Jingle Jog 5k

I am plum exhausted from today.  I woke up EEAARRRLLLYYY for today's race and didn't stop all day.  We are only two weeks away from Christmas and I am not ready!  Story of everyone's lives I suppose. 

Today was the Jingle Jog 5k and I was excited to run it.  I decided I was going to make this time my base time to build off of for the next training cycle.  I tried to convince my friends to run this with me, but everyone that runs had plans or werent available to wake up and run in the cold. 

I left early enough so I had about 45 minutes to hang around before race start.  When I got close to the race location, traffic was awful.  Absolutely awful.  There were a TON of people and ONE officer directing traffic.  Are you serious?  I sat there for the 45 minutes I usually take to get my number, stretch, warm up.....

By the time I found a spot I had to run to the race packet pickup.  Of course I got lost because there was no signage telling me where to go.  When I DID find it, it was a clusterfluff of people.  Im talking people cutting, tempers flaring, etc.  UGH!

While trying to pin my number (t-minus 2 minutes until race start), I wanted to drop off the toy I bought for the toy drive.  I went to the location I THOUGHT was the toy drop off, but the kid looked at my like I had a horn growing out of my forehead.  The drop off was on the OTHER side of the COSTCO parking lot (think of the size).  I was so rushed for time (t-minus 30 seconds to race start) that I just took the toy and dropped it on the ground.  Oh well. 

When I got to the race start, I knew there was going to be trouble.  Everyone had a dog or a very small child next to them.  I got a lot closer and started walking with the crowd and apparently had started the race.  That is something I would have liked to know beforehand. 

The race:  I was so frustrated.  SO MANY WALKERS.  SO MANY LITTLE KIDS.  SO MANY LEASHES.  I was almost tripped by a dog leash and plenty of kids did the run/stop motion.  I did sub-9 for the first 1/2 mile thanks to being downhill and my high frustration to get out of the pocket.  The pocket never did end though.  When it finally ended, the madness didnt.  People were handing out flyers as you crossed the finish line, causing congestion. 

Post race: More madness at the shirt pickup.  People really like to cut in line.  The cool thing was there were quite a few good looking food stands.  I didnt participate in that because it was BBQ...there is something about bbq after a race and being 9am that sounded dreadful to my stomach. 

On my way home I thought I was just being a baby and it wasnt that bad.  I posted on my DailyMile and someone else who ran the race posted the same issues as I did.  Dreadful.

This kicker of this whole thing is this race has been running for 24 years. 

I am sad people had such a bad experience.  Sadly, this will not be on my list of races to run. 

I made up for it by an awesome purchase Ill share with you tomorrow.

How was your Saturday?
Did you run any races?
Are you ready for Christmas?
Have you had a bad race experience?