Beavers Building Haiti 5k Race Review!

Well, 5k plus...

First, this is a good cause, building a school in Haiti, and unfortunately the turnout at this fundraiser 5k was really poor. Maybe 50 runners, and most of those were students. Check out the organizations right here that are working to build the school in Haiti and help out already!

OK, now to the race itself. The Beavers Building Haiti 5k started at Kearney Hall, right on the OSU campus. When I picked up my race number before the race, they had a course map printed out that you could take. It looked like they had made it on MapMyRun.com or something similar and I noticed something right away...that last tenth of a mile after the Mile 3 marker looked really long. Really, really long.

So the route was quite familiar, since it basically followed most of the Fall Festival route from last week, except it cut out the long trip out and back to 53rd. Fast course, pretty much completely flat, except for the small hill in front of Dixon. Another one of those races where people quickly ended up on their own. I passed a guy right around the one mile marker, then that was it. Never got very close to the guy in front of me and no one caught me. Forever alone, right?

Coming up to the turn to the final straightaway, which was right at the 3-mile mark, my fears were confirmed. The finish line wasn't even in sight - it was way down there. The Garmin said the course was actually about 3.30 miles long. Which, as it turns out, was ok, because I was hoping to run a 23:11, but I wasn't going to make it anyway. I figure, if the course was correct and actually 5k, I would have run about a 23:39, so I was bound to be disappointed either way. On the positive side, it's my fastest 5k of 2011, so at least my speed is still going in the right direction.

The shirt is all good. Cute design, not too many ads on the back, and it's white. They should pass a law that all race shirts have to be white, black or grey. Lime green or pink race shirts get you six months probation with an ankle monitor. And I noticed the shirts were made in Haiti. Nice touch.


So, that's it for EPIC # 21. We're moving right on next week with #22 - the Great Pumpkin Run on the 9th. See you there!