Best and Worst of 2012

By Slick

 

So, taking a page from Spinster Beth’s blogpost, I (Slick) have also assembled a best and worst blog. 

By my calculations I completed four 5ks, two Half Marathons, and two 1-milers.

 Here are my bests: 

1.       Best Race Ever:  Okay, this was easy, the Rock n' Roll USA  race.  Not only was it the inaugural DC run, it was my first Half-Marathon and the first time I ever ran 13.1 miles.  The swag bag was great, and everything seemed to be well planned and executed.  This will probably be my best race ever, forever.

2.       Best Packet Pick-up/Expo: Well, hands down, the Rock n’ Roll races had the best expos and packet pick-ups. Since they were the only major races I ran in 2012, no competition.  They were all similar, so no way to just vote for one of them.  Of the small runs, I would have to say that the Remembrance Run probably had the easiest packet pick-up.  It was also one of the smallest races.  My daughter and I did same day registration and it only took a couple of minutes.

3.       Best Tee-Shirt:  My favorite tee-shirt was the tech tee-shirt from Rock n’ Roll San Antonio Rock n' Roll San Antonio.  I cannot really point to any one thing.  It was pleasing to my eye and it fits well. 

4.       Best Post- Race Chow:  So the Rock n’ Rolls give you tons of food after you finish and a free beer, but my favorite was definitely the Catonsville Fall into Fitness post race  chow.  They had a local brewery RavenBeer with samples and sales and they had volunteers grilling burgers and dogs.  I love bananas and yogurt, but sometimes nothing beats a nice hot meal.

5.       Best Course:  A lot of the races had different aspects that I enjoyed.  The Rock n’ Roll USA went by the Washington Monument.  The RNR San Antonio went by the Alamo (there is a pic of me running in front of it, but I didn’t actually see it.)  The Jingle Bell Run Jingle Bell Run ran around beautiful Centennial Park in Ellicot City, which would have been a spectacular solo run, but not with hundreds of other runners and walkers…and strollers and dogs.  Path was too small for everyone.  Even though it was not one of my favorite runs, the Rock n' Roll Virginia Beach was probably my favorite course.  It was flat and you end up running next to the ocean.

Time for the worst…again, these are only out of the 8 races I ran this past year.

1.       Worst race:  Even though the course was nice, the RNR Virginia Beach was not only hot, but the humidity had to be at 100%.  It was so humid I was exhausted before the race even started.  The medics appeared (to me) to be super busy with all the runners overheating.

2.       Worst Tee-shirt:  From my daughter’s school.  As my daughter is in elementary school, the tee-shirt always has some cutsey animal on it.  And they only use the colors that the uniform wearing students wear to school.  Other than that, it was just a standard tee-shirt.

3.       Worst packet pick-up/expo:  Was the Catonsville Fall into Fitness run.  When we showed up an hour before the posted closing times, we found out they had closed early because the volunteer was cold.  I am sure there was more to it than that…but we drove 45 minutes to get there, so it was very annoying. Which leads me to…

4.       Worst amenities:  This might be common, but the Catonsville Fall into Fitness had one water point, at the 5k mark.  I am not one of those people who runs with water, so I am a bit dependent on water stations.  There was only one, and it was at the end of the race.  There was also some confusion about the start line at this race…I think Spinster Beth covered that in her blog.

5.       Worst Course:  Was the one held at my daughter’s school.  It was only a mile, which I finished in about 7 minutes.  Now if you have been following this blog at all you would know I do not run a 7 minute mile, which means that this mile was not really a mile. I would love to run a 7 minute mile, but I don’t…yet.