Awesome 80s Run

The Awesome 80s Run was… not so awesome.

I do so love the t-shirt and medal I “earned” but it won’t be enough to bring me back next year.

It actually started leading up to the event. The website and social media accounts were not clear on packet pick up. Was it the Friday before? Was it the morning of? I even emailed them to ask but never heard back. They eventually sent a mass email that linked to their site saying only day of but later that day Road Runner Sports tweeted they had packet pick up the day before. I went morning of and they only had two people. The set up lacked good flow and was kind of a mess.

The course itself was somewhat dangerous. The first part was decent and weaved us through the giant empty parking lot but then we got onto the roadway and they didn’t have a lane closed off so a car could have easily came up the lane people were running and walking in. I tried to stick to the sidewalk when I realized this but saw so many people in the road who appeared oblivious to this fact.

We then went on a dirt path, which was pretty rocky. I don’t mean gravel or hard packed rock. There was a ton of loose rocks and rather large stones. There were also huge tire ruts in various places. I was kind of thankful I was walking instead of running. I would have probably tripped and fell or twisted my ankle.

We then ran along another (major) road. I stuck to the sidewalk again because it was not closed to traffic. Did I mention in both spots we were going with traffic, making it even harder to see cars? Although you would have to be blind or extremely distracted to not see the large groups of people..

We went back into the parking lot and there were cars coming in! A few of the cars got fairly close to runners. There was no where for either to go. Then we pass a construction area. They were laying asphalt and smoking as we went by. Yah, neither of those are particularly good for my asthma. Then came the even more dangerous area. The road was one lane each way and it was an out and back, so runners/walkers on both sides. There were several vehicles going in and out including large construction vehicles. At one point I had to tap my friend and have her look behind because a truck was coming up.

I have never done a race in which I felt so endangered as this one. It was ridiculous.

I didn’t run due to being sick the last few days. I walked 3.1 miles in about 46 minutes (not officially timed but they had a clock at the finish).

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