Hooo Weeee

Alright, I hope everyone remembered to set his/her clocks back. I set mine before bed instead of trusting myself to remember in the morning. I had The Brock Trot this morning, so I had to be up on time lest I should be late. I have some info on that for ya, plus some more goodies. Tune in for further details...

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Overlooking the Little People

Okay, I'm not going to pretend to be an extremely seasoned racer, but when you charge $25 for a 10k people expect a little something extra. This race had all the trimmings you would expect from a fund raiser. They had the speeches, they had the sponsors (who were repeatedly thanked while we waited at the starting line), they had a million volunteers (also to be expected), they had fancy goody bags and they had press coverage. What they didn't have was prizes for the people who ran the race.

The people running the show were very interested in getting some elite racers to show up, so they offered big prize money. The website implied that there would be prizes for the top 8 in each age group, but what they meant was that they were paying out only to the top 8 men and top 8 women overall. The age groups didn't mean anything. That literally put 60 year old guys on the same playing field as 21 year old Kenyans.

While the top winners walked away with huge money, backpacks, shoes, trophies, and gift certificates to a local spa, the rest of us watched. Most of the winners were not locals, so the spa gift certificates are sure to go to waste. They then raffled off about 8 pairs of shoes, where it turned out you didn't have to be there to win. Winners would be notified by mail. The rest of us just watched.

Basically, we all stood around in the cold, the snow and the wind while they handed out a few prizes to people we don't know. I would have been just as happy reading about that in the paper, there was no need for me to stand there shivering. The real kicker was that there was no mention of any age group winners!

If anyone from the Brock Trot organization is reading this, you better have awards or at least MENTION the age group winners next year or you might as well just have a fund raising dinner. Races are for runners and if you ignore 90% of the runners, we won't show up.

HOWEVER, I still ran an awesome race. Here's a shot of me passing my doctor (can you can tell I've been working out a little?). I seem to be neck and neck with him at every race, and the way I see it if I can beat my doctor I'm doing pretty well. Of course, he has a few years on me.

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Ho Lee Wind

So we have some serious wind kicking out there today. The skies are littered with leaves, snowflakes and plastic lawn chairs. I've already had to fix the tarp covering my bark pile (don't ask) a half a dozen times, and drag my lawn chairs back onto the porch and lawn. I would try out my grill, but they don't work so good in the wind and I don't want her maiden voyage to be under less than ideal conditions. Meanwhile, I have some sausage links sitting in the fridge just itching to be cooked.

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Volunteers in Action

Oh I forgot to mention that I helped out in the two Kids' Races held after the "Adult Race". Here's a picture of me working the timer. I got to type in the kids' numbers as they came in. The other lady worked the actual button that marked each runner's time. I now see why race directors want you to make your bib number as visible as possible. Some kids had them on their backs, some were only pinned at the top so they flipped up when they ran, some kids had coats on over their numbers. With all of that, it was tough to get them all entered in order. Of course they're kids and probably don't really care.

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Oh man, my battery is dying so I have to go. I'll holler at y'all later.


Over and Out,
Old Coot