Race #9 – Fall Harvest Run 5k & 10k – Huntersville NC – 11/08/08


Since pictures seem to be in short supply for most of the races I decided to take my camera with me and get some photos of the Fall Harvest Run held at the Huntersville Family Fitness and Aquatics Center. I uploaded them to Picasa, which I’ve never used before, but I think anybody interested can download them for free. It’s just a miscellaneous bunch of photos of people from the race. Since I was in the 5k I didn’t get started taking pictures until after that, but a lot of people are included in the 92 pics. Click on the picture below to view all of them.
 
All of the fastest guys my age were in the 10k, thus opening up the door for me to sneak in 1st place in my age group (thanks fellas!). I also had my best time by just a few seconds — 25:27. At the beginning of the race I had set my Garmin 305 to finish in exactly 25 minutes. I ran the first mile in 7:19 but the pace was too much for me so I slowed down some, figuring a slower pace might be preferable to cardiac arrest.
The food was good afterwards — sub sandwiches, bagles, candy (left over from Halloween I guess?), and there was also coffee, which I appreciated. No fruit though. The T-shirts were nicely designed technical shirts — first time I’ve seen that, but I’m new at this stuff. A pleasant surprise nevertheless.
On the race rating, I deducted a point from the course because of having to share the road with cars. I’m always a little jumpy with cars passing me up from behind, and that was the case for part of the race (maybe a mile or so).
Race Rating:
6 — 4/6 Number of Participants (4 for less than 100; 6 for 100 or more)
8 — 1-10 Awards (Quality of medals, trophies, etc.) (1 to 10)
7 — 1-10 Awards Presentation (PA system, stating winning times, etc.) (1 to 10)
7 — 1-10 Food for Race Participants (1 to 10)
9 — 1-10 T-Shirts (1 to 10 with 5 being average)
4 — 4/6 Race part of “Run for Your Life Grand Prix Series” (6=Yes and 4=No)
6 — 4/6 Online Registration (6=Yes and 4=No)
6 — 4/6 Chip Timing (6=Yes and 4=No)
3 — 3/7 Certified Course (by USA Track & Field) (7=Yes and 3=No)
4 — 1-10 Course (1 to 10 with 5 being average)
7 — 1-10 Parking (1 to 10 with 5 being average)
6 — 1-10 Entertainment (1 to 10 with 5 being average)
7 — 3/7 Age Groups (7 if 5-year groups; 3 if 10-year groups)
5 — 1-10 Bathroom Facilities
0 — 1-10 Other
TOTAL – 85

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