Disney has jumped the shark…

Well, they’ve finally done it.  They’ve gone too far.  I knew something like this was bound to happen but I didn’t expect it to happen this soon.

runDisney has made the announcement on the Disney Parks Blog of a new race and a new challenge for the 2014 Walt Disney World Marathon weekend.   The Goofy’s Race and a half Challenge (running both the half and full) has been around since 2006.  At some point along the way runners added the 5K to the mix for an “unofficial” challenge referred to as the Dopey Challenge, since if running a half and full marathon back to back is Goofy than surely running a 5K, half and then full back to back to back had to be “Dopey”.

Well, Disney has now made the Dopey challenge official… with a twist.  They’ve added a 10K to the mix (who’s “host” and medal will be Minnie Mouse) and instead of the Dopey being a 3 race challenge they went ahead and jumped to a four race challenge and made it the 5K, 10K, Half and then Full back to back to back to back.  The haul for this is 6 medals – 5K, 10K, Half, Full, Goofy and Dopey.  You get credit for the Goofy challenge for doing the Dopey, which I imagine is only fair.

I don’t like this for a myriad of reasons.  First, this pushes the 5K to Thursday, which complicated travel plans (and days off for those of us who, ya know, work for a living) and lodging.  If you want to come in on Saturday just to run the Full marathon only on Sunday? HA… good luck. Second, the 5K starts at 6:30AM, and the 10K start at 5:30AM just like the half and the full, so you are looking at four mornings in a row of getting up at 2AM or so to get to the start, even if you are staying on park property.  I don’t see how this is fun.  It was bad enough doing it for one race like I did. Last, it’s a money grab… pure and simple.  I love Disney, I really do, but this goes too far.  How much does it cost for the “honor” of four days of torture.  A cool five Benjamins ($495 until June 18).

This past year I paid $150 to run the half marathon by registering for it as soon as it opened.  This year the opening registration is $160.  Ok, so it’s only $10, what’s the big deal.  The big deal is it goes up every year.  Until they reach the point of diminishing returns (i.e. the price gets so high the race does not sell out) it will continue to go up.  That means in 10 years the Disney half marathon will cost $250.  Think about that. I saw someone who posted on the Half Fanatics facebook page that the Dopey was only $20 more than the combined prices of all four races.  Wait… $20 MORE? You don’t even get a discount for registering for multiple races? Damn the extra medals and the extra shirt, most other places with race combos (like the Flying Pirate or the St Leo’s this year) the price for the double is LESS than the individual prices.

Thinking back to this past year’s race experience I shudder to think what next year will be like.  Almost 60,000 runners between the three races.  The expo was MOBBED even when I went on it’s second day.  The race course was MOBBED or as one of my fellow racers so eloquently put it “We were ass-to-elbow the entire time”.  Adding an extra race and an extra day is only going to make this worse.  Now that the shorter races are part of the challenge, they are going to sell out faster and they are going to fill up with people who are doing the challenge rather than who just want to do only the 5K, or only the 10K.  Will they cap it like the Goofy so that the 5K and 10K are not 100% full of Dopey participants, yes, I’m sure they will, but it will still take a huge chunk out of both of those races. 25%? 50%? Where will they cap it?

I have other Disney races I want to run.  I’d like to run the Disneyland half in California (or even the Tink).  Lisa wants to run the Wine and Dine Half, and I love EPCOT so how can I say no to that, and her and a whole host of her friends want to do the Expedition Everest Challenge.   But, do I want to go back to the circus that the Marathon Weekend has become? Hell no.  Not even close.  You won’t see me there unless Lisa is just dying to run the Half (or the new Minnie Mouse 10K).

I know this will be an unpopular opinion, most people seem to be all “HECK YEAH!” and “BRING IT ON!” but I don’t like it.  That’s just me.  If you wanna go be Dopey for a week and spend $5000 in Central Florida in the off season, go right ahead.

Upcoming Race Schedule – Fall/Winter 2012

I was reading through my old blogs and came across one of my “seasonal” Race Calender updates and realized I hadn’t done one in a while, and my upcoming schedule is pretty much set in stone at this point.  So here goes! For the second half of 2012.

September 15th – Run for the Greenway 8K – Greensboro, NC
This race just happened to be in the right place at the right time.  This race falls on my second weekend of half marathon training which calls for a 5 mile run.  Well why not a 5 mile race? The race benefits a newly built greenway around downtown Greensboro.

September 29th – Salem Lake 10K/30K – Winston Salem, NC
Since I’m planning on doing all my Raleigh long runs at Salem Lake anyway (for the hills) and this race is put out by my fellow TCTC buddies over at Ultimate Race Management this is a must do.  It should be a great race.  Obviously I’ll be doing the 10K and not the 30K (18 miles! WOW).

October 20th – RHABA 10K – Rural Hall, NC
I’m divided on this race.  It’s rumored to be a flat and fast course, so I originally planned to set a 10K PR here, but since it’s 2 weeks before my half marathon and this is my half marathon “tune-up” I may have to hold back a little bit.  I don’t want to burn myself out or risk injury so close to the big race.  Although my 10K PR is right at a 12 minute mile pace, which now is my targeted half marathon pace, so if I’m slightly faster than that (for the shorter distance) I can set a PR without messing up my half marathon training.

November 4th – Rex Healthcare Half Marathon – Raleigh, NC
My second half marathon, this is a big race for several reasons.  First, this race has a 14 minute/mile (3 hour) pace/time limit.  If I want to have an “Official” finish at this race, I’ll have no choice to set a new PR and get under 3 hours, I think I can do this based on my current pacing and the pace I will attempt to train at.  Second, I lived in Raleigh for about 10 years during my two tours of duty at NC State, I love Raleigh, and the race starts and finishes at the NC State Memorial Bell Tower, so this will be a awesome and sentimental race for me.  I was trying to choose between Raleigh and Myrtle Beach and Raleigh won out. Last but certainly not least, my family will be there! My best friend Gray and his wife Katie (who may as well be family) will be there, and my sister and her bf as well as my parents are coming up for the weekend as well, so I will have a cheering squad and support crew with is very unusual for me, I’m used to running solo!

November 24th – Charlotte Checkers Charity 5K – Charlotte NC
Just recently got the email about this race from the Checkers (and 5 minutes later a forwarded version from my brother’s fiance) and it looks cool, and I also just discovered they are not running the Freisen 5K this year for the Hurricanes, so this will be my hockey race.  The registration includes a ticket to the game that night, so run a race, go to a hockey game and hang out with my brother and his fiance? Win win win!

December ?? – Mistletoe 5K – Winston Salem NC
I don’t know the exact date for this race yet, but this will be my December race, to make sure I run a race in each month of the year.  Put on by the local YMCA and I assume it benefit’s them and their charities.  Hope to run this one with my buddy Jen if her hip is healed up.

And that will finish up 2012 with 17 races including 10 5K’s, 2 8K’s, 3 10Ks and 2 Half Marathons. (85.8 racing miles).

Beat the Heat 5K – Winston Salem NC – July 21, 2012

There are a lot of different challenges in distance running.  Distance challenges (how far can you go), time challenges (how fast can you go), course challenges (hills, trails, pot holed roads) and environmental challenges (heat, snow, rain, ice).  This race is not a terribly difficult course, but the timing of it is brutal.  Definitely an environmental challenge.  I very nearly signed up for this race last year until I realized that Beat the Heat was not an invitation, but a challenge.  Can you beat the heat? Despite being in the evening it was still very warm and with rain threatening, very very humid.  It was 89 when I left my house, but I don’t know what it was at race start.  It was cloudy and a little bit of a breeze but still quite warm.

 

Smiling pre-race.  My running buddy Jen who is sidelined with a bum hip right now was at the race as a volunteer and she took all these photo’s.

 

The race was hosted at the Wake Forest University football stadium and the roads around it.  Nice venue, relatively flat (345 ascent, 354 descent).

This is a serious race.  This race is the US Track and Field North Carolina 5K championships with prize money and everything.  Sadly, but stoically the young girl who won the age graded placings had to defer the prize money because she is a high school athlete and has to keep her amateur status.  Still very impressive for a 16 yr old girl with a bright career ahead of her.  There was a huge crowd for this race, about 1000 people.  It was about the same as my starting corral for the New Orleans half marathon, which were about 1000 people each (plus or minus those who shifted corrals).  A lot of dodging and weaving at the start and it didn’t really thin out until about a half mile.

 

I’m in there somewhere, I promise.

They had three “corrals” so to speak at the start line. Elites and USTAF people up front, then under 20 minute finishers, between 20 and 30 minute finishers and then over 30 minute finishers.  My PR is 34 minutes, and so I didn’t want to be all the way back in the back with the walkers and strollers to start out with, so I tried to start as close to the front of the “over 30 minute” group as I could.

I started off as always pretty fast, caught up in the crowd and the excitement of race day.  Given the extreme conditions I planned on running this race slowly, with the goal of just finishing. I was very surprised to tick off a 10:36 first mile, but I knew I couldn’t hold that pace, but I did a good job holding miles 2 and 3 at a steady pace 11:41 and 11:49 respectively.  But I got a surprise as I loaded the Garmin at home.  I covered the last 0.11 miles in 1:04 which is a 9:52 pace! WOW.  I wasn’t trying to kick or push to the finish, but I guess my feet just went crazy.

 

Ran into Jen on the course at about 1.25 miles, she was almost too busy enjoying her beer to snap a picture but she managed to catch a couple of me.

 

Pushing hard to the finish with my unconscious kick.

 

Yay! I did it! (I have no idea why I do the Nixon Double Peace hands, but I always do….)

Finished up the race with a nice post race dinner of pizza and beer (after I sat down for a while and cooled down since I didn’t feel so hot immediately after the race).  Was not a PR, but wasn’t too far off.

 

Still smiling post race…. always a good thing.

Rhythm and Run 5K – Kannapolis, NC – June 16, 2012

This morning was the inaugural Rhythm and Run 5K to benefit the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame in Kannapolis NC.  I signed up for this race as soon as I found out about it since I was a little ashamed as such a music-phile that I didn’t even know this place existed.  The purpose of this race was to promote them and raise awareness, and they surely succeeded.  They had about twice as many register runners than they expected someone said over 200 instead of just 100.  Unfortunately this did lead to one cardinal sin.  They ran out of shirts.  They told me they would have one for me next week, but I dont think I’m gonna drive down there just for a shirt.  I have enough tech shirts, so was only slightly bummed.

My parents were at this race today so that was very cool, as they were making a lightning tour of NC to come see us all, Charlotte on Friday, Kannapolis on Saturday and then Saturday night in Fuquay and then back home Sunday.  Short trip but they wanted to come see us.  I told them it wasn’t worth it for a short race like a 5K (they are also coming up for the Raleigh Half in November) but they happened to be coming through this weekend regardless, so it worked out.

Me and Mom before the race.

The race started promptly at 9AM, which I thought was actually a little late, I’m used to them starting around 7.  The first half of the course was shaded and breezy and then the second half of the course was hot and sunny.

Lining up for the start.

Dad caught me as I headed past him at the start.

The course was an interesting course, we headed down the little downtown street onto the new North Carolina Research Campus, which is still only halfway built and then crossed a main road onto a greenway.  We spent a good chunk of the race on this greenway, so that was nice, away from streets and traffic, although the greenway did cross a couple of major roads and there were some sidewalks/curbs/etc to contend with.  After the greenway we headed into a small park and then wound through some neighborhoods before we headed back into down town.  It wasn’t too hilly, but there were a few hills and I could feel myself bogging down in mile 3.  I knew I was slowing down.  It also got hot after the second mile as well.  As we turned back onto West A Street I knew we were getting close to the finish, but I didn’t have the energy left for any kind of surge… just wanted to finish.  I knew I was pushing close to a PR but I wasn’t sure if I was gonna make it or not.  Ended up setting a new PR by 16 seconds.  My mile splits were 10:08, 10:49 and 11:23, so as usual, started too fast and then faded, although 10:08 is also a 1 mile PR.

Pushing for the finish!

Clock says 34:10, my watch said 34:02.  I think this may be a second or two after my finish since I appear to be walking.  We’ll see what the official results say but I always go with my Garmin time anyway.

After the race I changed clothes and we hung out for a while until they gave out the awards and found out that once again I did not place in my age group (not that I was surprised).  Then we headed out to lunch.  I had asked my Kannapolis connection Kathi (from the FFF 5K) to recommend a couple of BBQ places since my Mom had mentioned BBQ.  One of the places she recommended was a place called Gary’s. The reason I picked it was because she said it had good brunswick stew, although ironically enough, turned out it was an old haunt of my Dad’s back when he used to work that region a lot.  So if I had picked one of the other places, we likely would have ended up at Gary’s anyway!

I didn’t take a picture of the inside, but the walls were plastered with every manner of old tin advertising signs you could imagine.  Coke, Pepsi, 7-up, etc etc.  There were a couple of old Ford T-Birds parked in a glassed in enclosure with a couple jukeboxes.  Looked to be mid-50′s I would guess.  Only glanced at them as we were leaving.  The barbeque was OK, the hushpuppies were good and as advertised the brunswick stew was VERY good. I didn’t eat a lot of the beans, but they were good as well.  I went for the Sweet and Smokey sauce (as did Mom), while Dad went for the Spicy Vinegar sauce.

YUM!

Kernersville Spring Folly 5K

This was a last minute addition to the race schedule, but local race and the registration only 15$? Sure, sign me up! Even included a shirt which I didn’t expect for that price.

I’ve never had a race give you your post race snack before hand… Was kind of strange but as each person came up to get a shirt and their bib they gave everyone a half dozen Krispy Kreme doughnuts.  Never seen that before.

I’ll be honest.  I was not terribly pumped up for this race.  I think mostly because the last two weeks I’ve been looking ahead to Disney and not really thinking about my upcoming race schedule.  Despite running 3 (or more) miles 3 times a week, I felt unprepared for this race.  Just couldn’t shake the feeling it was not gonna be a good day.

The race was supposed to start at 8 according to the registration.  We all head to the start line, only to find out, the kids fun run (which was just 2 little girls) started at 8 and the 5K started at 8:30.  So we’re all standing around at the start line for 30 minutes looking at each other.  The clouds break and the sun comes out and it starts to get hot fast.  By the time the race started it was blazing hot.

We get started and the crowd goes off and around the first turn at about 0.25 miles, I glance at my watch and see 9:52 pace… YIKES.. TOO FAST!!! Slow down.. slow down!! Ended up finishing the first mile in 10:30, and then faded from there.  The course was very hilly and winding through neighborhoods and dodging cars and just a crazy course.

I’m not gonna lie, this was a tough course.  Despite drinking water all day friday and this morning, I think I got a little dehydrated, there were a couple points I felt like I might throw up.  I had trouble with the water stop, little kids handing out plastic cups, filled to the brim… drank about a half a cup the first time through, second time through I choked on the water and threw it down without drinking much at all.  The third mile was pretty brutal, mostly uphill, no shade, blazing sun.  I was just glad to be finished.

There were 4 guys in my age group, so I did not place.  I also did not set a new PR, which I didn’t expect to.  I was 2 minutes slower than my PR, which I reckon is not bad for feeling like I was dragging a jewelry store safe behind me the whole time.  Ironically my first mile, which was advertised as “fast” was my fastest first mile, by 4 seconds, but I couldn’t hold on to that pace enough to PR.

Splits 10:30, 11:43, 12:53, 12:13(0.12).  Total ascent 366 feet, total descent 414 feet.

Komen Race for the Cure -Winston Salem

Surprisingly, I did not run this race.  I was a spectator for once.  Very interesting experience, since my first spectator experience got rained out.  I was here to support my running buddy Jen, and also found out a few day’s before the race a bunch of my coworkers were going to be there as well.  Since the purpose of the event is to raise awareness, I decided to take pictures and blog about it to help the cause.

The event was hosted at Salem College, which is Jen’s alma mater and she also works at the school.  I didn’t see much of the campus, but what I did see looked nice.

This building was behind the finish plaza.. I’m guessing a power plant with the smoke stack (and probably long defunct just like the one on NC State’s campus, but from an old coal fire boiler most likely).

I met up with Jen before the race, she was on a team with a friend of hers who is a survivor and the team was named the Rack Stars.. play on Rock Stars.. there was another team called the Rack Pack.. so it was a popular euphemism.

Smile Jen!  How did I get my finger in there? Some photoblogger I am huh?

After that, I went to the finish area to look for my coworkers but I didn’t find them, so after a while I went back to the start line.. this is what it looked like as I walked up and more people were coming.

Somehow I managed to find Jen in this mass of humanity and hung with her until the timed 5K started.  Then as the non timed runners and walkers were making there way up to the start line I started looking for my coworkers, and I didn’t see them but then one of them found me, so I hung out with them for a while until the non timed race started.  People were still filing through the start line 20 minutes after the start of course some of the walkers were taking their sweet time which is perfectly OK.   I milled around the start line area for a little while since I had some time to kill and after 20 minutes or so headed back to the finish area.  I posted myself at almost the 3 mile mark to wait for Jen and cheer on the other runners.  I happened to catch the lead male as he was coming through and then a while later the lead female.

Jen charging hard to the finish.  I knew she was gonna post a good time, but by my watch it was about 45 minutes when she went by, but based on what they called out at mile 3, her official time was 43 something, and her Garmin time was just under 44 minutes.  She was shooting for 45-46 minutes, so she not only beat her time goal for this race, but also set a new 5K personal best by several minutes!  Yay Jen!

It was funny watching the people close to the finish, I got to see some things I don’t ever see running a race.  Some of the people looked like they were about to cry, some of them looked like they were about to die.. but they all kept pushing and I’m sure they all felt fine at the finish.. you don’t think about facial expressions when you are running that fast.

All in all it was a great event for a great cause.  There was an enormous crowd, even though the reports were attendance was way down, some of which having to do with the Susan G Komen/Planned Parenthood flap earlier this year.  The course is reportedly well marked and well staffed, so that’s always nice.  Although the water was down the hill at the finishers pavillion, not directly at the finish line, which was poor planning.  I will probably definately run this race next year, but it was interesting to be a spectator for once.  It also reminded me it’s been years since I’ve been to Old Salem.. I need to go back.

2012 Forsyth County Law Enforcement Memorial 5K

This morning I ran the Forsyth County Law Enforcement Memorial 5K.  The race benefited the Law Enforcement Memorial Foundation which is a group that helps families of slain officers and helps pay for funerals and memorials for officers killed in the line of duty.  This was my first race in over a month, so it was nice to be running again in a race.  There’s something special about pinning that number on your chest.  This race is also my blog entry for the Automattic World Wide Word Press 5K.  

One is the loneliest number……

The course for this race wound around the campus of Wake Forest University here in Winston Salem.  It was a nice course, but not a very well marked one.  Thankfully there were police at the intersections but several times I had to ask which way to go.  I talked to the overall female winner and her and some of the other top 4 actually missed a turn on the course, she ended up with an impossibly fast time of 16 minutes and change, but they still gave her the award (which I feel she deserved, it wasn’t her fault).

I took this from my car as I was leaving, but we passed this library very early in the course, probably about a half mile.   Shortly after this point we hit a wicked fast downhill, I could actually feel myself holding myself back.  I looked down at the Garmin shortly before one mile and was shocked to see my pace at 10:20.  I ended up finishing the first mile in 10:34, which is my fastest one mile time by nearly a minute.  I did throttle back a little at this point so as not to burn myself out, but the course helped as well with some uphills on the back half.  I don’t know if it’s good mentally, but I was running the math in my head, and I’m like I have 27 minutes to finish 2 miles and PR, so that’s 13:30 per mile.  So now I’m psyching myself up for a PR, and then I would be disappointed if I didn’t.  My second and third miles were slower, but not excessively slow.  11:34 and 11:40.

Finish line! I made it! And I RAN the entire distance.  No walking breaks! Another first, so not only set a time PR, but my first “running” 5K.  Double PR! What does it mean!

I must have done a great job cutting the corners since the course measured short on my Garmin, but the time at the end matched my Garmin, so I am gonna call it Official and I trust the Twin City Track Club to get the distance right.  Beat my previous best time (37:10) by 3 full minutes, so a minute a mile faster.  Unreal!

Other than the course being poorly marked, it was a great race and for a great cause.  Thank you to the Winston Salem Police Department, Wake Forest University Police and Forsyth County Sheriffs for maintaining the course and also for their service to the community!

Pre-race and New Gear

I had a pretty good race related adventure this afternoon.  First I went to Fleet Feet Sports to pick up my packet and shirt for tomorrow’s race, the Forsyth County Law Enforcement Memorial 5K.  Some of the numbers went up into the 700s so looks like it might be a good crowd tomorrow morning.  The shirt is a standard tshirt, not a tech shirt, so I won’t wear it for the race, but it’s a nice shirt.  The back of the shirt memorializes a list of officers killed in the line of duty in Forsyth County dating back to 1895.  Thankfully it is a short list, only 24 officers over the span of 117 years.

Since I was at Fleet Feet already, I wanted to look around since I had earned a 25$ reward credit and I was looking for a hat.  I found exactly what I was looking for in a Nike Dri Fit hat for 20$ and bought a couple packs of Gu (that I dont really need right now, but they are good for like 4 years) to bring it up to 24 and some change.  I’m not too worried about the 70 cents I didn’t use.

As you can see from the picture, after hitting up Fleet Feet I went to Omega Sports to get my Member Tech shirt for joining the Twin City Track Club, and this shirt was free! It’s a very nice shirt and I look forward to wearing it for some of the group events (you don’t have to, but I probably will).

So the best part of all of my new gear is it didn’t cost me anything!

Stay tuned tomorrow for my race recap, which will be fairly picture heavy since I will be carrying my camera on the course with me to blog this race for the WorldWide WordPress 5K.

Bib Display

Like most good ideas in the world, I’m sure this has already been done somewhere, but I was pretty pleased to come up with this on my own.  Using the leftover bobby pins from races (and I had a ton of them) I daisy chained my bibs together top to bottom so I could hang them on the wall.

The column on the left are my races from 2012, and that stack will continue to grow.  Chronological order from top to bottom, Running of the Lights (1/1/2012), Winter Flight 8K (2/4/2012), Friends, Fun and Family 5K (2/18/12), Rock and Roll New Orleans Half Marathon (3/4/2012), St Leo’s Road Races 10K (3/17/2012).  The column on the right are my past races that I lumped together since there were only a few, also chronological order from top to bottom, Lillie’s Friend’s Got Friends? 5K (4/3/10), Greek Festival 5K (5/15/10), Outback Bonzer 5K (10/23/10), North Carolina Marathon 5K (11/19/11).

After the race I write on my bibs, the name of the race if it’s not on there, the date if it’s not on there, and my finishing time.  I have the race recaps here on the blog, but that way I can see at a glance how I did.

Summer 2012 Race Schedule

After a very busy winter/spring that involved training for my first half marathon, my first race over a 5K (Winter Flight 8K), the Half Marathon, and then my first 10K (St Leos), things have calmed down quite a bit, but there are still some races upcoming on the schedule.  At least one a month.

April 28th – Forsyth County Law Enforcement Memorial 5K – Winston Salem
This race is run on Wake Forest University’s campus, so should be good scenery and closed roads.  Benefits the Forsyth County Law Enforcement Memorial Foundation which pays for honors for fallen LEO’s and also scholarships for the children and families of slain officers.

May 12th – Shelton Vineyards Running of the Vineyards 10K – Dobson, NC
This will be my second 10K,  and it seems like a really neat race running through the vineyards.  All of the Yadkin valley wineries are very scenic and beautiful and should be a lot of fun.  As I mentioned in the Must Run Races part 2, my friends from Raleigh might be coming up for this race, so should be a good time.

May 26th – Spring Folly 5K – Kernersville, NC
I don’t have a lot of info on this race, I just found it on Active.  The registration fee is only 15$, so probably low key race, no shirt, which is fine with me.  It will be my birthday weekend/Memorial day weekend so should be good fun and hopefully nice weather.  Appears to benefit the Kernersville Family YMCA.

June 16th – Rhythm and Run 5K – Kannapolis, NC
I had a different race slated for this weekend but then found this one.  This one benefits the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame (which shame on me for not even knowing that existed!) so being the music buff I am, I think this one will be a lot of fun.  Also, my new running buddies in Kannapolis, the Landis family, said they might run this one also if they are not at the beach that weekend, so that will be fun.

July 21st – Beat the Heat 5K – Winston Salem, NC
This race is sponsored by the local running club, the Twin City Track Club, and I thought about doing this race two years ago.  With the name and the 7PM start time I thought it was an evening race to get out of the heat, but then I saw the tag line of “Can you beat the heat?” and of course realizing the sun will still be blazing at 7PM in July since it doesn’t get dark till like 9PM and it will still be hot.  2 years ago I would have died, but I think this year I will be ready.

August 18th – Downtown Rocks and Runs 5K – Mt Airy, NC
I didn’t have a race for August and just recently found this one.  This is another evening race, starting at 6PM and features live music and a post race concert and sounds like an all around good time.  I mentioned this race to my friend Kim who lives in Mt Airy and she said she might run it also, so that will be good.