This is a 5K located in Canandaigua which is about a 30 minute drive from Rochester. I did this race last year so that review has more details. It starts … MORE
This is a 5K located in Canandaigua which is about a 30 minute drive from Rochester. I did this race last year so that review has more details. It starts at Crosswinds church and packet pick-up is inside. It was smooth and packet included a nice polyblend shirt. They are nice quality shirts. Race went smoothly. It is chipped timed at the finish only but it’s a pretty small race and not a PR course. The course is net downhill the first half and a steep net uphill the second half. About as hard as a loop, road 5K can be. Of course I also got paged right as the race started again today so had to walk some of the easy part so my time was extra slow. I honestly walked most of the race since I wanted to save energy for tomorrow. Course was well marked and it is a fine course through some neighborhoods and buildings and some prettier shaded areas. There was great post-race food options. Everyone gets a Boston cream donut because this is a Boston cream qualifier…cute! This year they had breakfast inside including fruit, pastries, potatoes, sausages and pancakes so a few vegan and lots of vegetarian options and iced or hot coffee. This is also a good sized race for getting an age group awards as it is big enough to do 5 year awards but small enough that you only need to be average to place in the top 3 for age. Last year I was third in my age group. This year not unexpectedly I did not place. Overall this is a good race as long as you are not expecting a PR and I will do it again if it works out with my schedule.
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Not a PR Course
This is a 5K located in Canandaigua which is about a 30 minute drive from Rochester. I did this race last year so that review has more details. It starts … MORE
This is a 5K located in Canandaigua which is about a 30 minute drive from Rochester. I did this race last year so that review has more details. It starts at Crosswinds church and packet pick-up is inside. It was smooth and packet included a nice polyblend shirt. They are nice quality shirts. Race went smoothly. It is chipped timed at the finish only but it’s a pretty small race and not a PR course. The course is net downhill the first half and a steep net uphill the second half. About as hard as a loop, road 5K can be. Of course I also got paged right as the race started again today so had to walk some of the easy part so my time was extra slow. I honestly walked most of the race since I wanted to save energy for tomorrow. Course was well marked and it is a fine course through some neighborhoods and buildings and some prettier shaded areas. There was great post-race food options. Everyone gets a Boston cream donut because this is a Boston cream qualifier…cute! This year they had breakfast inside including fruit, pastries, potatoes, sausages and pancakes so a few vegan and lots of vegetarian options and iced or hot coffee. This is also a good sized race for getting an age group awards as it is big enough to do 5 year awards but small enough that you only need to be average to place in the top 3 for age. Last year I was third in my age group. This year not unexpectedly I did not place. Overall this is a good race as long as you are not expecting a PR and I will do it again if it works out with my schedule.
No negative splits in this race
This is a 5K that takes place in Canandaigua which is about 30 minutes East of Rochester. I am on call again this weekend so staying local. The race has … MORE
This is a 5K that takes place in Canandaigua which is about 30 minutes East of Rochester. I am on call again this weekend so staying local. The race has race day packet pick-up at the church that sponsors the race. Packet pick-up was easy but I would have preferred it to be outside on the lawn rather than inside for safety reasons. Packet included a fine royal blue, comfortable polyblend shirt and bib. The races starts at 10am which I think is a little late as the weather would have been perfect at 8am. It still wasn’t bad but a little hotter than ideal. Although the 10am start was convenient as I was able to see patients before the race and then stick around in Canandaigua after since it’s on the way to my next destination. The church it starts at is on top of a hill which makes this a pretty brutal race and not the fastest 5K. There was no timing mat at the start but there were race flags and it started on a wide street and isn’t a huge race with about 150 participants so not a huge deal. The first mile is great. Almost all downhill and quite easy. But what goes down must come up and starting about the halfway mark of the second mile it is all uphill. The third mile is pretty much all uphill and quite steep. While I have been overall slower with racing so frequently I have improved my race strategy and have negative splits most races but not this one. I don’t think anyone could. If you are aiming for a specific time make sure you bank time or energy for the end. Besides the awful hills on the third mile the course is quite nice. It’s not a super special course but it goes through some nice neighborhoods and Canandaigua is very pretty and green. There were also mile markers with timing clocks. But the clocks were off by two minutes so it made you seem faster which is the main reason I dropped a sneaker for production. There were also a couple water stops but they were giving out water bottles and I was carrying a handheld water bottle so didn’t use them. You finally get to the top of the hill at mile 3 and then it is a fast finish where there is a finisher arch and lots of post race food. There are Boston cream donuts from Dunkins with the adorable race slogan that this race is “A Boston Cream Qualifier.” There were also granola bars, cheese sticks, yogurt and fruit. There were also some food trucks where you could purchase food. Most of the food trucks were pretty meat heavy but there was a delicious boba truck for a post race treat. There are no medals unless you place which surprise even though I was pretty slow I was third in my age group so I did get a medal (and there were more than 3 people in my age group. Okay to be honest there were only 7 but I did have to be in the top half to place). The medal is really nice and since this is a small race you apparently don’t need to be fast to place in your age group. This was a good local 5K. As long as you are prepared for the hills on mile 3 and don’t plan on PR’ing or getting negative splits, you will enjoy it. This is one I wouldn’t plan around but would do again for sure if I am in town.