Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Cookie Chaser 5k

This was a cute little 5k. It was out in Herriman, so off the beaten path. It started at a park and was easy to find. I was a little worried about that since I don't know the area well. PRO The race is to raise money for a girl scout camp. And as you guessed it there were girl scout cookies involved!

PRO This was a small race but it was still chip timed. The chip was on the bib and not huge so I liked that. This race was kind of fun because there is a 10k, a 5k and a 2k with the 2k about 30 minutes before the other, so you can do the 2k in combination with the 10k or 5k. Then the person who has the lowest combined race time gets a separate prize. They call it the do-si-dos. We were thinking that might be fun for next year. The race also allows strollers and even had a stroller division. I accidentally tried to get my bib from them.

The course itself had some good uphill portions and a lot of turns in the first half. This makes for a slow course but I still got my best time for the year. (It's early in the year, easy to get a best ;) I felt like the course was well marked but a few people ahead of me did get lost and G (husband) thought there should have been a little warning before turns so you could chose your angles better. He didn't have the luxury of having people in front of him to follow.

CON There was not a lot of food at the finish; bananas, apples, cookies (from KFC) and Gatorade. It was enough to get me by. I really needed some protein but that is not something unique to this race since most races aren't good at having protein at the finish.

PRO They had great awards. There were cute wood plaques for the top three in all age groups and in the 5k and 10k the top three also got Girl Scout Cookies. They let you pick the kind of cookies. CON One bummer was that they gave the cookies to the 2K winners first so there were no thin mints by the time they got to the 5k. Motivation to run the 2k next year! The overall finishers also got gift certificates to Run GR8. We stopped in there afterward to use our certificates and it was a nice little store. I got a sweet sports bra that I am excited about.

The day of the race was rainy and dang cold but luckily it was only a light drizzle during the race itself. It did make sitting and waiting for the awards REALLY cold and I admit I got a bit miserable. CON They took a really long time to get the awards started, which was odd since it was chipped timed. If you are doing them by hand I can give you a break but I'm sure the last 5k runner had been done half an hour before the awards started. Another CON with that is we missed our recovery window to get some protein in. We left before the drawing so I dont know if the prizes were good but I was shaking from the cold I couldn't wait any longer! Plus the speakers were having issues and the lady doing the announcing just wasn't quite sure how to keep things moving. I have learned that good announcers are hard to find.

Conclusion:
I would do this race again. The course was hard but not break your heart hard and the awards were fun. I love when so many people have the opportunity to get something! Having a fun environment and being for a good cause will bring me back.

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