I found out about this race a couple days ago and decided to make it a double race weekend! This race really embodied 2020 and racing during the pandemic. The … MORE
I found out about this race a couple days ago and decided to make it a double race weekend! This race really embodied 2020 and racing during the pandemic. The race was produced by Confluence Running in Binghamton, NY about a 2 hour drive from me. For the race you signed up for time slots of 50 people at 8, 9 or 10am. I obviously picked 10 since it was a bit of a drive. Packet pick-up was recommended at the running store Thursday, Friday or Saturday before the race but I couldn’t make it so had to do it the morning of the race. The entire race was on the property of a mall in Binghamton and started in front of a brewery at the that sponsored the race. I signed up too late for a shirt but based on the website the shirt design looked nice with the race logo as an eye exam chart but it appeared to be a cotton, white tee and I have enough of those. All participants even those like myself who signed up too late for the shirt also got a buff which I was happy to see had the actual race logo since I loved the name of the race and wasn’t just a generic buff with the race company logo. The course was so stupid it was funny. It was literally just 3 laps around the mall parking lot. The RD had a great attitude and made a lot of jokes about the course and the “beautiful scenery” as we lined up at the start. I did think this was actually a pretty smart idea as it allowed a large area to run on and could be open for many hours to accommodate the waves as the mall doesn’t open until noon on Sunday. This race definitely showed the creativity RDs are using to produce races during covid and the fact that runners will literally run anywhere if it means swag and an official finishing time as this either sold out or almost sold out as there was only a handful of spots left when I signed up. Despite it being the dumbest course ever, the whole race was just so silly it was a lot of fun and all the participants and volunteers had a smile on their face. Course was pretty easy although the parking lot was on a small incline so there were some downhill and uphill sections but all low grade. The only real difficulty was a few patches of ice. Scenery was pretty terrible. It wasn’t even a particularly pretty mall…lol. My pace was pretty slow as I was sore from yesterday. At the finish line there was only water. I would have liked a granola bar but you did get a free beer coupon and there was food at the brewery (I think you had to pay for the food but I’m not sure as I didn’t go in as I don’t drink and am avoiding bars even more than usual during the pandemic). There was a Dunkins across the street where I got a post race bagel and coffee. Overall this was the dumbest race ever and I can’t in good conscience give a race in a mall parking lot more than 3 sneakers but it was actually a lot of fun and very well produced. I really hope this pandemic ends soon and I don’t have to drive 2 hours to run around a mall parking lot because it is the only race I can find in a 200 mile radius of Rochester ever again but I would definitely consider other events put on by Confluence Running given how well it was produced.
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The Most 2020 Race You'll Run in 2021
I found out about this race a couple days ago and decided to make it a double race weekend! This race really embodied 2020 and racing during the pandemic. The … MORE
I found out about this race a couple days ago and decided to make it a double race weekend! This race really embodied 2020 and racing during the pandemic. The race was produced by Confluence Running in Binghamton, NY about a 2 hour drive from me. For the race you signed up for time slots of 50 people at 8, 9 or 10am. I obviously picked 10 since it was a bit of a drive. Packet pick-up was recommended at the running store Thursday, Friday or Saturday before the race but I couldn’t make it so had to do it the morning of the race. The entire race was on the property of a mall in Binghamton and started in front of a brewery at the that sponsored the race. I signed up too late for a shirt but based on the website the shirt design looked nice with the race logo as an eye exam chart but it appeared to be a cotton, white tee and I have enough of those. All participants even those like myself who signed up too late for the shirt also got a buff which I was happy to see had the actual race logo since I loved the name of the race and wasn’t just a generic buff with the race company logo. The course was so stupid it was funny. It was literally just 3 laps around the mall parking lot. The RD had a great attitude and made a lot of jokes about the course and the “beautiful scenery” as we lined up at the start. I did think this was actually a pretty smart idea as it allowed a large area to run on and could be open for many hours to accommodate the waves as the mall doesn’t open until noon on Sunday. This race definitely showed the creativity RDs are using to produce races during covid and the fact that runners will literally run anywhere if it means swag and an official finishing time as this either sold out or almost sold out as there was only a handful of spots left when I signed up. Despite it being the dumbest course ever, the whole race was just so silly it was a lot of fun and all the participants and volunteers had a smile on their face. Course was pretty easy although the parking lot was on a small incline so there were some downhill and uphill sections but all low grade. The only real difficulty was a few patches of ice. Scenery was pretty terrible. It wasn’t even a particularly pretty mall…lol. My pace was pretty slow as I was sore from yesterday. At the finish line there was only water. I would have liked a granola bar but you did get a free beer coupon and there was food at the brewery (I think you had to pay for the food but I’m not sure as I didn’t go in as I don’t drink and am avoiding bars even more than usual during the pandemic). There was a Dunkins across the street where I got a post race bagel and coffee. Overall this was the dumbest race ever and I can’t in good conscience give a race in a mall parking lot more than 3 sneakers but it was actually a lot of fun and very well produced. I really hope this pandemic ends soon and I don’t have to drive 2 hours to run around a mall parking lot because it is the only race I can find in a 200 mile radius of Rochester ever again but I would definitely consider other events put on by Confluence Running given how well it was produced.