Yesterday was my longest race to date, a 5-miler as opposed to all the 5Ks I’ve been running this year. It was held at the zoo and was the biggest race in terms of runners I’ve been a part of yet, with 430-some finishers.

Considering most 5Ks around here are generally rinky-dink, with maybe 200 finishers if the race is lucky, you’d think a bigger race with more participation and some pretty nice sponsors at a pretty high-profile place would mean a better event. Wrong. Here is a short list of my problems with the race:

1. No mile markers.

2. No time splits.

3. Poorly marked route — I actually had to call out to a couple guys who inadvertently veered off course.

4. The only water station being maybe a mile in.

5. Planning a course that ran behind the elephant house and past a giant pile of hay, elephant shit and whatever else was mixed in. Imagine getting a whiff of that 4+ miles into a run.

The only thing I had going for me to help me out was my watch, and that wasn’t working for me very well because I’m not used to racing 5 miles and never knew how far into the run I was and whether I should kick it up, slow it down, or maintain speed.

Fortunately, none of my issues with the race were enough to fuck me too hard and I did come in under my goal time of 40:00. And it was a nice run for a Sunday morning. And the refreshments and such when it was over were pretty good (although I wasn’t really into the beer at 8:45am after a 5-miler). And for once I actually got a cool looking race t-shirt that I wouldn’t be ashamed of wearing in public. So I guess I really don’t have a whole lot to bitch about.

Never mind then.