5-3-1 Run! July 4th Woodland Schools Foundation Run
Woodland, CA
- 5 Miler, 5K, 1 Miler
- Road (Paved)
- Official race website
Local Historical Weather (Jul 04):
| 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | |
| H (°F) | 87 | 100 | 94 | 107 | 92 |
| L (°F) | 58 | 64 | 59 | 72 | 61 |
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A Warmly Pleasant Local Race for Schools
Course Description: The 5-3-1 Run – 5 miles, 3 miles (actually 5K), and 1 mile – is a 4th of July event that benefits the Woodland Schools Foundation (WSF). It … MORE
Course Description:
The 5-3-1 Run – 5 miles, 3 miles (actually 5K), and 1 mile – is a 4th of July event that benefits the Woodland Schools Foundation (WSF). It is set in southeast Woodland, starting and finishing at Pioneer High School’s track. The 5 mile course is an out-and-back loop around a large “block” that encompasses Pioneer High School, Woodland Community College, and some vacant land, plus looping through an adjoining neighborhood, with a couple of out-and-back branches along the way.
The course was almost literally flat, and used concrete-paved trails and city streets. I wouldn’t call it scenic, but it was pleasant, part rural, part park-like college campus, part modern suburban neighborhood.
Organization & Production:
The 5-3-1 Run was a partnership between volunteers from WSF and Kaia Fitness, a local women’s fitness business. As a whole, everything went pretty smoothly – with one notable exception – though there was also of room for improvement.
Registering for the race was easy – Active.com handled this service, and there was no service fee tacked on to the registration price. The room for improvement here is that information about the race kind of came out gradually in the 8-10 weeks before the race, and publicity was hard to find. I suppose this was OK for people in the community who do races a couple of times a year (and there may be logistic concerns of which I’m unaware). But many runners – local and farther away – plan months in advance, and register 2 or more months before race days. I realize that the 5-3-1 Run isn’t trying, right now at least, for 2000 participants (there were 174, all distances), but with a population of >50,000 in Woodland and probably triple or quadruple that in the surrounding area (which includes Davis), trying for that many participants isn’t wildly unrealistic. If at all possible, the information for the race needs to be online and registration open 4-6 months before the race, Active.com sends out weekly emails about upcoming races in recipients’ area, but a race who’s registration opens a month or two before race day isn’t going to get much – if any – publicity.
Speaking of information about the race, the Woodland Schools Foundation webpage for the 5-3-1 Run was pretty incomplete. The webpage gave the race location, date, and start time, the locations, dates, and times for pre-race packet pick-up, and a link to the Active.com webpage. The WSF race webpage did not give the Facebook page url for the race, the course maps (!), mention that the race would be chip-timed and by whom, nor mention that packet pick-up could be done on the morning of the race. The webpage for the 2015 running of the 5-3-1 Run was still online, so course maps could be found there, if one knew where to look.
Swag & Goodies:
Bib: The bib is suitably simple. The background is plain white. Across the top is “W. S. F.”, in the middle is the bib number, and across the bottom is the logo of race sponsor Fleet Feet Sports. A fancy background would probably be an inappropriate expense, but having the name of the race and date would be a very nice addition that probably would cost little if anything.
T-Shirt: The race T-shirt, for all distances, was navy blue tech type. The front has a white circular logo, with stars and stripes at the top, “Woodland Schools Foundation” in one of the stripes, the race name and date in the middle, and running shoe footprints around the bottom of the logo. The back has the logos of the race sponsors. Fairly simple, but definitely a nice race T-shirt, very nice for a small benefit race such as the 5-3-1 Run.
There were water stations positioned along the course (more on this below), which were water only. I didn’t notice water in the finish area – I may have missed it, as I wasn’t looking for it – but there was a table with watermelon, bananas, apples and packets of almonds. The watermelon was already cut up an hour before start time, which isn’t a good idea in regard to freshness. Water-only aid stations is fine for a race of this size and purpose (though it wouldn’t hurt to ask Fleet Feet if they could supply some sports drink mix). The finish area food variety was pretty nice, and they had plenty to the very end.
My Results & Opinion of the Race:
I hinted at this above … the actual run was a bit of, “Best laid plans of mice and Race Directors.” The “rabbit” (a bicyclist leading the runners) was supposed to circle the track, go through the school parking lot, and turn right onto a sidewalk path that parallels the street. Well, (s)he turned left, throwing everything into disarray. The whole pack followed and were not turned around. So the nicely laid out and marked course was only partly followed – a couple of 5-miler aid stations probably never saw a runner – and in reverse. Looking at the results, I think most 5 mile runners ended up doing the 5K course. I did the 5K course, and then, before finishing, added a 1 mile out, 1 mile back leg so as to actually do 5 miles.
I heard, after the race, that some people were angry about the course goof-up. I don’t get that. Yes, there was a goof-up, but following the 5K course in reverse wasn’t hard, nor was improvising to get the full 5 miles. It’s not like the 5-3-1 Run was a Boston Qualifier or had cash prizes for the winners. The 5-3-1 Run was supposed to be fun, and to support Woodland schools!
Woodland Schools Foundation and the 5-3-1 Run will be back next year, and they’ll do better. Would I do this race again? Possibly not, though not because of how it was organized and run. This race was more than 2 hours’ drive from my home, the farthest by about an hour that I’ve driven for a race. If I lived nearer, I might do the 5-3-1 Run again and again and … . I grew up in Woodland and graduated from Woodland High School, so this was a sentimental choice for me. The “rabbit” going astray aside, the 5-3-1 Run was a pretty well organized race.