I am originally from NH and now that I am back on the East Coast I am planning to visit quite a bit as long as covid rates stay low … MORE
I am originally from NH and now that I am back on the East Coast I am planning to visit quite a bit as long as covid rates stay low in both NH and NY therefore I was very happy to hear the Millenium Running in NH is planning to hold all their fall events with social distancing protocols. I was very impressed by the organization of this race and the ability to host a race with over 500 runners safely. Each runner was placed in a wave based on predicted finishing time with faster runners in earlier waves so there is less passing. Each wave is limited to 100 participants and each gets a number 1 to 100 and stands at a cone 6 ft apart based on their number then every few seconds a new runner goes. Each wave is given a time for parking, packet pick up and entering corral to avoid large congregations. Parking was easy but since I was in a later wave I had to park kind of far. Packet pick was that morning (or the option of early pick up at the store but I arrived too late the evening before). You got bib and T-shirt. Only issue with shirts and really only production issue is they were out of men’s mediums (I switched to choosing men’s sizes since women’s sizes are too unpredictable) but they had women’s larges left which ended up being a perfect fit for me. I have mixed feelings about the shirt. It is tech and fits nice. I like how the race logo has the elevation profile incorporated in the image but the color is kind of an ugly charcoal grey. The start went quite smooth and I like how they personally introduce each runner before they start adding more excitement to the start line. The weather at the start was gloomy, cool and slightly drizzly which I actually like running in weather like that. The course itself is quite tough and very tough for a road race. They aren’t lying about the hills. It was pretty nonstop up and down for the whole race. This year the race was run the reverse direction as usual so the runners ran against traffic and roads didn’t need to be closed. With the wave starts, spaced out runners, and lots of signage it felt safe running on the open roads. This changed course meant the steepest hills were up front which is better but the finish was not downhill which is worse. There were 3 water stops with small water bottles and the last 2 had small powerade bottles. This seemed very hygienic but not very good for the environment. So many half full water and powerade bottles in the garbage. I hope they get recycled and even though I prefer to run lighter I plan to use my hydration pack next race to reduce the waste. The course went around a pretty lake and the views of the lake were nice. The rest of the race was pretty (it’s hard to find a not pretty 10 mile in NH) but not as pretty as a New England race in the Fall. The hills were tough and this had probably the second toughest hills I dealt with on a road race after the Chinatown Firecracker 10K but after those mountain trail races I can’t give it a 5 star in difficulty (but it may be that difficult for exclusive road runners). About halfway through it started to rain hard and I no longer liked the weather (I can’t always expect perfect weather now that I am out of LA). Most of the race was road but the last mile was on the rail trail. Normally I’d like some easy, non techinical trail at the end of the race but not in the rain as it was muddy and hard to avoid puddles. Also the last mile was a slight incline so it was a tough end. At the finish line they called out all the runners as they crossed another nice personal touch. Given the hills and weather I was happy to finish under 2 hours. At the finish line there was water, powerade, fruit cups, coconut bars, bananas and apples. You were also given your medal. The medal was amazing. It was huge and by far my largest medal from a non half or full marathon. However it didn’t have the year but from what I saw online was a different medal than last year. I will forgive RDs this year for not putting the date on the medal since they may not have been 100% sure the race would happen when they ordered them. This was not the most pleasant race with the rain which was not the race’s fault but was very organized and felt very safe. I’m not sure in a year with multiple races to choose from that I would choose to visit NH for this race alone but if I had another reason to be in town the week of the race I would absolutely run it again. I hope Millenium Running can keep holding their events like this as I am hoping to run the New England Half and Manchester City Full. But their cancellation policy is more than fair offering credit to any future Millenium Running event so low risk to sign up for their races if you are local or visit NH a lot.
To Hill & Back
I am originally from NH and now that I am back on the East Coast I am planning to visit quite a bit as long as covid rates stay low … MORE
I am originally from NH and now that I am back on the East Coast I am planning to visit quite a bit as long as covid rates stay low in both NH and NY therefore I was very happy to hear the Millenium Running in NH is planning to hold all their fall events with social distancing protocols. I was very impressed by the organization of this race and the ability to host a race with over 500 runners safely. Each runner was placed in a wave based on predicted finishing time with faster runners in earlier waves so there is less passing. Each wave is limited to 100 participants and each gets a number 1 to 100 and stands at a cone 6 ft apart based on their number then every few seconds a new runner goes. Each wave is given a time for parking, packet pick up and entering corral to avoid large congregations. Parking was easy but since I was in a later wave I had to park kind of far. Packet pick was that morning (or the option of early pick up at the store but I arrived too late the evening before). You got bib and T-shirt. Only issue with shirts and really only production issue is they were out of men’s mediums (I switched to choosing men’s sizes since women’s sizes are too unpredictable) but they had women’s larges left which ended up being a perfect fit for me. I have mixed feelings about the shirt. It is tech and fits nice. I like how the race logo has the elevation profile incorporated in the image but the color is kind of an ugly charcoal grey. The start went quite smooth and I like how they personally introduce each runner before they start adding more excitement to the start line. The weather at the start was gloomy, cool and slightly drizzly which I actually like running in weather like that. The course itself is quite tough and very tough for a road race. They aren’t lying about the hills. It was pretty nonstop up and down for the whole race. This year the race was run the reverse direction as usual so the runners ran against traffic and roads didn’t need to be closed. With the wave starts, spaced out runners, and lots of signage it felt safe running on the open roads. This changed course meant the steepest hills were up front which is better but the finish was not downhill which is worse. There were 3 water stops with small water bottles and the last 2 had small powerade bottles. This seemed very hygienic but not very good for the environment. So many half full water and powerade bottles in the garbage. I hope they get recycled and even though I prefer to run lighter I plan to use my hydration pack next race to reduce the waste. The course went around a pretty lake and the views of the lake were nice. The rest of the race was pretty (it’s hard to find a not pretty 10 mile in NH) but not as pretty as a New England race in the Fall. The hills were tough and this had probably the second toughest hills I dealt with on a road race after the Chinatown Firecracker 10K but after those mountain trail races I can’t give it a 5 star in difficulty (but it may be that difficult for exclusive road runners). About halfway through it started to rain hard and I no longer liked the weather (I can’t always expect perfect weather now that I am out of LA). Most of the race was road but the last mile was on the rail trail. Normally I’d like some easy, non techinical trail at the end of the race but not in the rain as it was muddy and hard to avoid puddles. Also the last mile was a slight incline so it was a tough end. At the finish line they called out all the runners as they crossed another nice personal touch. Given the hills and weather I was happy to finish under 2 hours. At the finish line there was water, powerade, fruit cups, coconut bars, bananas and apples. You were also given your medal. The medal was amazing. It was huge and by far my largest medal from a non half or full marathon. However it didn’t have the year but from what I saw online was a different medal than last year. I will forgive RDs this year for not putting the date on the medal since they may not have been 100% sure the race would happen when they ordered them. This was not the most pleasant race with the rain which was not the race’s fault but was very organized and felt very safe. I’m not sure in a year with multiple races to choose from that I would choose to visit NH for this race alone but if I had another reason to be in town the week of the race I would absolutely run it again. I hope Millenium Running can keep holding their events like this as I am hoping to run the New England Half and Manchester City Full. But their cancellation policy is more than fair offering credit to any future Millenium Running event so low risk to sign up for their races if you are local or visit NH a lot.