Greek Festival 5K

I was dragging this morning.  Really dragging.  I honestly did not want to leave the comfort of my pillow to head out at 6:45 AM for a 7:30 AM race.  But I persevered.  My current commitment to workouts and weight loss is serious. It's a NO EXCUSES regimen with workouts 6 days a week.  This morning I remained on target.

My timing was not a PR but it was consistent.  For those of us who walk/run for completion not competition, this was a really good day.  Weather was perfect, course was flat. The graph looks hilly but the actual total climb on was only 93 feet and was spread out over the entire course.

All amenities were as they should be and crowd turnout was about 489 for 2013.  Once again, a decrease from prior years - 557 in 2012, 729 in 2011 and 900 in 2010.  It's a progressive decline in a sport that is consistently increasing in participation, which is why I make mention of it.

This race is part of the RFYL GPX Series and should have a stronger turnout and higher quality of amenities / awards.  It also has a scoring system with points based not only on race results but on number of races ran and bonus opportunities.  The "incentives" are written into the design of the series but this year I confess I am slightly disappointed. *begin rant* 

I have foregone many local races to stay on track with the GPX series only to have my results either missing, inaccurate or not recorded at all.  It's a lot to ask of any participant to sign up for 9 races over the spring / summer, forsake their Saturday mornings and other race opportunities to remain within a series and then fail to accurately track the most important components.  

A result gone askew once isn't that big of a deal considering the number of participants but multiple errors point to poor management and lack of trained personnel.  I currently am missing two scoring components from the GPX (two months waiting for the correction) and lost a PR on one of the few 4 Mile races in the Charlotte area because of multiple chip issues at a particular RFYL race - I was given a finish time after the fact, most likely an estimated gun time or close to it, but the actual chip time would have been a PR - we all wear our Garmins for this very reason, therefore it's not a supposition but a known fact creating the disappointment.  

I've been a faithful fan of RFYL since the beginning of my running history.  I hope to remain a fan as well as a participant but, at present, that hinges on restoring quality and professionalism to the Event Marketing group.  Best wishes to the RFYL staff as they endeavor to work out the kinks of expansion and growth in their retail efforts and diminishing participation in their race efforts.  

I would not deter anyone from participating in a RFYL race.  I did enjoy the course and was thankful for amenities and a friendly crowd. If you race casually or sporadically, a series may not interest you.  These races can still be ran individually without affecting the series and there is no requirement to register for multiple events simply because a race is within a series.  

To their credit, RFYL does listen to comments and extends a great deal of effort in responding to all.  Their race group offers some of the best routes in Charlotte and because of them, Charlotte now has a very competitive race calendar year round - in all forms - trails, long distance, and triathlons being offered by multiple race organizers throughout the year.  It's a growing community filled with lots of positive change. *end of rant*

The Greek 5K had few vendors out this morning.  I parked at 7:20 AM and had a short walk to the START line.  It was good to see Great Harvest Bread once again and 102.9 on site.  The free tickets to the actual Greek Festival, which begins the weekend after Labor Day (part of registration), were not included at packet pick up.  There were given out post race.. if you asked.. and if you knew to ask.. and where to pick them up at.  The Festival is a wonderful event that I've attended several times and look forward to again this year.  Lots of great food and shop-ortunities while there.

Happy Trails to all !

CHIP TIME:  44:14