2012 ZOOMA Texas Half Marathon - Race Review

I realize this race review is long overdue.  The primary reason for that is because I had a pretty crappy day and have had a hard time motivating myself to summarize it in gory detail.  Nonetheless, I hope this race report is of some use to others interested in this particular race!

I ran the ZOOMA Texas Half Marathon on Saturday, March 31 2012.  It took place in Bastrop, TX and the start and finish were at the Hyatt Regency Lost Pines Resort.  This race was geared towards and marketed as a race for women, although men were allowed to run.  There was also a 5K race that started just after the half marathon.  Half marathon entry was $85 at the time I registered (may have been $80 for very early entry).

Packet Pickup
The packet pickup process for this race was not well organized, and I would say this is my primary complaint.  Because it was a Saturday race, it seems logical to me that runners should have been allowed to pick up their race packets just before the race.  This was not the case, there were only two narrow windows to pick up packets; 3-7pm on Thursday and 2-8pm on Friday.  Thursday afternoon the packet pickup was in downtown Austin, TX in a location that has has high traffic density and is very difficult to get to during rush hour.  Friday, packets could only be picked up at the host resort in Bastrop TX, a location even harder to get to during rush hour traffic than downtown Austin, especially considering Austin residents were the primary demographic participating in the race.  I think any Saturday race should allow day of packet pickup, as most people work during the weekdays.

Parking
The race started at 7:30am and on site parking was only available for participants staying overnight at the Hyatt.  The rest of us had to park near the Austin airport and take shuttle buses back and forth from the Hyatt. I was initially very annoyed about this and thought it would be a disaster, but the race organizers did a great job with the shuttling process.  There was plenty of parking near the airport, it was free, and no one was waiting for a shuttle.  Non-runners (family members, significant others) were allowed to take the shuttles as well, no extra charge.  The downside is that it did mean getting up earlier on race day and added time on the return trip.

Pre-Race
Waiting for the race start was pretty nice.  There was a bag check, but I elected not to use it.  The Hyatt allowed any runners that wanted to wait inside and use indoor bathrooms, but it was a very warm morning, so I stayed outside.  I found some pristine and unused porta-potties with no line, which was a nice perk.  In fact, porta-potties were ample for this race and lines were less than 3 minutes.  The race had pacers every 10 minute interval, starting with 1:40 finish.  The race started right on time after a few quick announcements from race sponsors (including Sara Hall).  It was a warm and muggy morning, low 70s at the start, 90% humidity and no cloud cover.

The Course
The first 10 miles of the course left the Lost Pines Resort and meandered along neighboring, 2-lane, back country roads.  It was very picturesque and beautiful because we were mostly surrounded by green fields filled with wildflowers, which are in bloom that time of year in Central TX.  Although quite pretty, the course was tough, with hardly any flat terrain and constant rolling hills.  This was probably the hilliest of any race I have run in TX and would be hilly by New England standards too.  The last three miles of the course are back on the Lost Pines Resort, meandering through their gold course, which is also pretty.  This part winds a lot though, so you think you should be done and there are three more turns you can't see.  Water was available about every mile, along with Cytomax Sports Drink and GU gels were given out at mile 8.

Post Race
The post race for this event was very good, one of the best I have seen.  They hosted an "Expo" on the Hyatt Resort, with lots of vendors and swag (bike, apparel, jewelry companies etc.)  I thought that was interesting to do it after the race and seemed like a nice family affair.  The location was beautiful too, so I think that added to the appeal of hanging around with family and friends.  HEB provided post race food, including bagels, water, oranges and bananas.  I thought the food could have been better but was pretty pleased that they gave out reusable shopping bags.  Muscle Milk recovery drink was the primary sponsor, so they were handing that out as well, but because I'm vegan and they use casein, I passed.  Barefoot wine was also a sponsor and they were doing a tasting.  It was hot, early in the morning and I was very dehydrated so I did not partake in that either!

The Race Stuff
This race gave all registered participants a black technical t-shirt with the race name, logo and sponsors on it.  This shirt fits nicely and is true to size.  Finishers of the half marathon received finishers necklace in silver with a turquoise charm.  This is the first time I have received a necklace in lieu of a medal and I think it is a nice change of pace, especially for a women's event like this one.  However, the necklace is not very good quality and not something I will wear much, so I wouldn't want one from every race I do.

My Race
To make a long story short, I had a personal worst (by far) of 2:18:03 that included many, many walk breaks and a few stretch breaks for cramping legs.  Although the course was beautiful, the day just wasn't mine and I bonked.  In fact, only a few miles in it became apparent to me that I was going to have a tough finish.  I contemplated quitting several times and am proud that I resisted the urge and pulled myself through all 13.1 miles (especially when my thoughts of quitting came as early as 2.5 miles).  Why did I have a bad race?  Well, number one I haven't been training correctly.  I hadn't done sufficient long runs and my training had been inconsistent.  I also haven't done speed work in a long time and that really showed in my recent races, with significantly slower times than in the past.  I am working on turning that around, but it will be a many month process.  Second, the weather was pretty awful.  I consistently run better in cool, dry weather and although out of my control, it definitely played a major role on the day.  This also led to dehydration, nausea and some stomach cramps late in the race.  Finally, the course was much hillier than I expected.  I have been having a lot of problems with tight calves and hamstrings, which are easily aggravated by uphills and downhills.  If I run the course again, I will plan hill training that mimics this course.

Overall, this was a well organized, nicely run and reasonably priced half marathon.  Although I did not have a great experience day of, I would recommend it to others and even consider doing it again.  I would like to see packet pickup available day of and maybe even an earlier start (7am) to combat unpleasantly warm temperatures that central TX often gets in March and April.  The Hyatt Lost Pines Resort is beautiful and a really nice choice for the race location.

The race that was not

Back in the middle of the summer, I registered for a half marathon.  It was the See Jane Run half marathon, which would be held for the first time in Austin, TX on October 9th.  Even though October can be quite hot in Austin, I wanted a race to motivate my summer running, and the convenience of a fall race in my backyard was highly appealing.  It all seemed so ideal.  Until October 9th, that is.

A storm passed through Austin (early in the morning) and for the first time in three months (literally), we were blessed with soaking rain.  I woke to rain and thunder around 4:30am.  The race start was 7am, so I was unconcerned at the time.  My alarm went off at 5:30am, and there was still rain with occasional thunder and flashes of lightning.  Thinking this might cause a race delay, I booted up my computer and quickly checked my email and the race website, figuring if there was a change, it would be posted there.  Nothing.  Well, I have run my fair share of workouts and races in the rain, and being a hearty New Englander by birth, I was unphased.  I finished getting ready and was out the door by 6am.

The line of cars to approach the parking lot was long and moving slowly.  I got there by 6:15 and then just creeped along.  I knew I had plenty of time, so I didn't panic.  I finally got close enough at about 6:25 and realized all the cars were being directed to turn around and leave.  "Race is canceled" someone yelled to me.  I unrolled the window to confirm.  I drove further up to double check with someone of authority.  I expected to talk to a race director or volunteer, but sadly they could not be found.  There was a police car, no one else to be seen.  They confirmed the race was canceled and sent me home.

When I got home, I had an email waiting from See Jane Run.  They informed us that the race had been canceled; they had been asked to cancel the race by the police because of lightning and rain (i.e. asked, not told).  There would be no rescheduling or refund.  The email was time stamped 6:24am.  The race start had been 7am.  By this time, 6:45am, the lightning had completely stopped and the rain was more of a drizzle.  By 8am, it was not raining at all.  The sky cleared and the early morning was greeted with sunshine.  Needless to say I felt pretty disappointed and adamant that See Jane Run race organizers had made the wrong call.

The next day, I got on their facebook page to express my disappointment, ask some questions, and try to make some sense of their decision.  While lightning poses a threat to runners, it seemed obvious to me that the correct call would have been a delayed start.  SJR had permits and plans to keep the half marathon course open for five hours.  A 30 minute delay would have been enough time for the lightning to clear completely and would still have allowed the majority (if not all) of the field enough time to run the course.  The radar for Austin clearly showed this storm was fast moving.  SJR organizers claimed they could not delay the start because of permits (I guess they never considered ending the race at the same time regardless).  They also used the excuse that the rain had resulted in flooding of the starting area.  While lightning presents a legitimate safety concern, flooding does not, and I have never heard of races being canceled because the ground is too wet.  In fact, I ran many a gnarly and soaked cross country race in high school, trudging through ankle deep mud and water.

Furthermore, SJR race officials should have stayed at the course well past 7am and explained to all of the runners arriving what was going on.  Instead, they were nowhere to be found, and one police officer was left to inform all the participants that they race was canceled.  When I asked SJR organizers about this point, they became very defensive, and didn't understand why runners would want to talk to race organizers instead of police (!).  They then told me that at 6am when the decision to cancel was made, all the organizers went inside to get dry and started tweeting, facebooking and calling radio stations.  What they failed to realize was that by the time they emailed the participants (a mere 36 minutes prior to race start), nearly everyone running the race had already arrived or was in transit.  Organizers' time would have been better spent talking to all the participants instead of calling radio stations.

Finally, I was disappointed by the way SJR organizers handled the criticism they received.  Thousands of women paid to partake in a race that was abruptly canceled and clearly did not have a backup plan in place.  Given how quickly the weather changed, many participants questioned the legitimacy of the decision.  While organizers did make an effort to distribute souvenir items, including wine glasses and t-shirts, they did not seem to grasp that a lot of people were disappointed that they didn't get to run a race.  In fact, they asked the public to consider how disappointing it was for them (organizers) after days of hard work.  This argument is completely insensitive to the fact that registered runners trained for months (and paid) for a race they never got to run.  Instead of explaining how they made their abrupt decision to cancel the race, they defensively stated that they had over 20 combined years of racing experience and therefore made the right call.  Then, when asked why communication regarding the event being canceled wasn't better, they stated they weren't FEMA and can't be expected to have the best communication.  I am, however, skeptical.  While this runner only has 14 years of race experience, she thinks its pretty obvious the race organizer should stick around the race start and talk to participants, instead of heading inside and out of sight a full hour before the race was scheduled to start.  While some people did post comments that were below the belt, the majority of them were fair criticism.  Sadly, SJR organizers were unwilling to accept any criticism.

So clearly you can tell that I was: (1) disappointed I didn't run a race that I trained and paid for.  I don't even like wearing the shirt, because I don't feel I earned it!  I also wasted two weeks on an unnecessary taper.  (2) I think the right decision would have been to postpone 30-60 minutes.  I have previously run races right here in Austin, TX and they were postponed for weather related safety reasons.  The lightning was long gone by the time the race would have started, and a little rain never hurt anyone.  (3) Communication by race organizers was abysmal.  They jumped ship too quick (not staying at the start to talk to people) and after the fact became defensive and unable to accept criticism.

In fairness to SJR, I will mention what they did that I think deserves kudos. (1) They donated all of the medals for the race to Medals for Mettle, a charity that gives race medals to children fighting debilitating diseases.  (2) They are offering a reduced, $30 entry fee to the half marathon next year.  I personally will not chose to run another SJR event, because I was extremely disappointed by the organization they demonstrated.  However, I think that whenever an event is canceled and refunds are not possible (entry fees had already been used to pay for costs that could not be recuperated), a reduced or free entry fee is the best way to resolve the issue.

So that is my race that was not.  Now its November, and I haven't run a race since an Easter 5k.  Fortunately, I have something on the calendar for December, which I will be sure to talk about in an upcoming post.