A Race Really Isn't About the Awards (Part 5)

I'm going to wrap this up today, I promise. (You can click the back button below to get to the first four parts.)

Here we are 10 days past race day and I still can't stop thinking about all that this race taught me about myself and about directing races. I don't think I'm even able to put it all into words...although I'm sure trying!

Just after the race started I got a call about the awards. I can't say at this point that I remember every word of that conversation but I was in shock because I realized they weren't right. The details of what specifically wasn't right doesn't matter. I just mentally added it to my list of things I needed to somehow fix.

Here's the thing about directing a race. It's NEVER about the logistics or the specifics. It's ALWAYS about solving a problem. Some races have just a few problems that need to be solved...this one seemed to have problems all along the way. I felt like I was barely able to keep up.

It's interesting to me because about this time (20 minutes into the race) I got a text that I didn't even see until the next day. (Or, if I did see it I realized there was nothing I could do about it at that point and I blocked it out of my memory!) I'll come back to that text later... When I got over to the finish line I had a conversation with someone about the awards and found out why they were wrong. I said I would figure out a solution...but I dropped that ball.

I was supposed to have given the timer a new list of the results I wanted. It was a very specific set of results that was very different from any other race I've done. Most races have 5 or 10 year age groupings for awards. But this race has so many little kids, and historically so few adults, they do more concentrated groups for the younger kids and broader groups for the older ones. Leading up to race day there were a lot of discussions between HICLC and the person making the awards and myself. One big mistake is that we never had a discussion where we were all together. And I didn't communicate my expectations in an email. It was all via messenger and text. Communication gets LOST in messages. And when you have three people involved in a discussion but they aren't all together that process gets further complicated. Add to that my failure in giving the timer the new list and you have a recipe for major confusion.

I wish that was the only "major" issue. I got word the day after the race that there were no cups on the

Not taken at this race...

course!! At least that's what a couple of people thought. There were two aid stations-mile 1 and mile 2. But at least 2 people only saw one of them (mile 1) and there were no cups at that one. Further investigation into the matter revealed there were in fact cups at the mile 2 station. But...remember that text I had not apparently not seen...it was telling me there were no cups at mile 1. (It was WAY too late into the race to do anything about it but I thought it incredibly ironic!) What really floored me was that the instructions I gave to the person setting up the aid stations spelled out how many cups to take to each station. WHY weren't they taken? (I still don't know and at this point I don't think the reason really matters. I know how to fix it next year!)

But, this race was about SO MUCH more than just the problems that came up. And it was more than just some people going out to run a 5K or a 1 mile race.

I can't even begin to write about all the stories I heard along the way...

There was a little girl who had apparently been told she only needed to complete the 1 mile event who lined up for the 5K. As she came around the final turn (about an hour and 20 minutes after the start of the race...that's a pace of about 25 minutes per mile!) the police car that was behind her started playing "Eye of the Tiger" over his loud speaker! She jogged in that final stretch looking like a CHAMP!!! Then, after she had some water, she WENT BACK OUT to do the extra mile so she could meet the challenge I put out to all the kids!!! I couldn't have been more proud!!! More kids this year did both distances than any other year past!!  AND other participants took that challenge right along with them! Many of the 5Kers had trained with a group to run their first 5K...and they topped that first 5K off with and EXTRA MILE!!!

I've never really been the "participation award" kind of gal. I think just to participate in something doesn't make you special...most of the time. But for some things it takes guts to even start the event. Heck, for some things it takes guts to even train to get TO the start. I think to step outside of your comfort zone and to voluntarily participate in something that you 1) didn't know you could do, 2) didn't really have a desire to do before you were pushed, and/or 3) was totally optional matters. It's means something JUST to do the thing. You don't have to beat the person next to you because you are probably not competing against them anyway.

Along my fitness journey there have been more times than I can count that I didn't WANT to train. I didn't WANT to swim, bike, run, pick up heavy things...towing the line at a race was the easy part most of the time. I get that for a lot of competitors out there a race is just that--a RACE against the others who showed up on that day. But I'm willing to bet that for most of us that's not what it's about at all. It's about fighting all the voices in my head (and in real life) that said I couldn't do it. It's about the determination it took to get up day after day to get my body ready for the event. It's about fighting all the obstacles to get to the start and then continuing that fight all the way to the finish. The award, or the participation medal, or the race shirt...those are just reminders of what it took to get there.

I'm not going to lie...I feel like I "deserve" an award for directing this race! And I got it. Or I should say I got "them". All the smiles and hugs! I wish I could describe for you the difference between this race and all the others but it's really something you have to experience. If I have anything to say about it though, you won't get to experience it as the RD...I'm vying for that job again next year myself. You'll have to settle for either being a sponsor, a volunteer or a participant. Save the date now....2nd Saturday in May, the day before Mother's Day.

Thanks for stopping in and sticking around. That's all I am going to say about that. :D