I ran the half marathon which started at the coliseum. The full marathon started at the same time but at a different location. After 13 miles they would arrive at … MORE
I ran the half marathon which started at the coliseum. The full marathon started at the same time but at a different location. After 13 miles they would arrive at the coliseum and merge onto our course. I liked starting with only the other half marathoners and not having to worry about where the marathoners would split off from us. It was below freezing at the start, but the coliseum was open for runners to gather which was a great touch. I’m not sure most races would have done this.
The first part of the course was not the most scenic I’ve run, but it was very flat without anything that would count as even a bump. The run on the bike path along the drainage ditch was probably the best part of the course. Strangely as we left that section to loop around the baseball park, we crossed the race course. Everyone was pretty spread out at this point so it was not a problem, but if there had been more runners, I can see collisions being a problem. I’m not sure why this was done because if we did the park loop in the opposite direction there would have been no crossing.
The finish line was in the coliseum and, having never done an indoor finish before, I really liked it. The bananas had been outside in the cold which made them probably the best post-race bananas I have ever had.
The support stations were good although I have to admit that I only grabbed water once. But they looked well stocked and the volunteers were very enthusiastic. (You really have to appreciate volunteers who work so hard with lousy weather.) At the finish line, it would have been nice to have some water right there rather than outside in the parking lot. There were a good number of porta-potties at the start, which is always a good thing.
The shirt was nice. I registered too late to get one at the expo but they said they would mail me one. And they gave me one from last year for free. The medal was good, an E, but I’m not a fan of a series of medals to spell out El Paso.
My only complaint about the race was that some of the mile markers were misplaced. Some were a little bit off, but the mile 9 marker was probably a half mile early. Since everyone has a GPS watch that is only a minor issue. My GPS agreed with the 13 mile marker but the last 0.1 was actually about 0.3. But overall, this was a great race I would do again.
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Flat Fast Half with a fun finish
I ran the half marathon which started at the coliseum. The full marathon started at the same time but at a different location. After 13 miles they would arrive at … MORE
I ran the half marathon which started at the coliseum. The full marathon started at the same time but at a different location. After 13 miles they would arrive at the coliseum and merge onto our course. I liked starting with only the other half marathoners and not having to worry about where the marathoners would split off from us. It was below freezing at the start, but the coliseum was open for runners to gather which was a great touch. I’m not sure most races would have done this.
The first part of the course was not the most scenic I’ve run, but it was very flat without anything that would count as even a bump. The run on the bike path along the drainage ditch was probably the best part of the course. Strangely as we left that section to loop around the baseball park, we crossed the race course. Everyone was pretty spread out at this point so it was not a problem, but if there had been more runners, I can see collisions being a problem. I’m not sure why this was done because if we did the park loop in the opposite direction there would have been no crossing.
The finish line was in the coliseum and, having never done an indoor finish before, I really liked it. The bananas had been outside in the cold which made them probably the best post-race bananas I have ever had.
The support stations were good although I have to admit that I only grabbed water once. But they looked well stocked and the volunteers were very enthusiastic. (You really have to appreciate volunteers who work so hard with lousy weather.) At the finish line, it would have been nice to have some water right there rather than outside in the parking lot. There were a good number of porta-potties at the start, which is always a good thing.
The shirt was nice. I registered too late to get one at the expo but they said they would mail me one. And they gave me one from last year for free. The medal was good, an E, but I’m not a fan of a series of medals to spell out El Paso.
My only complaint about the race was that some of the mile markers were misplaced. Some were a little bit off, but the mile 9 marker was probably a half mile early. Since everyone has a GPS watch that is only a minor issue. My GPS agreed with the 13 mile marker but the last 0.1 was actually about 0.3. But overall, this was a great race I would do again.
Small City Race Growing
I've watched this race improve every year that I've participated in it for the last 4 years. The race Director is awesome and always working to benefit the runner and … MORE
I’ve watched this race improve every year that I’ve participated in it for the last 4 years. The race Director is awesome and always working to benefit the runner and the sport. The race has a great start as you run through downtown but once you leave downtown it is out and back through several neighborhoods. The best part of the race is you run back through downtown and finish in South West Stadium where you receive awesome crowd support. Next year’s race is schedule to change as a point to point and follow a route passing several historic missions before finishing again in the stadium.
AVOID THIS RACE
I greatly appreciate the small size and easy packet pickup- even when attending shortly after the expo opened but before the kids run. However, not being able to exit the … MORE
I greatly appreciate the small size and easy packet pickup- even when attending shortly after the expo opened but before the kids run. However, not being able to exit the expo at doors close to the exit instead of having to walk all the way back through the expo and exit out the entrance was a minor inconvenience. The lack of a good, PDF or image style course map available with mile markers (not kilometers) was also something that bothered me.
On race day though, there were several problems. I appreciate the 10 portable restrooms being available at the start of the race- the line moved quickly enough that everyone who needed to go was able to before the race started. However, not having a plan for where the 5k runners needed to go to be out of the way of the other runners was problematic- especially given that we have a week’s worth of the exact same emails where no one thought to mention something about where they needed to go. Also, the minute or so delay while the street was cleared was fine- but the fact that people were still in the street was not cool- it created a very crowded first 100 feet or so of the race.
And speaking of crowding, the start line was very, very crowded. The fact that the pacers were strung out (the 4:00 marathon pacer was 15-20 feet behind the 2:00 half marathon pacer and at one point the pacers weren’t even in order at the start line) instead of right next to each other was confusing. And rather than having the pacers move apart a little bit (namely everyone move a good 10-15 feet farther apart, and therefore back), everyone was so packed in that you couldn’t get anywhere near the pacer that you wanted unless you happened to be in that spot before the pacers made their way through the crowd. And even if you were correctly positioned, runners poured in from the sidewalks in front of you, cutting you off and preventing you from getting anywhere close to the pacer that you wanted to be. Having a corral system, or calling runners up based on their estimated pacer per mile would have been very helpful for reducing the start line crowding.
The volunteers on the course were top notch- however despite the repeated emails about having water stops every 2 miles, there wasn’t a water stop until mile 4. This was plain unacceptable. On top of that, there were no mile markers for the half marathoners after they split from the marathoners. As someone who has run over 30 half marathons, I’ve never experienced such a thing where I had to do math based on the marathon mile markers to figure out where I was.
The traffic control was also questionable- as vehicles were crossing the street mid race. There were no police officers or volunteers there to stop them, which was a shock as I’ve never had the experience of having to worry about being hit by a car during a race before.
After the race was over, the finish line area was also a mess- the last thing you want to do after finishing a race is stand in one place and that was exactly what I had to do since there was a huge line for exiting the finish line due to the back up at the food tables. Why runners weren’t able to go down both sides of the food tables or skip these all together baffles me. The items could have also been pre-bagged and then just handed to the runners as they exited.
This is the worst managed race I have ever been to.