Last week I ran my first official road race since Boston. I have completed a few virtual races, but not one that I would actually have to leave and make it official.
Once of my friends asked me if I wanted to run the Kansas City Great Pumpkin Run 5K with her. I said yes. Why not!? It would be a great excuse for a much needed girls night as well as push me out the door to be active.
We left school (we teach together) shortly after all our students were out of our room. We left in plenty of time to get to our scheduled wave on time. However, as luck would have it… traffic and insufficient parking was not in our favor.
Almost an HOUR after our wave/run started we finally were able to park. Once we found the registration booth (no one was guiding us to where to go) we were able to register. We were the last ones to pick up our race packets.
For some reason, they were out of my size shirt/jacket/hoodie that I ordered with my registration. Totally weird because there was a pile of jackets behind them and they were offering other people my same size. I wasn’t too happy about it… but I am happy to report now that I did receive the hoodie in the mail yesterday.
Once we got our bibs, we were on the hunt for the starting line… still no one to guide us to where to go. We started heading towards the finish line because that is where all the noise and excitement was. Nope. We finally found the starting line and were lined up to run… only for the guy in charge to give us a weird look and told us to turn around (as the race started going the opposite direction). Again, we were not given any direction. We just knew that we were starting our ‘race’ at 7:30 when we should have started at 6.
We started running at a comfortable pace, chatting and giggling the whole time. I snapchatted our race as we ran. I am multi-talented like that. Ha! Unfortunately, with how snapchat works… I failed to save my photos to share with you here. SO… if you follow me on SnapChat (I am RunningRachel1) you were able to enjoy my silly snaps. If not, you will have to enjoy the two photos I do have from the race.
There were two big POSITIVE things about the race I do want to share. Even though the organization of the race was less than awesome, the weather was fantastic… and the amazing sunset was perfect!
The race did offer free race photos, which is great if you run an earlier wave. It was not-so-great when you saw the photographers LEAVING before you even crossed the finish line. Thankfully there was ONE photographer on the course near the finish line. He didn’t really “nail” my jumping photo like he claimed… but it was free… so I will take it.
I just wish the photographer would have snapped a shot of me running with my girls. Sigh. Oh well.
Running at sunset/night along the river in Kansas City with my girlfriends was fun.
Will I run this particular race again? Probably not. The race fee was steep (I could run a half marathon for the same price and better swag).
I did enjoy myself and found that I do run better, faster, feels easier during a race situation versus on my own. Perhaps this was just the kick in the pants I needed to get back out there and make time for myself. Make way for winter run training for this Mid-West Girl.
Lisa Preuett says
Rachel, this looks like a really fun race you got to do! Great weather sure does help!!