This is a 5K on a track in Concord, MA (not NH where my parents live and I usually race). It's about a 40 minute drive for me as I … MORE
This is a 5K on a track in Concord, MA (not NH where my parents live and I usually race). It’s about a 40 minute drive for me as I live between the two Concords. I was excited to find this race as I was on call this weekend and it started early enough that I could round after. This was definitely more of a grassroots race and definitely didn’t have the precision of a professional race. However the people in charge were some of the nicest people and really tried hard to make this as good of a race as possible. The initial plan was to start super early around 6am at Sunrise but due to concerns about noise the town requested the race be pushed back to 7am. Not a problem as I could use an extra hour of sleep and it was still early enough. Pre-race communication was fine but there was just little things like this which showed it wasn’t all ironed out when registration opened. The race is all on a track and there was plenty of parking nearby. Bib pickup included bib and a nice tech shirt. There was a booth for the charity it raised money for and a couple porta potties. I was a bit nervous this would be an elitist race as it turns out only serious runners want to run on a track at the crack of dawn and I knew I would be one of the slowest looking at the competition but everyone was so nice. The race had 2 heats. I appreciated they had the slow heat first as it was hot out. The race is really boring just 12.5 laps around a track but it was kind of fun to run on a track during the Olympics and pretending I am the slowest Olympian ever. There was also an announcer you passed by each time. Unlike the one at Yankee Homecoming who just ignored the back of the packers, this announcer was great and very encouraging. He encouraged me every lap even though I was one of the last runners and all the other runners cheered when they passed me and the faster runners and spectators cheered near the finish area while they waited for their heat to start. I had a solid finishing time for how hot it was though I was third from last. There is no medal but that’s pretty standard for a lot of shorter New England races. There was Dunkins coffee and donuts at the end. You could then stay and cheer on the fast runners in their heat. Overall this was not the most exciting race just being laps on a track but given how nice everyone was I would definitely do it again and I hope it continues to grow and get a bit more ironed out.
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Boring but Super Nice Race Staff
This is a 5K on a track in Concord, MA (not NH where my parents live and I usually race). It's about a 40 minute drive for me as I … MORE
This is a 5K on a track in Concord, MA (not NH where my parents live and I usually race). It’s about a 40 minute drive for me as I live between the two Concords. I was excited to find this race as I was on call this weekend and it started early enough that I could round after. This was definitely more of a grassroots race and definitely didn’t have the precision of a professional race. However the people in charge were some of the nicest people and really tried hard to make this as good of a race as possible. The initial plan was to start super early around 6am at Sunrise but due to concerns about noise the town requested the race be pushed back to 7am. Not a problem as I could use an extra hour of sleep and it was still early enough. Pre-race communication was fine but there was just little things like this which showed it wasn’t all ironed out when registration opened. The race is all on a track and there was plenty of parking nearby. Bib pickup included bib and a nice tech shirt. There was a booth for the charity it raised money for and a couple porta potties. I was a bit nervous this would be an elitist race as it turns out only serious runners want to run on a track at the crack of dawn and I knew I would be one of the slowest looking at the competition but everyone was so nice. The race had 2 heats. I appreciated they had the slow heat first as it was hot out. The race is really boring just 12.5 laps around a track but it was kind of fun to run on a track during the Olympics and pretending I am the slowest Olympian ever. There was also an announcer you passed by each time. Unlike the one at Yankee Homecoming who just ignored the back of the packers, this announcer was great and very encouraging. He encouraged me every lap even though I was one of the last runners and all the other runners cheered when they passed me and the faster runners and spectators cheered near the finish area while they waited for their heat to start. I had a solid finishing time for how hot it was though I was third from last. There is no medal but that’s pretty standard for a lot of shorter New England races. There was Dunkins coffee and donuts at the end. You could then stay and cheer on the fast runners in their heat. Overall this was not the most exciting race just being laps on a track but given how nice everyone was I would definitely do it again and I hope it continues to grow and get a bit more ironed out.