Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Forest City Half Marathon

On Sunday I ran my second half marathon - it was one of the local ones. I ran it with my dad (well, most of it - at about 15km he told me to go on if I felt ok, so I ended up going...) Unfortunately, the weather gods weren't exactly on our side. The beginning was a little cold - I ended up asking the volunteers in the food tent at the end for a garbage bag (well, two one for me and one for my dad) so we could use them until the start of the race to stay warm. Thanks guys for the bags!

The course was pretty hilly so it was hard to put together a really steady pace, but overall, I think the race went well. I finished at 1:51:47 - which was about 9 minutes (yes, minutes) faster than my first, so I'm pretty stoked about that. I saw a lot of familiar faces out there either watching the race or volunteering, which was pretty awesome, especially considering the weather. My mom was volunteering at the finish line, and gave me my medal (again, pretty awesome!). The rain held off until I was done, which was a bit of a relief - when it started to sprinkle a couple of times, I could tell I would be freezing if the rain and wind started in earnest. There was a 10km race that started at 10 am (after I had finished) which would have been brutal to run in - it was pouring by then, and the wind was chilly!

I was surprised to see a lot of people wearing the race shirts during all the races. I am kind of hoping they had on something underneath, because with that rain, it could have been...painful afterwards, not to mention cold. And heavy.

Ok, and now for a rant -
I should mention that the race shirt for this one, was a cotton shirt (black with purple writing), which I haven't received as a race shirt for about 10 years (at least). I'm not entirely sure why cotton was chosen, but I was disappointed, not just because it was cotton, but it didn't really feature the race logo prominently and the shirt wasn't in what I would have considered the race colours (white, green and purple). Even if it was green and purple on black, I could have at least understood. I understand that you can't please everyone, but I can't imagine loads of runners would have wanted a cotton shirt. I know I don't tend to wear my race shirts much, but at least the technical ones, I'll wear running on occasion (especially the long sleeve ones), but cotton? I've only used those ones when I have painting, or gardening or something. And for other things, I'm all for cotton. Just not for a race shirt. I feel badly for the people that didn't register early, because for a registration fee of $65 (or $75!), no expo, a cotton shirt, and a couple of food tickets for after? Of course, at least they knew it was cotton. For those that registered early, I'm not sure if it was even listed. I dunno, I was hoping it was going to be....prettier, I guess at the very least.

Perhaps the race should have rotating entry...gifts? I don't know what you call them. Like one year have socks - technical socks, obviously. Everyone uses socks, have the race and year along the top. Hats - they had hats one year as an age group prize, and they were pretty awesome. They were nice technical ones, that, had I won one, I would have worn either on runs, or when I was out for walks in the summer, or gardening. Shirts - technical ones. Obviously. Over the past few races, I've noticed a lot of people seem to like to wear the shirts on race day (during the race, even). Myself, I'd rather know I'm not going to have chaffing issues from anything, so I don't like to wear anything new on race day, but to each their own. Now, if you are one of those people, I can't imagine wearing that shirt running, period.