This weekend is the local Race for the Cure Breast Cancer 5k. I decided last year that I was not going to do it anymore. I support the cause, I support the people..but the run sucks. Specifically its so overcrowded that its impossible to get a decent time. The schedule is for the non-competitive 5k walk to start ten minutes after the competitive 5k race. Yet every year the competitive starting line is left unprotected.
I remember one year, when I was still looking at the event with glossy eyes, trying for a PB, being entertained by several corporate employees at the starting line. These were good natured office employees who dressed in their company colors had taken to one-uping each other for corporate pride. I became concerned when the announcer started the countdown clock and these people were not moving to the sidelines but lining up behind the tape. They were not rabbits. They were not gazelles. The horn was blown and these good-hearted people started a spirited WALK forward which created a three deep wall of immovable and now unhappy, jostled, jeered at corporate people by the runners trying to get by.
A year later and wiser, I again lined up ready to fight through the crowd. My concerns now weren't for the entertainment but for the people lining up in the front not paying attention to the race infront of them but the cell phone to their ear. Everyone had a cell phone. The horn goes off and as the front wave of people, myself included, sprints forward; a collective education on the law of gravity occurs as a dozen people fumble, then drop their phones and unsecured keys to the ground. Snap judgement says, "Stop. Pick up what was dropped." This of course recreated a pile of bodys, again myself included, that would make a rugby scrum proud.
By the time I had extricated myself from that mess, I now had to make up time which was impossible due to all the rec-runners and walkers. Dodge a stroller here, wait for gap between the four abreast there, sprint, shuffle, side step, sprint, slow, dart.
While I will miss what was really a good, flat, fast course, and the great swag post race like loaves of bread, yogurt, fruit, lots of Propel; I won't miss the crowds.
So maybe I am not the kind hearted philanthropic person you all think I am. I appreciate the cause but if there is a competive component to the race day, protect it.
I remember one year, when I was still looking at the event with glossy eyes, trying for a PB, being entertained by several corporate employees at the starting line. These were good natured office employees who dressed in their company colors had taken to one-uping each other for corporate pride. I became concerned when the announcer started the countdown clock and these people were not moving to the sidelines but lining up behind the tape. They were not rabbits. They were not gazelles. The horn was blown and these good-hearted people started a spirited WALK forward which created a three deep wall of immovable and now unhappy, jostled, jeered at corporate people by the runners trying to get by.
A year later and wiser, I again lined up ready to fight through the crowd. My concerns now weren't for the entertainment but for the people lining up in the front not paying attention to the race infront of them but the cell phone to their ear. Everyone had a cell phone. The horn goes off and as the front wave of people, myself included, sprints forward; a collective education on the law of gravity occurs as a dozen people fumble, then drop their phones and unsecured keys to the ground. Snap judgement says, "Stop. Pick up what was dropped." This of course recreated a pile of bodys, again myself included, that would make a rugby scrum proud.
By the time I had extricated myself from that mess, I now had to make up time which was impossible due to all the rec-runners and walkers. Dodge a stroller here, wait for gap between the four abreast there, sprint, shuffle, side step, sprint, slow, dart.
While I will miss what was really a good, flat, fast course, and the great swag post race like loaves of bread, yogurt, fruit, lots of Propel; I won't miss the crowds.
So maybe I am not the kind hearted philanthropic person you all think I am. I appreciate the cause but if there is a competive component to the race day, protect it.
7 comments:
I understand how you feel. For those charity races, I don't even turn on my competitiveness mode. There are just too many ppl in the way.
Most go there for rec anyways. Yeah, they should change it to Walk for the Cure. Or better yet, Recreational Run for the Cure.
It gets frustrating at times when ppl before the race talk on their cell phone. I am always curious as to what call you need to make before you go for a run.
I stopped participating in Race for the Cure for the very same reasons. Obviously, the problems with the event spread beyond my local race.
Great participation event. Great cause. Not a race.
People that try to do good for others always get knocked down onto the streets looking for their keys and cell phone...TBC's Law #345.
I'm with you. I'd send them $20 NOT to have to go. There's lots of great causes out there that know how to really run a race. This is not one of them.
race for the cure was my first 5k in may. not that i could have run any faster than i did but i had the annoyance of having to pass several of the "walkers". i remember thinking... "i run a 12 minute pace and i lined up behind the 11 minute pace flag and in front of the supposed to be walkers and strollers. why am i passing you people midrace?!" it was hysteria at the finish line. fond memeory but i'd gladly trade the confusion next time for a different race. like nancy said, i'll just send my $20 next year and stay home.
I sympathize. I started my half marathon at the back of the pack because I knew I'd be walking and didn't want to get in the way. Common courtesy, right? No way.
At the annual Corporate Cup Run for the American Lung Association, they have a starting line for seeded runners with pace markers for people who expect to hit a 7 minute mile or an 8 minute mile, etc. Behind that, they have a general runners section, then a general walking section, then the 2 mile walk section (there's a 10k and a 2 mile walk).
NO ONE follows the instructions. It's insane. Like the casual walkers' time matters nearly as much as the competitive runners' times! I cared a lot about my half marathon time, but not enough to get run over by runners or clog up the works with my slow moving self...
Instead of thinking of it as a Run For the PB, think of it as good practice for the open swim start. Hundreds of people you have wade through. Claw and curse your way thourgh. Control your breathing. Add and elbow here and there... BAM! Just like a triathlon swim start.
That being said, I do wish the charity runs were a tad more organized.
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