First let me get this minor disclaimer out of the way – I am
close friends with the Race Director of this race, which is just one of the
reasons I run it each year. She’s awesome, but that will not influence my
review.
This
year the St. Anne School Nun Run, a race to benefit the church school, was
moved to Sept (it had been in the Spring in the past) to occur during the
school’s annual International Festival, which I think was a great decision and
led to more exposure and race entries than prior years. Pre-race, there is lots
of email communication and Facebook posting to keep participants in the know.
Pack pick up was race day only and despite that, it was a quick and well
organized process. The pick up area and race start were located across the
street from St. Anne Church and there was plenty of parking at and around the
church. I parked, walked across the street and waited only a minute or two to
pick up my bib and cute cotton shirt (seriously, the logo is adorable and filled
the shirt front with sponsors on the back). There was a large table with all
the regular rack packet items – chap-stick, pens, coozies and bottle openers
that you could help yourself to, all with sponsor logos, but I have tons of
this stuff already, so I passed. A quick trek back to the car to stash my shirt
and back across the street to the race start.
The
race atmosphere was very festive. It was a smaller race but it was located
about 2 miles from my house, so I knew a lot of the participants. Lots of showings
from local running groups and of course much of the St. Anne Church membership.
The race was free for children, so there were a lot of kids there as well. One
local group, F3 was there in a large showing and had several local disabled
youth that they were pushing in racing wheel chairs/carts so that was really
awesome too be a part of. The kids were all so excited.
The
race started at 8 am right after the National Anthem and a short prayer. One
thing I wasn’t so keen on for the start is that we started the race in a grassy
field before turning onto a neighborhood road after about .1 mile. I’m
notoriously clumsy, but managed to make it to the road without incident. I also
am not a fan of races that allow dogs, esp when those with the dogs don’t start
in the back, but that may be just me as I have a slight dog phobia.
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| I swear I didn’t mean those things, Susan! |
Time
for honesty. This was probably one of the most brutally hilly routes I’ve ever
done a 5K on. Holy hills it was a rough one. And I literally ran a race with
the word Mountain in the name. The course zig-zagged around neighborhood
streets near the church for 1.5 miles where you then turned around and went
back the same way. There was a water station at the turn that was well staffed,
but I passed without water which is typical for me for a 5k. It wasn’t any less
hilly coming back either. Around mile 2 I saw the race director, who I may have
said a few unkind words that I had to apologize for later. This was the second
year the Nun Run followed this particular route as they had to avoid the local
university area due to an event. Fingers crossed next year’s race is able to
route on Winthrop campus again and not on this hilly hilly route. There were
ample volunteers on course who helped keep everyone’s spirits up and more than
a few neighbors were out in their yards cheering runners. I spent some time
running with some of the F3 guys and their kid companions and was able to
forget the rough terrain.
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| Somehow I’m not slipping on grass at the finish |
The
finishing mat was a quick turn off the road back onto the grassy field which
again made me a bit nervous with the still wet grass, but was fine. Lots of
people cheering at the finish. There was a huge table with cups of water and
Gatorade. There was another table that was filled to the brim with all kinds of
snack foods. I’m not kidding, it was the best post-race stocked table I’ve ever
seen. Fruit of all kinds, bagels, granola bars, chips, crackers, cookies,
muffins, you name it. There were several church ladies making sure that
everyone got food and they were super sweet.
There
were no medals with the exception of those who placed 1st, 2nd or 3rd in the
following- Overall Male/Female, Masters Male/Female and in 10 year Age Groups
Male/Female. The medals were super cute, color appropriate (Gold, Silver and
Bronze) with the race logo on one side and the placement engraved on the back.
Despite the rough course, I managed a placing (time 29:39), in fact, my first Masters
placing since turning 40 a few months ago – 3rd place Masters Female.
Overall, great local race, great
community and a great cause. Will for sure do it again, I’ll just be keeping my
fingers crossed for a route change.