9/16/06: McGregor Founders Day 10k!
If you can envision a classic case of Murphy’s Law at its best/worst, this would have been the McGregor 10k. I don’t even know where to begin…but before I rip into what wasn’t right/cool about it, I will mention what was good: the shirt, the race packets, 7:30am start time. Now, onto the bad: unclear directions to the starting line, no chip timing (more on this later), only 3 water stations, ‘not smart/exciting/scenic’ course layout. And…the UGLY: Wrong directions on the course by course officials!, collisions with the 5k/10k runners due to unclear markings on course, no post-race food (sorry, bananas and stuff you pay for don’t really count!), lack of chip timing/inaccurate pull tab timing. No mile markers. Did I mention the weather? 80 degrees and 80% humidity at start time. Wow…it was a lot like Houston.
I ran, and ran. And ran. This race felt really long. This was mainly due to lack of mile markers (or maybe they were there and I didn’t see them?!) and the fact that the course had all sorts of turns and backtracking/loops that seemed to make no sense. I don’t honestly know if I ran 6.2 miles or not, but I am willing to bet this was NOT a certified course. (Case in point-the 5k’ers ended up running 3.5 miles!) Ah well.
This was certainly NOT a PR for me…but according to ‘official’ results that were posted on their website, I finished 2 minutes slower then my watch time of 53:01! Ahhh well again. What can you do. I don’t even think I was in the running for hardware either, with age-awards running every 10 years, 3 deep. I will chalk it up to one race closer to finishing the Texas 10k Challenge! On to Austin for the last one in a month!
The STATS:
6.2 miles total?
53:01 unofficial watch time
ave. 8:31/mile
Heart-rate: n/a
Weather: decent. 80 degrees and 80% humidity at start.
If you can envision a classic case of Murphy’s Law at its best/worst, this would have been the McGregor 10k. I don’t even know where to begin…but before I rip into what wasn’t right/cool about it, I will mention what was good: the shirt, the race packets, 7:30am start time. Now, onto the bad: unclear directions to the starting line, no chip timing (more on this later), only 3 water stations, ‘not smart/exciting/scenic’ course layout. And…the UGLY: Wrong directions on the course by course officials!, collisions with the 5k/10k runners due to unclear markings on course, no post-race food (sorry, bananas and stuff you pay for don’t really count!), lack of chip timing/inaccurate pull tab timing. No mile markers. Did I mention the weather? 80 degrees and 80% humidity at start time. Wow…it was a lot like Houston.
I ran, and ran. And ran. This race felt really long. This was mainly due to lack of mile markers (or maybe they were there and I didn’t see them?!) and the fact that the course had all sorts of turns and backtracking/loops that seemed to make no sense. I don’t honestly know if I ran 6.2 miles or not, but I am willing to bet this was NOT a certified course. (Case in point-the 5k’ers ended up running 3.5 miles!) Ah well.
This was certainly NOT a PR for me…but according to ‘official’ results that were posted on their website, I finished 2 minutes slower then my watch time of 53:01! Ahhh well again. What can you do. I don’t even think I was in the running for hardware either, with age-awards running every 10 years, 3 deep. I will chalk it up to one race closer to finishing the Texas 10k Challenge! On to Austin for the last one in a month!
The STATS:
6.2 miles total?
53:01 unofficial watch time
ave. 8:31/mile
Heart-rate: n/a
Weather: decent. 80 degrees and 80% humidity at start.
posted by Jessica, a Austin Runner AND triathlete at
1:37 PM
4 Comments:
Awwwwww!!! That sucks. I mean really sucks. And this race was part of the the 10K challenge?
The heat was pretty bad. No mile markers = much longer run in my mind.
By
Unknown, at Tue Sep 19, 03:41:00 PM
Wow, I hate it when races are not organized. I had a similar experience in the run through the vines at A&M last year...I think the 10K was 6.9 miles! Of course the heat just makes everything much worse. Hope the next one goes better.
By
TX Runner Mom, at Wed Sep 20, 01:28:00 PM
We'll us Aggies get confused between kilometers and miles so I'm suprised it wasn't a lot further than 6.9. :)
By
Steve Bezner, at Fri Sep 22, 04:00:00 PM
See? There's all kinds of good reasons to not like running. Although I have to admit the whole chip-timing thing still boggles the biker who lives deep down inside me.
By
El Oso Furioso, at Wed Sep 27, 12:21:00 AM
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