible and really didn't leave people enough time to park, get their bib, etc. especially with the lack of bathrooms.
*They did not announce the start of the race so you had people in corrals A & B, racing to try and make the start once they realized what was going on. Unfortunately, the course was so narrow, there was no way they could pass people and make up time.
*The course was uphill for the most part. The winner didn't finish until 21:07 so that tells you how tough it was.
*Poor lack of treats at the end. I know not every race will have beer, but what about a donut or something.
*Medal was neat, but not worth the other pains of this race. I have a race in Maine picked out for next time that offers a flat course, beer, and a medal. I would have ran it this year, but it was announced after I had already signed up for this one.
I finished 39:37 overall 569 out of 2014 and 99 out of 450 in age group which I am happy with.
So I currently have my medals just sitting on our dresser in our bedroom. Peter does not care for race medals as he thinks they should be only giving out to winners. We agree to disagree on this point. However, on Sunday he came out of the bedroom and told me we should find a hanger for my medals. I was like I thought you didn't like medals. And he says I don't, but you do and I feel like we should display them somewhere so probably look into doing that at some point. We also saw the Downton Abbey movie over the weekend. It was really good if you are fan of that series. Highly recommend. I am back on the running again so hopefully will update a little more frequently.