This is an annual 5K that takes place on Labor Day and is sponsored by and raises money for the Groton High School Cross Country Team. Groton is a small … MORE
This is an annual 5K that takes place on Labor Day and is sponsored by and raises money for the Groton High School Cross Country Team. Groton is a small town outside Ithaca. It is about an hour and 45 minutes from Rochester which is a little far for a 5K but I am on a mission to run 100 races this year and with the delta variant already starting to wreak havoc on my falling racing schedule, I need to do every race I logistically can even if it means driving 3.5 hours total for a low budget 5K. There wasn’t really any pre-race communication but the website was updated with information. Packet pick-up was the morning of the race at the high school. Packet included bib and a grey cotton shirt with the race logo. It’s a very okay shirt but fine for a cheap $18 fundraiser race. I will use it as a pajama top. The start was about 1/4 mile from the school. There was a 1 mile race first at 9am followed by the 5K at 9:30. The 1 miler started by the school and it was mostly adorable little kids. It was a ton of fun to watch them and cheer them on. I think that was the best part of the event. The 5K start was a little past the school. It was just a line in chalk with 5K start written in chalk. Not the best but oh well. This was a very similar course to yesterdays course. A very hilly race through neighborhoods and countryside ending on a high school track. I had bad timing this morning and got paged just as the race started. I spent the first half a mile on the phone and my first mile ended up being about 15 minutes. I spent the rest of the race playing catch-up. The first mile was through neighborhoods. It was fine and there were some spectators. There is a killer hill at the end of the first mile. It was shorter than the one yesterday but much steeper. I doubt many people tried to run it. The second mile had one absolutely beautiful view of the countryside. Then there was a short about 1/2 mile section of rail trail. This was quite pretty and normally would be nice but it was a little annoying as I was behind a bunch of slower runners and kids and it was not the best place to pass people. This would not be an issue if I didn’t lose time from the phone call. The last mile was again through neighborhoods and had some minor hills. You then ran through the school parking lot and onto the track for a fast finish. The course was pretty well marked. There were arrows drawn on the ground at all intersections with chalk and volunteers at most but not all intersections. It was pretty easy to follow but it could have been marked a little better and some signs would have been helpful. There were also a couple water stops with friendly volunteers. Course was open to traffic but there were course marshals and traffic wasn’t an issue except in the parking lot. I was super slow due mostly to spending half of the first mile on the phone so runners were leaving and there was a lot of traffic running though the parking lot. The finish on the track was nice and there was a timing mat at the end. My time was quite awful but if you take away about 4 minutes and use my average pace the last two miles (~ 10 to 11 minute/miles) it wasn’t too bad for the difficulty of the course. This one was actually hillier than yesterday. Again its just a road 5K but definitely a tougher than average road 5K. At the end you are given a finisher ribbon. I like this for a 5K. I don’t necessarily need a medal for every 5K I do and especially a fundraiser 5K but it’s nice to get a little memento and a finisher ribbon seems right for a 5K. There were also water bottles, chocolate milk (yuck!), apples and some delicious homemade baked goods at the finish line. Overall this race was fine and it was a fun morning and it was cute seeing all the families there. It’s not the best produced nor most exciting race but for a fundraiser race sponsored by a school cross country team I thought they did a good job. I can’t say I would definitely drive 3 1/2 hours for this race in a year when I am not trying to run 100 races during a pandemic when I have no idea how many of my Fall races will actually happen and I really hope we are never in this situation again. Still this is one I would recommend to locals and may do again since it’s hard for me to resist a four race weekend and this seems to be the closest race to Rochester on Labor Day Monday.
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Labor Day Family Fun
This is an annual 5K that takes place on Labor Day and is sponsored by and raises money for the Groton High School Cross Country Team. Groton is a small … MORE
This is an annual 5K that takes place on Labor Day and is sponsored by and raises money for the Groton High School Cross Country Team. Groton is a small town outside Ithaca. It is about an hour and 45 minutes from Rochester which is a little far for a 5K but I am on a mission to run 100 races this year and with the delta variant already starting to wreak havoc on my falling racing schedule, I need to do every race I logistically can even if it means driving 3.5 hours total for a low budget 5K. There wasn’t really any pre-race communication but the website was updated with information. Packet pick-up was the morning of the race at the high school. Packet included bib and a grey cotton shirt with the race logo. It’s a very okay shirt but fine for a cheap $18 fundraiser race. I will use it as a pajama top. The start was about 1/4 mile from the school. There was a 1 mile race first at 9am followed by the 5K at 9:30. The 1 miler started by the school and it was mostly adorable little kids. It was a ton of fun to watch them and cheer them on. I think that was the best part of the event. The 5K start was a little past the school. It was just a line in chalk with 5K start written in chalk. Not the best but oh well. This was a very similar course to yesterdays course. A very hilly race through neighborhoods and countryside ending on a high school track. I had bad timing this morning and got paged just as the race started. I spent the first half a mile on the phone and my first mile ended up being about 15 minutes. I spent the rest of the race playing catch-up. The first mile was through neighborhoods. It was fine and there were some spectators. There is a killer hill at the end of the first mile. It was shorter than the one yesterday but much steeper. I doubt many people tried to run it. The second mile had one absolutely beautiful view of the countryside. Then there was a short about 1/2 mile section of rail trail. This was quite pretty and normally would be nice but it was a little annoying as I was behind a bunch of slower runners and kids and it was not the best place to pass people. This would not be an issue if I didn’t lose time from the phone call. The last mile was again through neighborhoods and had some minor hills. You then ran through the school parking lot and onto the track for a fast finish. The course was pretty well marked. There were arrows drawn on the ground at all intersections with chalk and volunteers at most but not all intersections. It was pretty easy to follow but it could have been marked a little better and some signs would have been helpful. There were also a couple water stops with friendly volunteers. Course was open to traffic but there were course marshals and traffic wasn’t an issue except in the parking lot. I was super slow due mostly to spending half of the first mile on the phone so runners were leaving and there was a lot of traffic running though the parking lot. The finish on the track was nice and there was a timing mat at the end. My time was quite awful but if you take away about 4 minutes and use my average pace the last two miles (~ 10 to 11 minute/miles) it wasn’t too bad for the difficulty of the course. This one was actually hillier than yesterday. Again its just a road 5K but definitely a tougher than average road 5K. At the end you are given a finisher ribbon. I like this for a 5K. I don’t necessarily need a medal for every 5K I do and especially a fundraiser 5K but it’s nice to get a little memento and a finisher ribbon seems right for a 5K. There were also water bottles, chocolate milk (yuck!), apples and some delicious homemade baked goods at the finish line. Overall this race was fine and it was a fun morning and it was cute seeing all the families there. It’s not the best produced nor most exciting race but for a fundraiser race sponsored by a school cross country team I thought they did a good job. I can’t say I would definitely drive 3 1/2 hours for this race in a year when I am not trying to run 100 races during a pandemic when I have no idea how many of my Fall races will actually happen and I really hope we are never in this situation again. Still this is one I would recommend to locals and may do again since it’s hard for me to resist a four race weekend and this seems to be the closest race to Rochester on Labor Day Monday.