This is my review for the 5k I did this past Saturday.

Packet Pickup

I went to the earliest packet pickup they had, which was on Thursday before the race. I had to hurry to get there because the person in charge was only going to be there until 5 p.m., which I thought would make it hard for anyone who works a normal-houred job to get their packet early…especially since they were only there until 5 p.m. both days…I think it would have made things a lot easier on all parties if they would have at least stayed until 7 or so…maybe they did…I’m not 100% certain. I just know what the email communications said.

The swag was ok, a pink cotton t-shirt with a one color logo, and then the sponsers on the back and a water bottle, as well as a few other little paper items. Decent stuff for a smallish, local race. Plus they had seperate bibs for runners and walkers, as well as safety pins, which is a plus!

I felt packet pickup also would ahve gone a little more smoothly if they had possibly had one or two more volunteers to help hand out numbers, instead of the one poor girl who was doing that by herself while a few guys got out t-shirts.

Race Day Morning

I didn’t see many anemities at the race starting area. There was no water that I could see, unless you wanted to pay for it, and everyone had to crowd into the station’s bays to avoid getting to wet before the race. The organizers also had a hard time deciding whether or not to start the race on time, due to the weather. Which was unfortunate because I believe the start may have caught some people off guard. I know it me a little bit.

The Course

The course was ok, for the most part. You ran through part of “downtown” Wentzville, and then past one of the high schools and then through some residential areas before coming back out onto the main drag. The traffic situation was a little tricky, considering they didn’t have *all* the streets closed off and some cars still traveled down the main drag while we were running, but there wasn’t too much traffic so it was managable. I don’t know if it was the rain from the previous night or what but they also didn’t paint their little pink ribbon course markers on the ground again this year. So instead of having a clearly marked course, volunteers where standing at key turning points. However, some of them weren’t always paying attention, so you kind of had to hope that you were either going the right way, or that there was someone in front of you to let you know for sure you had turned correctly.

I was thrilled when I came to the water stop and the kids and adults volunteering where cheering you on and giving out high fives and stuff. They really provided an excellent boost that was much needed after slogging through the rain.

Once you got close to the finish line, I have to say I was a little disappointed in the fact that some of the previous finishers that were just standing around didn’t support their fellow runners/walkers much. There were a few people who cheered for you as you ran by, but with all the people standing around, it could have been better.

Post Race

After making it through the finishing “corral” and handing your tag off to one of the volunteers, that was pretty much it. There was some water out, but it wasn’t really cold, just air temp and if you wanted any refreshments you had to buy them. I know it was a small race, but it seemed to me like it was lacking a lot of things that it had the first year I did it.

Overall, my grade for this event is 6 out of 10. However, that wouldn’t stop me from doing the event again next year, as I fully support and believe in the cause that this event supports, which is breast cancer research and support.