Sarah McGann's Staging Area

This is my first year running the Ziegler Kalamazoo half marathon (formerly known as the Borgess Run for the Health of It). It’s my understanding that the race is under new management – which, in my opinion, was quite evident in negative ways.

PROS:
– There were water stations every two miles throughout the race that were well manned by volunteers.
– Decent finisher’s medal. Liked the long sleeve participant t-shirt.
– Small race – I believe there were less than 500 runners in the half marathon. Easy to get to the start line, with many parking options nearby.

CONS:
– Very little communication leading up to the race. I signed up about a month in advance (granted, registration opened 3-4 months prior). I received one email the night before packet pick-up, and a second email the night before the race. The emails were essentially duplicates, though the second email had typos here and there. Overall, felt sloppy and took away some excitement about the race.
– Based on my watch, the course was about .25 miles too long. Miles 1-4 were accurately marked, but mile 5 was marked at 5.25 miles. Mile 6 was also off (marked at 6.25). Strangely, a marker for the halfway point of the race was accurate – though mile 7 was off again (marked at 7.25), and continued to be off for the rest of the race.
– First aid/medical professionals were patrolling the race by bike – which I appreciated, but one cut in front of me during the race and I literally had to stop running to prevent crashing into him. I don’t blame the race directors for this, but it left a bad taste in my mouth.
– The course is mostly hills and winds through Kalamazoo. About halfway through the race, we ran along a very busy road (on the sidewalk) with cars probably going 50-60 mph. Not very scenic, and the tight sidewalk made it more difficult to pass other runners.
– Very limited crowd support. There were some areas with cheering sections, but those were few and far between. Most of the race is spent running through residential areas. You end in downtown Kalamazoo, which could be a cool ending (though, it felt like a ghost town on a Sunday morning).

All in all, it felt like this race contained many mistakes that could be easily corrected with more planning and better leadership – may be due to rushed planning for the event (as I think registration opened less than 3-4 months ago). Many of the issues seemed rooted in inexperienced race directors. I would run this race again, but only after a few years have passed. This race has potential to be good, but has many details to work out before that can happen.