My first visit to the US National Whitewater Center was a doozy! I had heard lots of good things about the running trails at USNWC but had never been before. I read posts from prior runners of this race and was a bit daunted as to what I should expect. As always, the runner posts were exactly correct but before I go there, let me brag on Run Like a Girl and their efforts overall.
The support staff before and after the race (even though there were less than 5 sponsors present) was fantastic. Lots of water, Powerade and bananas, and AWARDS in abundance. No one who stayed for the awards presentation left empty-handed. If nothing else, each girl got a free 'bandie' with the RLAG 8K logo while many others won prizes from random drawings as well as the age group prizes. Photos of all runners and winners were also part of the proceedings. They also added one water station at mile 2 on the course, great addition from last year.
Now... for the rest of the story...
The trails were not "easy" as indicated and the course itself was not well marked. Lots of wrong turns for several runners, meaning the 5K'ers ran longer and the 8K'ers ran shorter thus skewing overall times. This event is also set up on a manual timing system with runners starting in "waves" and if a bib number higher than 125 started out in the first or second group, they may have gotten a 2 or 4 minute break in their overall score. While this isn't a big deal to me (at this time) I realize it would be discouraging to some runners who sought a competitive time.
USNWC also let bikers out on the course at about 9:30am (race started at 9am) and we actually had to derail to allow them to pass us as the track is not wide enough to allow two of anything - biker or runner. The biggest caution though, other than misdirected signage was the lack of course monitors. There were one or two monitors over the first mile, but the remaining 4 miles had nothing or no one other than arrows, most of which were not much help at crucial turns (splits in the trail).
I would also mention that since the trail is narrow and largely in a wooded area, there are tree roots everywhere. Injury is a strong possibility if you're not familiar with wooded trail running and... there will be snakes. We saw one (newborn) that someone had stepped on and were careful to watch for others. Other than that though, the shade of the trees was a wonderful relief and mosquitoes were almost non-existent.
This is a race that I would run again, albeit, as a more prepared runner. This is a tough 5 miles and you will feel it after the race, especially if you haven't run something similar previously. The last leg is uphill to the finish so if you want to place be prepared to 'finish strong'. Great cause to support and really neat to run a women's only trail race. Looking forward to 2011!
TIME: 1:21:28
The support staff before and after the race (even though there were less than 5 sponsors present) was fantastic. Lots of water, Powerade and bananas, and AWARDS in abundance. No one who stayed for the awards presentation left empty-handed. If nothing else, each girl got a free 'bandie' with the RLAG 8K logo while many others won prizes from random drawings as well as the age group prizes. Photos of all runners and winners were also part of the proceedings. They also added one water station at mile 2 on the course, great addition from last year.
Now... for the rest of the story...
The trails were not "easy" as indicated and the course itself was not well marked. Lots of wrong turns for several runners, meaning the 5K'ers ran longer and the 8K'ers ran shorter thus skewing overall times. This event is also set up on a manual timing system with runners starting in "waves" and if a bib number higher than 125 started out in the first or second group, they may have gotten a 2 or 4 minute break in their overall score. While this isn't a big deal to me (at this time) I realize it would be discouraging to some runners who sought a competitive time.
USNWC also let bikers out on the course at about 9:30am (race started at 9am) and we actually had to derail to allow them to pass us as the track is not wide enough to allow two of anything - biker or runner. The biggest caution though, other than misdirected signage was the lack of course monitors. There were one or two monitors over the first mile, but the remaining 4 miles had nothing or no one other than arrows, most of which were not much help at crucial turns (splits in the trail).
I would also mention that since the trail is narrow and largely in a wooded area, there are tree roots everywhere. Injury is a strong possibility if you're not familiar with wooded trail running and... there will be snakes. We saw one (newborn) that someone had stepped on and were careful to watch for others. Other than that though, the shade of the trees was a wonderful relief and mosquitoes were almost non-existent.
This is a race that I would run again, albeit, as a more prepared runner. This is a tough 5 miles and you will feel it after the race, especially if you haven't run something similar previously. The last leg is uphill to the finish so if you want to place be prepared to 'finish strong'. Great cause to support and really neat to run a women's only trail race. Looking forward to 2011!
TIME: 1:21:28
No comments:
Post a Comment