Give n' Gobble 2011

We kicked off Thanksgiving 2011 with a race! We ran Sherwood's Give n' Gobble last year with the fam and loved it, so we signed up again.
Free shirt with canned food donation:
Ready to go burn some Thanksgiving calories:
I ran the 5K last year but wanted to tackle the very hilly 10K this time. Despite the tough course, I barely missed PRing. My pace was off by just 5 seconds per mile. Shoot.
6.23 miles in 1:00:36 - a 9:44-minute mile. I feel great about that!

Brad ran the 10K but was under dressed and cold the whole time. His frozen lead legs slowed him down, and he's not happy with his performance. When he woke Friday with a killer head cold, he realized that was holding him back, too.
Eryn has been training hard and also ran the 10K. She did awesome, especially considering the hills.

Mom, Dad, Steve and Donna all walked the 5K and had fun. And we all finished before the rains returned!
The run was fun, and it was great to raise food and funds to feed hungry people in our community. \

But there were some major issues... It's really grown too big for the organization and infrastructure.

Because the weather is poor and the parking is spread out (we overflowed way into the neighborhood), they really need to add a bag check. And where were the goodies this year?? They had food out before the race, but it was mostly gone afterward. You can't eat donuts and then go run - move the food to after, like in every other race.

They also need to change the course. It ends on a nice paved, wooded path. But its very narrow and windy. There isn't room for the walkers (some with dogs and strollers!) and the runners. I spent WAY too much energy repeatedly yelling "on your left" while trying to push to the end. I believe that I would have PR'd if I hadn't had to deal with those walkers. Very disappointing.

The beginning of the course is far too crowded. They need to have wave starts and clear the roads. The first road is narrow and had cars parked on both sides - not enough room for the people.

The other big problem I saw was traffic control. Eryn said she almost got hit by a car! They need volunteers who aren't just cheering but keeping runners safe.

We learned after we'd already registered that there was a brand-new Turkey Thon right near our house. We really want to continue the Thanksgiving race tradition and will probably sign up for the Turkey Thon next year instead :)