I really, really wanted to love this race. First off, I will say that I did NOT register for this race to set any sort of PR (personal record), and I just wanted to go out and enjoy the run with thousands and thousands of people in STL. I did have a great time and it was a fun way to start out the spring racing season (excited!), but the run itself and the runner's village was frustrating.
Positive things:
-Easy online registration & good pre-race info given via emails
-Great atmosphere!
-You can take metrolink right to the start
-The racing chip is on the back of the bib, so no messing with putting it on your shoe and having to cut it off later
-3 different corral sections for various running abilities (1: elite/in it to win it, 2: good runners going for a good race time, 3: runners, joggers, walkers, crawlers, whatever)
-Good course with various hills & it was fun running the streets of downtown
Negative/frustrating things:
-Walkers, strollers, crawlers, etc. ALL over the course (i.e. on the left and right side of the road) making it extremely difficult to go anywhere or get around anyone. I never heard any of the race officials say "walkers on the right, runners on the left," which would have been VERY helpful
-There were SO many people that I ended up walking/slow jogging the first half mile because it was so cramped. I feel like a lot of this could have been solved by putting the walkers on one side.
-No bag check. I know, I know...this is not necessary and it would be a pain for the organizers, but it would have been a nice touch. I went by myself so I had no one to hold my stuff. I had to wear a certain jacket that had a pocket in it for my keys, phone, $$, ID and metrolink pass. Just kinda annoying.
-The runner's village was lacking & very disorganized! There was only one small entrance to it, which was far from the finishing line. It took forever for runners to get there & was like a bottleneck traffic jam, so runners kept jumping the fence. There was absolutely NO free food...not even bagels or bananas! Major dislike. They had tents set up with food inside the village, but you had to buy it & I kept hearing runners complain about how they didn't have any money on them. They were handing out energy drinks, water and beer (one free per runner using the coupon on your bib) for free, but not in the same spot. Several people asked me where I got the beer and I pointed them to a far off side of the village that was unmarked. I finally found some water, but never found that energy drink. I feel like it would have been MUCH better if they just used the village to have drinks and some sort of food for runners, ALL well marked with high signs to show people where to go. Get the other food tents out of there...it's way too confusing & packed. It was equivalent to the feeling I have when I'm trying to navigate around the shopping center disaster in Brentwood.
I don't know if I'll ever run this one again, but I am glad I had the experience and it got me pumped for some future races this year! read more