Race name: Crawfish Crawl
Date and time: Saturday August 2nd, 2014 @ 10:30-10:50am start times
Events and cost: Half Marathon, 10k, 5k $55
Location: Tualatin Commons Lake; Tualatin, OR
Number of runners: ~500
Beneficiary: None
Date and time: Saturday August 2nd, 2014 @ 10:30-10:50am start times
Events and cost: Half Marathon, 10k, 5k $55
Location: Tualatin Commons Lake; Tualatin, OR
Number of runners: ~500
Beneficiary: None
Packet pickup: One day, Friday 10-7:30, and DOR. I just didn't have any reason to pick it up ahead of time and make an extra trip all the way out to Tualatin.
Swag: Red, gender specific tech t-shirts with the race logo on them (but no crawfish!); SUPER CUTE crawfish medal; 1 beer (ANY beer available! probably a dozen to choose from); 1 pancake breakfast (but they ran out before noon, while tons of runners were still on the course). No goodie bag, some bags of chips available and bottled water.
Parking: Parking was supposedly "two blocks away" at Haggen... it was more than two blocks away. It wasn't super far, but it was definitely far enough away that you'd want to use bag check.
Bag check: There was bag check--super fast and easy. They've got it down.
Course: The race website claims, "Flat, fast, and friendly! The Crawfish Crawl 5K/10K/Half Marathon has always been regarded as a fast running and walking course and this year is no different." I heard that the 5k was, but there were definitely some BEASTLY hills on the 10k and half marathon routes. There was a map but no elevation detail online.
The race: Better Series changed the start time from 8:00 am to 10:30 am less than two weeks before the race. In the middle of summer, that's kind of a big deal. It was hot before I even arrived at the race. It was hotter at the starting line. I wanted to run a good pace, but with the heat and Pac West Spartan Sprint at 2:00 that same day, I knew I needed to conserve my energy. The 10k course meandered through parks on asphalt, concrete and gravel, and also through some nearby neighborhoods. Parts of the course had REALLY steep inclines. While I do greatly appreciate the frequent water stations, I was disappointed that they were handing out full 16 oz single use water bottles. While some volunteers were trying to be helpful removing the caps completely, that meant runners were unable to reseal the bottle and either spilled it all over themselves or tossed a half-full bottle of water. I drank a lot of water but still suffered a lot in the heat, and was incredibly glad when it was over.
Post-race: Immediately after finishing, I received my finishers medal and some water, and I joined back up with Bonnie and Cari. I went to redeem my beer ticket, but some of the beer vendors seemed to be confused, which was kind of a hassle, but ended up working out fine. Unfortunately, when we went to go get pancakes, they had run out, although there was still eggs and bacon. It was not even noon, and tons of runners and walkers were still out on the course, so I'm not sure how such a shortage happened? Better Series has done pancakes at races before (ex. Hippie Chick). We didn't stick around for the costume contest or awards ceremony. They had really cute beer stein glasses for the top 3 in each age division. I wish they had them for sale, and had done something else for prizes!!! Oh well.
Photos: I looked hot and tired.
Results: I ended up finishing in 57:14. I was surprised to see I was 4th in my age division. I was tired and drained, and ended up being tired and drained for Spartan Race too :(
This was my first year running Crawfish Crawl, so I can't really compare it with prior years. However, I'm really surprised by some of the issues at Crawfish Crawl, given the issues at last month's Red White and Blues race--I would have thought that the race organizers would have been extra diligent in making sure that every detail was taken care of. Better Series has a lot of really great events, but I was kind of bummed by some of the issues at this one.
Swag: Red, gender specific tech t-shirts with the race logo on them (but no crawfish!); SUPER CUTE crawfish medal; 1 beer (ANY beer available! probably a dozen to choose from); 1 pancake breakfast (but they ran out before noon, while tons of runners were still on the course). No goodie bag, some bags of chips available and bottled water.
Parking: Parking was supposedly "two blocks away" at Haggen... it was more than two blocks away. It wasn't super far, but it was definitely far enough away that you'd want to use bag check.
Bag check: There was bag check--super fast and easy. They've got it down.
Course: The race website claims, "Flat, fast, and friendly! The Crawfish Crawl 5K/10K/Half Marathon has always been regarded as a fast running and walking course and this year is no different." I heard that the 5k was, but there were definitely some BEASTLY hills on the 10k and half marathon routes. There was a map but no elevation detail online.
The race: Better Series changed the start time from 8:00 am to 10:30 am less than two weeks before the race. In the middle of summer, that's kind of a big deal. It was hot before I even arrived at the race. It was hotter at the starting line. I wanted to run a good pace, but with the heat and Pac West Spartan Sprint at 2:00 that same day, I knew I needed to conserve my energy. The 10k course meandered through parks on asphalt, concrete and gravel, and also through some nearby neighborhoods. Parts of the course had REALLY steep inclines. While I do greatly appreciate the frequent water stations, I was disappointed that they were handing out full 16 oz single use water bottles. While some volunteers were trying to be helpful removing the caps completely, that meant runners were unable to reseal the bottle and either spilled it all over themselves or tossed a half-full bottle of water. I drank a lot of water but still suffered a lot in the heat, and was incredibly glad when it was over.
Post-race: Immediately after finishing, I received my finishers medal and some water, and I joined back up with Bonnie and Cari. I went to redeem my beer ticket, but some of the beer vendors seemed to be confused, which was kind of a hassle, but ended up working out fine. Unfortunately, when we went to go get pancakes, they had run out, although there was still eggs and bacon. It was not even noon, and tons of runners and walkers were still out on the course, so I'm not sure how such a shortage happened? Better Series has done pancakes at races before (ex. Hippie Chick). We didn't stick around for the costume contest or awards ceremony. They had really cute beer stein glasses for the top 3 in each age division. I wish they had them for sale, and had done something else for prizes!!! Oh well.
Photos: I looked hot and tired.
Results: I ended up finishing in 57:14. I was surprised to see I was 4th in my age division. I was tired and drained, and ended up being tired and drained for Spartan Race too :(
This was my first year running Crawfish Crawl, so I can't really compare it with prior years. However, I'm really surprised by some of the issues at Crawfish Crawl, given the issues at last month's Red White and Blues race--I would have thought that the race organizers would have been extra diligent in making sure that every detail was taken care of. Better Series has a lot of really great events, but I was kind of bummed by some of the issues at this one.
L to R: Fellow Run Oregon blogger Bonnie Ingersoll, my BFF Cari, and ME!
LOOOVE the medal.
