Besides the fact that the race is a reason to go to Atlantic City, we like it because there is both a
Showing posts with label Atlantic city April Fools race. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Atlantic city April Fools race. Show all posts
April Fools Races Weekend in Atlantic City
This past weekend we participated in the April Fools race in Atlantic City! We love this race and this is the fourth year in a row we've participate.
Besides the fact that the race is a reason to go to Atlantic City, we like it because there is both a
Besides the fact that the race is a reason to go to Atlantic City, we like it because there is both a
Atlantic City April Fools Race: The Race that Fooled us all!
On Saturday my mom and I ran the Atlantic City April Fools Race. I am calling this the race that fooled us all because our experience this year was so different from last year and not all for the better.
A few weeks ago I bragged about how cool this race was and how I felt you really got your monies worth from the registration, well that was definitely last year. I can not say this about the race this year for these reasons.
1. Many of you know that I signed up for the 11K ( back in December of 2013) but recently have been having IT band/hip pain so I wanted to drop down to the 7K. I didn't think this was going to be a huge deal because last year when we were at the start line, the MC told us that if anyone who was running the 11K felt that they wouldn't be able to continue that they could just turn around at the 7K mark and that it would be okay. Just let them know when you cross. This did not effect me because I was only running the 7K last year anyway. But still I thought it was kind of odd and thought it would mess up the age group rankings, but I guess they would figure it out.
So when I picked up my 11K bib, I told the girl that I wanted to bump down to the 7K instead. She sent me over to the guy from the timing company. I explained to him what I wanted to do and he said it wouldn't be a problem and that there would be no charge because I was going from the 11K to the 7K not vice versa but he said that he couldn't make the switch, so he handed me off to another lady who must officially work for the AC race. She was very unpleasant right from the beginning. She started writing my information down from my old bib and was going to give me a new bib ( for the 7k). She then told me I had to pay $20. What? I told her the timing guy said there would be no charge. She about flipped out after that. Another lady who worked for the AC race came over and started spatting off that those are the official rules and what not. Ok, I said and just asked her to give me my old bib back. She looked at me for a moment like she wasn't going to give it back. I told the lady about what the guy said last year before the race about if you couldn't make the whole 11K that you could just turn around at the 7K mark. She told me that the guy who said that was a radio announcer and that he was just kidding. Well I clearly remember him saying that and it certainly did not sound like he was kidding. He sounded pretty sincere to me. O well. I took my 11K bib back and fully intended just running as much as I could. Really what were they going to do to me if I turned around at the 7K mark? There would be so many people running that the volunteers wouldn't even know.
2. Race morning arrived and I really wasn't feeling up to it. I honestly just wanted to go back to bed. It's funny that I felt like this because out of all the races that we have run, this one starts the latest! There are no early Disney starts here! I actually got to sleep till 7:15! It was quite windy on Friday afternoon/evening when we were on the boardwalk, so I decided to wear my blue Disney zip up over my race shirt. This would also help me conceal my 11K bib as I made the turn at the 7K mark I thought. The race started at the Revel Resort which is all the way at the North end of the Boardwalk and we were staying at the Tropicana which is pretty far down the other end of the boardwalk so we decided to just drive our car to the Revel and park there. Last year we did the same thing, but last year we were given Free Parking Voucher's in our goody bag. Not this year. Even when we found out at packet pick up that we would have to pay to park, we still decided that we would be driving, so it was our own doing but still just one more thing that would have been a nice touch on race day.
It was pleasantly warm when we lined up on the boardwalk for the start. The 11k runners and 7K runners all started at the same time. Unfortunately my Garmin had not found a signal before the gun went off, so I was playing around with that for about the first half mile or so. Since my mom was running the 11k, I told her to just go and run ahead. I didn't know how I would be feeling. I completed the first mile and I actually felt good. I saw my mom up ahead so I picked up some speed to catch up to her. I let her know that I was feeling okay and that I was going to go ahead and run the full 11K. To be honest I was kind of worried about turning around at the 7K mark. I don't think that I would have been fast enough that I would have been able to take an age group award ( in the 7K division which I would obviously never accept) but it still worried me. Even though I was running this race for me and I didn't care about my time, I didn't want to be considered a "cheater".
I wasn't feeling great, but I was running smart and stopping to walk when I had to. After we turned around at the 11K half way point, I was starting to feel some pain in my legs, but not to the point where it was a pinching pain like at Disney.
I ended up finishing the 11k with a time of 1:12 which I was actually pleased with.
3. I think these medals are super cute and I love the pink and purple colors. However, They are SO much smaller than last year's medal.
Last year's huge spinner medal was part of the reason I said this race was one that gave you the biggest bang for your buck! Last year all runners ( 7K, 11K, and half marathon) all received the same medals. I can suspect that maybe the half marathon runners were a little unhappy that a 7K runner was earning the same exact medal as them. Maybe that is why the 7K and 11K runner's got small medals and the half runner's got much bigger medals ( that were different). I can understand this. I do think all the shirts were the same and I like them very much. I hadn't had a purple race shirt until now!
4. Although I was happy to be given Gatorade and a banana, there was no food after the race like there was last year.
5. No free massages after the race like there was last year either. We were really looking forward to this. However, after we went back to our resort and cleaned up from the race, we did go back to the boardwalk and paid for massages. I told my guy that I wanted 20 minutes and I didn't want my back and shoulders done, I wanted all 20 minutes on my legs and hips. I told him this twice. He must not have spoken English because he spent half the time on my shoulders, arms, and head! I also had to tell him that he could use a little more pressure on me. He was being SO gentle. He never increased his pressure so that is another reason I didn't think he spoke English ( that and I couldn't understand him during the few words that he actually spoke to me).
My legs were VERY sore for the rest of the afternoon ( I'm not blaming this on the massage). I actually had a hard time walking around town and up and down the boardwalk but I thought it was a good idea to keep moving. I'm glad I did because I was actually quite surprised that I could get out of bed the next day. I thought my legs would be so stiff that I couldn't move them but they weren't. Still very tight, but not stiff.
Overall we had a good weekend at Atlantic City and I am so glad that the weather was warm. We felt that the race was skimping on things that they provided last year ( free parking, free massages, post race food, huge medals) but it certainly was not a bad race and things we probably wouldn't have picked up on had we not raced it last year. We really love running on the boardwalk and I didn't smell any strange smells this year ( although I did only pass one person who was smoking this year). Since we've done the 7K once and the 11K once, I don't think that we will put this on our list of races to do again anytime soon.
~M
(P.S Thanks for all your encouraging words last week. I didn't finish last, but I wouldn't have even cared if I did!)
Has there ever been a race that you loved to run and when you ran it again for the second or third time things were a bit different?
Don't forget to link up a food post tomorrow for Tasty Tuesday!
A few weeks ago I bragged about how cool this race was and how I felt you really got your monies worth from the registration, well that was definitely last year. I can not say this about the race this year for these reasons.
1. Many of you know that I signed up for the 11K ( back in December of 2013) but recently have been having IT band/hip pain so I wanted to drop down to the 7K. I didn't think this was going to be a huge deal because last year when we were at the start line, the MC told us that if anyone who was running the 11K felt that they wouldn't be able to continue that they could just turn around at the 7K mark and that it would be okay. Just let them know when you cross. This did not effect me because I was only running the 7K last year anyway. But still I thought it was kind of odd and thought it would mess up the age group rankings, but I guess they would figure it out.
So when I picked up my 11K bib, I told the girl that I wanted to bump down to the 7K instead. She sent me over to the guy from the timing company. I explained to him what I wanted to do and he said it wouldn't be a problem and that there would be no charge because I was going from the 11K to the 7K not vice versa but he said that he couldn't make the switch, so he handed me off to another lady who must officially work for the AC race. She was very unpleasant right from the beginning. She started writing my information down from my old bib and was going to give me a new bib ( for the 7k). She then told me I had to pay $20. What? I told her the timing guy said there would be no charge. She about flipped out after that. Another lady who worked for the AC race came over and started spatting off that those are the official rules and what not. Ok, I said and just asked her to give me my old bib back. She looked at me for a moment like she wasn't going to give it back. I told the lady about what the guy said last year before the race about if you couldn't make the whole 11K that you could just turn around at the 7K mark. She told me that the guy who said that was a radio announcer and that he was just kidding. Well I clearly remember him saying that and it certainly did not sound like he was kidding. He sounded pretty sincere to me. O well. I took my 11K bib back and fully intended just running as much as I could. Really what were they going to do to me if I turned around at the 7K mark? There would be so many people running that the volunteers wouldn't even know.
2. Race morning arrived and I really wasn't feeling up to it. I honestly just wanted to go back to bed. It's funny that I felt like this because out of all the races that we have run, this one starts the latest! There are no early Disney starts here! I actually got to sleep till 7:15! It was quite windy on Friday afternoon/evening when we were on the boardwalk, so I decided to wear my blue Disney zip up over my race shirt. This would also help me conceal my 11K bib as I made the turn at the 7K mark I thought. The race started at the Revel Resort which is all the way at the North end of the Boardwalk and we were staying at the Tropicana which is pretty far down the other end of the boardwalk so we decided to just drive our car to the Revel and park there. Last year we did the same thing, but last year we were given Free Parking Voucher's in our goody bag. Not this year. Even when we found out at packet pick up that we would have to pay to park, we still decided that we would be driving, so it was our own doing but still just one more thing that would have been a nice touch on race day.
 |
| The April fools race started and ended on the Boardwalk |
It was pleasantly warm when we lined up on the boardwalk for the start. The 11k runners and 7K runners all started at the same time. Unfortunately my Garmin had not found a signal before the gun went off, so I was playing around with that for about the first half mile or so. Since my mom was running the 11k, I told her to just go and run ahead. I didn't know how I would be feeling. I completed the first mile and I actually felt good. I saw my mom up ahead so I picked up some speed to catch up to her. I let her know that I was feeling okay and that I was going to go ahead and run the full 11K. To be honest I was kind of worried about turning around at the 7K mark. I don't think that I would have been fast enough that I would have been able to take an age group award ( in the 7K division which I would obviously never accept) but it still worried me. Even though I was running this race for me and I didn't care about my time, I didn't want to be considered a "cheater".
I wasn't feeling great, but I was running smart and stopping to walk when I had to. After we turned around at the 11K half way point, I was starting to feel some pain in my legs, but not to the point where it was a pinching pain like at Disney.
 |
| You can tell it was just a tad bit windy out. |
I ended up finishing the 11k with a time of 1:12 which I was actually pleased with.
3. I think these medals are super cute and I love the pink and purple colors. However, They are SO much smaller than last year's medal.
Last year's huge spinner medal was part of the reason I said this race was one that gave you the biggest bang for your buck! Last year all runners ( 7K, 11K, and half marathon) all received the same medals. I can suspect that maybe the half marathon runners were a little unhappy that a 7K runner was earning the same exact medal as them. Maybe that is why the 7K and 11K runner's got small medals and the half runner's got much bigger medals ( that were different). I can understand this. I do think all the shirts were the same and I like them very much. I hadn't had a purple race shirt until now!
4. Although I was happy to be given Gatorade and a banana, there was no food after the race like there was last year.
5. No free massages after the race like there was last year either. We were really looking forward to this. However, after we went back to our resort and cleaned up from the race, we did go back to the boardwalk and paid for massages. I told my guy that I wanted 20 minutes and I didn't want my back and shoulders done, I wanted all 20 minutes on my legs and hips. I told him this twice. He must not have spoken English because he spent half the time on my shoulders, arms, and head! I also had to tell him that he could use a little more pressure on me. He was being SO gentle. He never increased his pressure so that is another reason I didn't think he spoke English ( that and I couldn't understand him during the few words that he actually spoke to me).
My legs were VERY sore for the rest of the afternoon ( I'm not blaming this on the massage). I actually had a hard time walking around town and up and down the boardwalk but I thought it was a good idea to keep moving. I'm glad I did because I was actually quite surprised that I could get out of bed the next day. I thought my legs would be so stiff that I couldn't move them but they weren't. Still very tight, but not stiff.
Overall we had a good weekend at Atlantic City and I am so glad that the weather was warm. We felt that the race was skimping on things that they provided last year ( free parking, free massages, post race food, huge medals) but it certainly was not a bad race and things we probably wouldn't have picked up on had we not raced it last year. We really love running on the boardwalk and I didn't smell any strange smells this year ( although I did only pass one person who was smoking this year). Since we've done the 7K once and the 11K once, I don't think that we will put this on our list of races to do again anytime soon.
~M
(P.S Thanks for all your encouraging words last week. I didn't finish last, but I wouldn't have even cared if I did!)
Has there ever been a race that you loved to run and when you ran it again for the second or third time things were a bit different?
Don't forget to link up a food post tomorrow for Tasty Tuesday!
There's No Shame In This Game
When I first started running, I had this irrational fear that I would be the last one to cross the finish line at any race. I've only ever trained with my family ( who are also runners) and I am the slowest one. I think that's why I love Disney Races, Rock n Roll Races, J&A Races and any other race that has thousands upon thousands of runners lining up at the start! I like the fact that I can be "lost" in the crowd. For this reason, I have avoided many smaller races for some time.
I've come to realize that when I run those "Big" races, I am not slow and I probably will never be last. I am average. Since the beginning, I have even run some "smaller" races and have even come one or two runners away from placing in my age group.
Last year was the first year my mom and I ran the April Fools race in Atlantic City. We had such a fun race weekend that we knew for sure that we wanted to come back and do it again the following year.
Last year we decided to start small, so we signed up for the 7k. The race course was completely on the boardwalk and was a pretty easy run ( besides the smell of funnel cakes being made in the morning and the occasional spectator who would decided that he/she would watch while smoking a cigarette. Deep fried foods and cigarette smoke are two things you don't want to be smelling while you run a race). The race shirt and the medal I earned for completing this race was among my favorite at this point.
So when we signed up to run the race again we decided to bump it up a notch and run the 11K. This is the first race I'd be running since the Princess Half Marathon at Disney in February. It was going to be used as just another training run for another race that I was training for this month.....BUT since I have been suffering from terrible IT band and hip pain, I've had to make a few decisions. So with that being said, I've decided that I'm going to bump myself back down to the 7K.
Not only am I going to run the smaller distance, I may not even run it at all. Okay, that's a lie. I will be running some of it. I will be doing my Run-Walk-Run-Walk method but it might turn into a Walk-Walk-Run, Walk-Walk-Run. And ya know what, I don't care! I don't care if people look down upon me, I don't care if people are wondering why I am going so slow, and ya know what I don't even care if I am the last one to finish! And just to be clear, we signed up for this race back in 2013. I didn't want you to think that I signed up for it after I was already injured. That would have been a dumb move! I didn't want to give up a fun girls weekend with my mom and have her have to give up a race she already paid for.
This is probably the only race that I have absolutely no expectations on finish time. I know when I did the half marathon while I was injured my goal was to just finish, but deep down, I did have a time goal that I wanted to beat ( it was adjusted due to my injury, but I beat it). For this race, I have absolutely NO expectations at all. I just want to concentrate on running and being smart about it and not pushing myself. I want to be able to feel good after I cross the finish line ( no matter what the time is) and not have to be wheeled to the medical tent afterwards!
Have you ever had the fear of finishing last in a race? ~M
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