5K In the East Bay: Lake Merritt Fun Run Item 20 - Run 6 5 5K's

I've been running since high school, off and on. Like most people that say that exact phrase it's been more off than on since high school. For the last six years, however, I've been trying to be more serious about running. I spent a good part of last year training for a marathon that I never ran (more on that in a later post) which was sort of the culmination of my first year of ever running competitive races. I ran three 5K's last year and decided to double it this year (it doesn't hurt that six 5K's equals that magic number 30). As far as inaugural races for this project go, I could have done much worse than the Lake Merritt fun run but they probably could have done a bit better.

My understanding is that this was the first 5K that this group has organized and I'm sorry to say that it kind of showed. They did some really nice things, but they were all tempered by the issues that also came along with them. From the start, the directions said that the race would be starting at the pavilion. I lived for a time near Lake Merritt before I moved back to Washington, and my sister lived there even longer, the first thing that came to mind for both of us (and the first result that Google Images returns when you search for "Lake Merritt Pavilion") is this building:

(Source)

But what they meant was this building:

(Source)

This was our fault, the directions do give the cross streets; but still not off to a great start. Luckily, we came to the park early so that my niece could run in the Lolly Pop Dash before the 5K. Unfortunately, this leads us nicely into the second complaint that I had: the timeline was seriously weird. Registration started at 8 a.m. (but the initial email seemed to indicate that that was when the race itself started), the Lolly Pop Dash (a free race for the kids that came along with their parents) started at 9:30 and the 5K itself started at 10:30. The Lolly Pop Dash lasted no more than five minutes. FInally, the raffle for prizes was held at about noon. That's about a three hour commitment for 5K.

Look at that chump, he has no idea what kind of wait is in store for him

The raffle brings us to a final point: the gifts. This race was for charity, so I'm willing to make allowances, but it also cost $35. I've run other charity races that cost $15 and came with a swag bag that had a t-shirt and snack. The swag bag this time had some advertisements and a coupon for free shipping on a Road ID (a $1.49 value!).

The bag didn't even have the organization name on it

It might sound like I didn't have a good time, and that would be wrong. I loved running at Lake Merritt, the organizers were really nice and obviously excited about putting it on. And despite getting lost twice during the race (I should point out that the course consisted of running around the lake, so I might be an idiot) I still had the second fastest time, which is a nice ego boost. I really loved doing this race and am happy that it went to such a good cause. I hope that the next one that they organize works out the little kinks from this one, because I have a feeling they could do a really fantastic race.