David .'s Staging Area

Its flat, the weather is usually great for running and the course is pretty solid.

Two big changes this year give me pause.

1. There was a late addition out and back button hook turnaround in a narrow residential street and those are just awful in races with a large field. This should have casually turned around one block.
2. Bag check was a total nightmare. In the past, they used UPS short trucks and had about 10+ of them for runners. OMG. This time? I guess Estes moving paid big bucks to sponsor so they brought their 25 foot trucks. But here’s the thing. Two trucks for an entire field of half marathoners? 2 for marathon? And each truck maybe had 3 functional runners searching for bags in the depths.
When I tell you the line was backed up by 250 people AT LEAST when we crossed the finish line I am not exaggerating. It easily took 40 minutes to collect our bags. People standing and freezing while they waited. Lines so long wrapped around the trucks you had to first walk to the front to identify if the line you were in was actually for your bib range and then walk all the way to the back of the line.
Oh, and let’s talk about the bibs… Richmond does not assign bib numbers until you pickup at the Expo. It’s random. So…. I get a number that off by 2000 from my child – even though we ran together.
And…you guessed it. Of those two trucks…my bag was on one and hers on another. So now my minor is waiting in an entirely different line for 40 minutes?!??
I really want to meet the genius who set the logistics up this year.

It only got worse at the end. With the mix of marathoners, 8kers and half marathoners and limited thought to space needed, signage or distribution/setup, you had chokepoints for blankets, hats, bananas and pizza. We grabbed our blankets and bailed. Waiting 30 minutes for a slice of Papa John’s in the cold made no sense at all.

I really wanted to love the experience from end to end. I’ll repeat…the course is great, mostly flat, and you will typically luck out with the weather. But they need to work on the logistics for this type of scale. That estes nonsense is inexcusable.

Let’s start with the good: Great scenic route, mostly downhill, and the weather was good. The town has a cool vibe too.

No start corrals, which concerned me at first, but that actually worked out. Everyone stacked up at the start line according to their expected speed.

Now the bad:

Transportation is only by bus. You arrive early in the department store parking lot and then just sit on the bus for 30 minutes, in the dark, in the heat, wondering why you’re not moving. No announcements, nothing.

They mix distances and that’s where things really get chaotic. I’m running the half marathon and once we get towards the flats, maybe Mile 9ish? I see a horde of people flowing into the road. Our pace? About 6:30/min. The incoming herd? About 9:30/mile.
Aside from trying to avoid collision, the next several miles was full on bobbing and weaving.

Why do small town organizers do this? Seriously, no lane separation using cones for the first half mile ?? No way to start to other slower racers a little later to match pacing??

Bag drop off / pickup…was terrible. It’s not possible to mess up bag pickup, you say. Utah valley says “hold my beer”
There you are, spent from 13 miles and barely able to walk for fear of calves cramping. And you go to the bag pickup area. “Where is my bag?” you ask. The volunteer cheerfully smiles and points to the PILE of bags on the lawn. Piles separated by ranges of numbers. No offer to help search. And the piles aren’t organized in any type of ascending order.
So there you are, bending over, dehydrated , and inspecting every single bags’ ticket to find yours. Of course you had to use the supplied blue bag, so good luck finding a standout in the crowd. After 10 minutes I still couldn’t find mine but did locate a few poorly placed bags and tossed them to the volunteers. “You might want to drop this in the correct pile” . So participant #4195, you’ll never know the time I saved you.

And there I stood, wondering if my bag was also strewn in another pile. 15 minutes later I found my bag. You’ve got to be kidding me.

The medal was weak. Why? They all say Utah Marathon, regardless of distance. But you didn’t run the Full, you say…you ran the half. no they’re all the same medal. What’s the point of that?

Nice people. They mean well. But are not equipped for a seamless experience.