You're 100% accurate; they're just trying to defend local honor. I think your boy Mike Whitson might have been in charge of the race that year. Not sure about that, though. It was definitely a poorly marked or directed course and it resulted in all the things you say. By far my worst course experience to date, which actually makes me feel fairly lucky, you know, since I did actually get back to the finish area at some point. Could you imagine gong the wrong direction and not coming out within miles of the actual finish area? If I recall, though, the only reason we really finished when we did was because we just turned around at some point when we knew it was too long.
On the CBRC FB page, the argument seems to be that it's ok to disparage the Hot Chocolate 15k for being a fiasco since it's run by a big, money grubbing company (e.g., $45 for the 5k, $65 for the 15k, and a parking fee) --- but that a small event run by local volunteers to support a good cause should be immune to criticism ... no matter how much of a debacle it might turn out to be. Meanwhile my stance (which I'd dare not express honestly on CBRC FB) is more like, "Even if this race is being put on by the poor old nuns of Merciful Heart Church to save the last orphanage for abandoned albino Albanian children on Mount Hardship, that doesn't change the fact that I trained hard to run my best possible time for the specifically advertised race distance --- and paid $20-30 for it --- so please fulfill your part of the deal and ensure that the race is as well organized and accurate as humanly possible."
Kaitlin Farrell won the 2003 extra mile by like 10 minutes and probably set a world record for 4.1 mile race -running it in 16 minutes. Or alternatively the course was marked poorly and she only ran like 2.5 miles of the 4.1 mile course. Either or. Considering Kaitlin was never faster than a 23 minute or so 5'Ker in high school, it was likely the latter. Meanwhile despite trailing Joe by about 30 seconds with a quarter mile to go I came back and beat Joe soundly by like a minute when we took different paths to the finish line. My greatest comeback ever as I ran the last quarter mile in like 40 seconds to Joe's minute forty.
Today in her blog, Kara tallied her total race registration costs for 2011 and ended up with the whopping sum of $800 (25% of which can be attributed to the JFK 50 alone). So I decided to add up my race expenditures for 2011. And while my racing year was far more affordable than Kara's, I was still minorly surprised by my sum (considering I did just 11 events).
Oak Ridge 3mi: $10
Leonardtown Hospice 10k: $25
Frederick Half Marathon: $45 (approx.)
Warrior Dash: $60 (approx.)
Crofton Kiwanis 10k: $20
CBRC Track 5000m: $3
Chaptico Classic 10k: $30
LPR10: $0
Step By Step 5k: $30
HSMC Thanksgiving 5k: $20
Jingle Bell 5k: $25
Total: $268
I'm closer to DR's dollar totals. Boston and New York probably make up the clear majority of my expenses. Doing Frederick as a steady run was probably a costly workout. The big ticket item for me this past year was going to Boston. Since we made a vacation of it, it ended up costing us quite a bit, but running is only to blame for the first couple of days we were there. My year's shoe budget is the real tale of woe, as I would not be surprised if I spent $1k last year on shoes alone. I probably spent $1k or more the year before, too.
I spend way more than this on non-store-bought food, though, so if I wanted to improve my budgeting I would definitely look elsewhere before turning to running. I love food and running, though. D'oh!
Goodness. I made three shoe purchases this year, probably amounting to $150-$180 total.
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44 races this year. Most expensive probably Rosaryville 50K and Stone Mill 50 both at $35 I think.
Cheapest were Annapolis series (8 races for $25) and our trail & track series races
It's a 5k. It hurt like hell...then I tried to pick it up. The end.
44 races? really? wow.
I don't want to think about how much it cost between the both of us.....uh, well, actually, I am a little curious. I'm not sure I want to take the time to do the math though.......
Hey, I did get a nice bonus of getting into Jingle Bell free. :-)
David, Thanks for sending in a report on the JBR. I really like having coverage of the big events in our area! And congratulations!! Merry Christmas! -- Charlene
I certainly had to tinker with my LPR10 '11 race report to make it newsletter appropriate when I sent that in --- but I practically had to rewrite my Jingle Bell 5k race report! I tried to eliminate or euphemize anything that could possibly be offensive or awkward for the mass audience to read. And when reviewing my original race report from that perspective, I really sounded like a big jerk. So lines like "Then came the true masses of slow runners ..." became "Then came the true masses of more casual runners ...". Or "... my reverie was interrupted by the terrifying prospect of how humiliating it would be if one of those kids (or Joe!) somehow managed to defy physics and catch me, stealing my race from me in the very final steps" became "my reverie was interrupted by the prospect of how unfortunate it would be if one of those kids (or Joe!) somehow managed to defy physics and catch me, snatching my race from me in the very final steps." And of course some of the more ... eccentric excesses of my original race report (e.g., "Fortunately for me, I had this theme of unbreakable determination to ascend to the highest peak of triumph resounding in my head") were excised for the newsletter.
I'm just glad we get to read the most entertaining version, before it is sanitized for the public.
I also ditched all speculation that the 5k course might've been a bit overlong, as I'm sure Kelly wouldn't appreciate me criticizing the cartography of her event.
An article on GPS watches: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/20/health/nutrition/gps-watches-may-not-track-runs-accurately.html?_r=1&ref=personalbest
I think they're accurate enough to make them worth using. The article includes a good picture, but really I think the picture is evidence that it's still pretty darn close to accurate.
That article supports my theories that trees and twisty turns can greatly distort the distance recording. Hence why a loop around St. Mary's River State Park, which is designated as being 7.5 miles, often comes up short as far as your Forerunner is concerned. Or think of the St. Mary's City Thanksgiving 5k course, which is mostly under tree cover and has some sharp curves --- so no wonder Forerunner readings would be off there.
Twists are turns though would make the watch read the course as longer than it really was as it as you running in more straight lines to get to point to point they you actually were.
Edit: I can think of ways it drawing straighter lines could lengthen or shorten your course, but thinking about it is more likely to make the course shorter than what you actually ran.