I don't even know where to begin with the race but one word will sum it up: TERRIBLE.
This has to be by far my worst race experience ever! It was 6:30pm on a Friday night and of course, trying to leave work on Friday is already hard to do. Once I got there, I had to park what seemed to be a half mile away from packet pickup table which made me wish I took advantage of early packet pickup and already had my race number and t-shirt (oh well, live and learn).
As we lined up, I quickly realized just how crowded this race was going to be. I wanted to avoid walkers and slower runners so I decided to start in the 7-9 min pace group in hopes to avoid them. Wrong, I ran right into the back of this one women who after just a quarter of a mile was already walking. Then there was a lot of constant weaving around slower runners and trying to avoid potholes (which I missed one time and nearly twisted my ankle (it was fine).
It was hot and humid and I was in desire need of a water stop but once I came up on, there was a long line. I waited for a good minute and when I realized I wasn't going to get a sip of water anytime soon, I just kept going. Little did I know between that and the next was a killer quad burning hill!
Now I was wishing I had taken my fuel belt. By the time we hit the Swamp Rabbit Trail (a narrow paved trail), I was hoping it would thin out some...wrong! Now I was getting elbowed, triped and pushed off the path. Some areas would become so bottled neck and slow that my Garmin auto-paused a few times.
Needless to say I finished in a miserable time of 36:59. I haven't ran a 5K that slow since my first few months of running last year. Anyways, once I crossed the finish line, the misery didn't end there and I'm going through what seemed to be the longest chute ever, I'm looking around for the volunteers handing out water. To my shock, they are handing out shot cups of water and there is a long long line for it! WTF! Now I'm just pissed off. Thirsty, tired, hot and dizzy, I use what little energy I have left to stumble to my car that seems like it's now 2 miles away and head home with absolutely no desire and no way I'm doing that race ever again!
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