Monday, August 29, 2011

Wet n' Wild 5K Recap

Man.

I registered for this race awhile back, and it was SUPER cheap - like $25 - and less than 5 minutes from my house. Winner.

The Good
The Outfit - pink sparkle skirt and hot pink knee socks....
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The course finished with a run through a lazy river at the water park - Awesome, every hot race should end this way.

Super sweet swag for a $25 race....
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They attempted some type of corralling system - they had pacers with giant signs up with your anticipated finish time, and instructed people to find them and stick to where they belonged.

I got to meet Rose!
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The Bad
No one listened to the pacers, except maybe us. Strollers, walkers, all of that, everywhere. Typical of any other 5K I've seen. (seriously, folks, WHY!?)

The race started at 8. We've had some CRAZY hot weather the last week or so, and I know the weather is unpredictable, blah blah whinycakes. But maybe an earlier start time would be nice (seriously, it was 80*, sunny as hell, and HUMID when we started).

And speaking of that earlier start time, they were still taking registrations at 7:30. The race was CLEARLY bigger than they could accommodate. Dumb.

There were water stations (good), but poorly manned, and dumb cups that don't crush so you can drink them. DUMB.

The course was weird, but that's my fault - I don't like loopy courses. But it also wasn't super well marked, and was VERY crowded in parts... again, I think they just ended up with way more people than anticipated. Which is what happens when you take registrants until the very last second.

Getting into the lazy river was a pain the arse. The volunteers were handing out plastic bags for your stuff (I planned ahead and brought my own), so people were literally just grabbing them, and stopping dead in their tracks to pack up their stuff, and take off their shoes. PEOPLE. MOVE TO THE SIDE. The volunteers should have instructed them to do so. It probably took me 5 minutes or so to get INTO the river. I know, I know, it's not a race to do for a PR, and that's fine, but some consideration for the folks around you... not too much to ask.

The UGLY
So, finished with the race, you want to cross the timing mat, grab your water and snack, and move on to remove your chip and whatever.

Oh, but picture this with sweat and lazy river wetness everywhere around you, crammed into a space about 5 feet wide...
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There was no water at the finish line. Eventually (I had some time, I was obviously not going anywhere any time soon) someone dumped a box of these water bottles on the table...
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Randomly, there was some chick standing in the middle of this mess with a box of medals - serve yourself style (I didn't even realize they were giving medals!) Then, like right there,was a sign to remove your chip, but it was like 6 inches from the finish line, so everyone is just... stopping to remove the chip. There was randomly a guy holding a box with everyone's removed chips, but he was just standing there, with the box. I just happened to see him.

UGLY. I wasn't hungry, thankfully, because I never did get to the food - it was too crowded.

Anyway. I don't know if I'd do this again - maybe if a bunch of friends wanted to do it, possibly... it was super cheap. But what a cluster.

(PS, my time was 37:xx, which, if you're a creepy stalker you'll recall was my Corona del Mar 5K time from 2010.... That include walking about half a mile of lazy river and stopping for 5 minutes to get into the water. I totally need to find a 5K to see what I can pull off....)

10 comments:

  1. Oh no. I would've been freaking MAD. That kind of crap annoys the crap of me and I haven't even run a freaking race. GET THE F OUT OF THE WAY, PEOPLE.

    Thanks for listening.

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  2. SOunds like it could be a really great race if they put some more organization and planning in to it. Good job!! :)

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  3. Love it and I couldn't agree more, you described it to a T! LOL. The only thing that "saved" this race was cooling off in the lazy river at the end. Definitely a PW on time for me too.

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  4. what, no water? thats crazy!! glad you found a random lady. Way to stick through it.
    LC

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  5. That sounds like such stressful chaos. Then add heat to it and no water. OMG, I'd be crying. But you got a medal! AND you met THE Rose!!

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  6. The whole race was pretty much a giant clusterfuck. I'm sorry I couldn't find you at the finish line, but it was great to run with you for a few miles.

    I enjoyed the IDEA of the race, but the execution needed some work, man.

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  7. Sounds like it has the potential to be awesome, but way too disorganized! That would have really driven me crazy.

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  8. sounds like it would be a fun race if it wasn't such a cluster!

    i agree, find a 5k and see what you can do! i'm doing a 5k, that i hope to PR at, next weekend and i'm stoked. RLRF has helped me get speedier.

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  9. Wow, I don't think I've ever been to a race that disorganized - bummer! And how stupid not to have water at the finish! My husband ran the Big Sur marathon last year and they didn't have any water at the finish, either. WTF? They were all excited about their beer garden, but hello dehydration.

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  10. Good job, sounds like a bit of a cluster fetch, but cool shirt!

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