A race review and 30 Miles in 30 Days update

Last Saturday, I was very excited to run in the very first Run to Exile, hosted by a local brewery.

Via

I mean, there was free beer at the end.  How can that be bad?

It wasn't.  I mean, there were a few hiccups in the race day festivities, but overall, I thought it was a fun event.

Here's what I liked about the race:

- The packet pick-up was very organized.  I went in the first hour and got in and out easily with my stuff.

- The swag. I don't need a lot of coupons to places I'll never go.  The shirt, drawstring bag and commemorative pint glass were fine by me.

- The other runners.  I was flying solo, but that always seems to make me chattier.  I can talk to anyone if they're standing near me and look friendly.  I made a few buddies before the race, and talked to a few more after.

- The beer at the end.  The post-race set-up was actually very nice.  It was easy to get what you needed/wanted and relax a little.


Here's what I didn't like about the race:

- The pre-race organization. I got to the brewery around 1:30 p.m. because the web site said shuttles to the start locations would start leaving at 1:45 p.m. or as soon as there were 40-ish people on each bus. I found the buses, but there was no one on them.  I waited, talked with some other racers, and waited some more.  We finally got on the buses a little after 2 p.m., but they didn't leave until well after 2:30 p.m.

- The route.  We started in a city park, jogged two blocks on asphalt and gravel, then we went up a grassy hill to a running trail that wasn't nearly wide enough.  Oh, and did I mention the route was a bit short?  My Nike+ says we went 2.68 miles.  We've had some major flooding, which changed the routes significantly, but I was still a little disappointed.

- My name isn't in the results.  Apparently they had some trouble with matching names and bib numbers, so if you look at the results page, I'm nowhere on it.  I found my bib number, but the name is not mine. 



All of that said, I realize this was the race's first year and it's supposed to be a fun run.  I have no doubt they will try to fix what went wrong next year, and I fully intend to sign up.  I did have a lot of fun at the event and might even try a longer distance next year.

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Here's my updated June mileage ...

June 1  -- 4.55 miles

June 3  -- 3.11 miles

June 5  -- 3.22 miles
June 8 --  2.68 miles
June 10 -- 3.06 miles
June 12 -- 2.08 miles

Total  --  18.70 miles

Yeah, I was a little lighter on the miles this week, but at least I logged some.
I think next week will be better.