Where’s The Ice Cream?

Everything below is my own opinion. I did not receive compensation for mentioning any products.

I did the CCVI Trolley Run with My Girl again. I did a lot of races back to back in March and April and then . . well life happens. I’ll try to remember as much as I can. I know the packet pick-up was at the shopping center on Ward Parkway. I only had a slight issue in that I turned into the parking lot by the newer portion of the shopping center. I had to walk up the stairs and over to the Fleet Feet where the actual packet pick-up was. Not a big deal really. I just would love for a packet pick-up to go a little better for me this year. That would be nice. I mean every one of them has had a little something so far. I’ve got a few more races to go. We will see.

On race day, My Girl and I got up extra early. We were not going to be late this year. We parked in one of the free parking garages, we got a few pictures with some KC Hearts that are around the Plaza, we walked to the bus, and we immediately got on with no problem. The bus wasn’t very full, but there were tons of buses there and not many people yet. I guess they decided not to make us wait forever for the bus to fill up which is unusual, I think. The bus closed the doors and headed off for the start. It’s a four-mile run, but the drive on the bus feels like forever. That said, we still had almost an hour’s wait before the start. Uh oh! I overcompensated this year!

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We walked to the start and found a spot in front of a store that was in the sun. It was a bit chilly outside and the sun felt good. We had our bibs already on because I used the bib boards again. I just can’t put them on while wearing my shirt yet. So, my bib was a little crinkled and My Girl’s was really really crinkled from the car ride to the Plaza with our seatbelts on of course. She loved the fact the bib boards she was wearing were rainbows though. I was trying to straighten her bib up a bit when some of my running club pals showed up. Jennifer and Allison were first. I can’t remember who we spotted first, but we had a nice chit-chat and took some pictures. Jennifer always does a really cool Facebook reel. I love seeing those. I wish sometimes I was better at getting photos and doing something like that. I guess I do with this blog, but I’m still bad with pictures as you may or may not know. We saw Amy later. She was pacing at a pace that was a little faster than what I thought My Girl could do, but I thought we could line up near her.

I can’t remember how, but at some point, we got separated from Amy and up ahead a bit in the corral. When the race started, we hung out with Jennifer for a bit. I think that was the day Jennifer was worried about making it to her son’s soccer game on time after the race. So, we didn’t stay with her for long. My Girl was ready to walk pretty quick. I can’t remember if Amy passed up before or after the bacon. My Girl LOVES bacon. I like bacon too. Jennifer told me later that she thought of me when she saw the bacon. I had tried to get some bacon when I was running with her at Rock The Parkway, but it wasn’t cooked yet. Today’s bacon was done and delicious.

My Girl and I did okay. She didn’t complain as much as last year. So, I call that a win. My tights kept slipping though. I think it was the walk/run combo with mostly walking. After we would walk for a long while, we would start to run and I would have to pull up my tights. Sometimes, I think it is the sweat that keeps these things in place. She also seemed to forget how to do a snot rocket like I taught her on our trip to Virginia. She at least remembered to go off the course and she didn’t get anyone. Thank goodness for that, right? If you don’t know what I’m talking about, let’s just say it is what you do when you are running and don’t want to wipe your nose on your shirt and you don’t have a tissue. Gross or not. You gotta do what you gotta do as long as you don’t do it on someone running by you.

My Girl, of course, took off at the finish to bet her momma. At first, I thought we were slightly slower than last year. She did 54:58 and I did 55:02. Last year we were both 55:20. We actually beat it by a few seconds. I think she was not just excited about finishing the race, but she was ready for ice cream and all the after-race goodies she got last year. THAT excitement was quickly replaced with disappointment.

We got water when we finished, but we didn’t really see anything else. There were some rolls that were a bit dry even with the water. We walked the length of the booths and such and there were no bananas, no yogurt, and no chocolate milk. Those are usually staples for most races. I’ve also had pizza, cookies, and ice cream or maybe frozen custard at this very particular race. Nope. Nothing. My Girl was especially heartbroken over the missing ice cream. She had some last year and thought it was pretty cool that I let her eat that for “breakfast.”

We didn’t see Jennifer. I think she made it to her son’s soccer game. My Girl thought she saw Allison at the end, but we didn’t find her. Later, she posted some nice videos of us finishing the race on her Facebook page and tagged me. As we were looking around we saw a box on the ground behind a table that didn’t have anybody at it. We saw some guys go back behind it and take some cookies out of it. My Girl went over as well and took cookies for us. Then we saw Amy. We told her the situation and she was very surprised. She thought they would at least have chocolate milk. We got asked a lot about where we got the cookies. I hope we didn’t “steal” the cookies. But dang! Water and a Roll? That is it? Oh, beer. There was Miclob Ultra. I’m a beer drinker, but honestly, I’d give up the beer for the food. I actually skipped getting a beer here. I think I skipped it last year too.

We chatted with Amy for a bit while she was in the huge beer line. My Girl was actually being very patient and good while Amy and I had grown-up talk. We said bye to Amy soon and headed home. That and I wanted to make it up to her and get something good for breakfast since we didn’t get our usual goodies at the race. As I said, It’s been a few months since I did this race. I’m not sure, but I think we actually ended up eating breakfast at home because we didn’t want to exclude My Boy. We also planned to go out and eat for lunch or dinner that day. Again, that is the problem with doing so many races back to back and waiting to write them.

The next race is Running With The Cows 5K on Saturday and The Mother’s Day 5K on Sunday all on the same weekend with My Girl. I’ve done several challenges with back-to-back races, but My Girl is not really happy doing just one four-miler. Yet, she wanted to do these. I never sign her up for races unless she asks. I think she gets that amnesia we all get after a race. The closest she has gotten to back-to-back races is when we did the Chief’s 5K on a Friday and then this Trolley run on Sunday last year. She was okay, but we will see how she does with one right after another.

My Return To Oz

This was the last race for the Heartland 39.3 Series! It’s over in April. I don’t have to do a half in the heat of May anymore! I was so excited. I mean Running With the Cows was so hard for me. It used to be the last race and it was in May. It was hot, with no shade, and you could see for miles how far you have to go. That’s just not for me. Also, it’s been a few years since I’ve done the Garmin Olathe Half Marathon: The Land of Oz. It used to be part of the Heartland Series along with Running With the Cows. I think they took it off because it started to overlap Rock the Parkway. That’s when they picked up the Liberty Half. This year they brought Land of Oz back because they probably thought Running With the Cows was gone. Well, they are still running with cows and I’m doing the 5K instead. More on that later.

Anyway, I ended up making my kids go to the packet pick-up with me. I can’t remember why. I mean it’s been over a month since I did this race. That is what happens when you do so many races back to back and have to write about them on top of regular life. I at least didn’t miss packet pick-up or totally screw up parking. Although I did feel a little attacked when I first walked into the room.

I’m used to getting my packet, then checking out the expo. Well, in this room you had to make your way around the corner and through all these vendors, some of which were very aggressive, to get to the packet pick-up table. It was all very overwhelming for me and the kids. Although more so for me because the kids would tap me to point at something they wanted to do. I decided to stick with my usual plan and ignore everything until I got my packet. I just wanted what I came for and then everything else was gravy.

I was concerned about my Heartland 39.3 T-shirt that they usually give at the beginning of the series since I missed the expo for the Liberty Half Marathon. There wasn’t a Heartland booth at Rock The Parkway, and I didn’t see one here either. I was told to just look for the booth on race day. After getting my race packet, the kids went to other booths and got some freebies, which honestly, is mostly junk. I mean a small percentage of the stuff is actually cool or useful. I don’t know. I guess when you hit a certain age, and you’ve done these enough, another plastic cup, or keychain flashlight just doesn’t have that “wow” factor anymore.

We finally made our way out of the room and the usual Wizard of Oz cut-outs were there for photo ops. I guess the kids are old enough that they didn’t want to do it and just breezed right past them. It made me sad for maybe a second, and then I was actually kind of happy to get out of there. I was still reeling a bit from being overwhelmed by the few aggressive people that were there. I can be extroverted at times, but mostly I’m introverted. And that kind of atmosphere just wasn’t for me.

On race day, I remember traffic being a bit bad as we made our way to the Garmin campus parking garage. Like I said, it’s been a while since I’ve run this race, but seeing the line of cars in front of us I had a little deja vu. Then I was happy we came a little early and had the extra time. I usually put my bib on at this point, but I did that at the house because I used my bib boards again. I like waiting until I get to the race so the bib doesn’t get crinkled by my seatbelt. I still haven’t learned the fine art of putting on bib boards while I’m wearing my shirt. Since I didn’t have my vest, I put my bib on my shirt. I didn’t like using the bib boards on my tights at Liberty. The jury is still out on the bib boards. I’ll let you know later.

I saw some people from the KC Metro She Runs This Town Running Club and a young lady who used to babysit my niece and nephews. I didn’t see any Olathe Running Club members though. I don’t really remember much else happening before we lined up for the start. The race itself was my usual race except for what I was listening to.

I used to listen to any free music app I could find or music already downloaded to my phone. I discovered podcasts several years ago, but I never seemed to find the time to listen to the ones I liked. Then when I discovered there was a free way for me to download some of the podcasts I wanted to hear, I was over the moon about it. I’ve listened to so many podcasts this way. Well, I figured I would try music again. I downloaded a few things I bought years ago on my Youtube Music account. I wasn’t super excited about my playlist, but I didn’t hate it either. Well, I feel like it did some good for me because I finally made a 2023 PR. It wasn’t an overall PR because that would be under 2:20:18. I finished this one at 2:34:28.2. I mean don’t want to stop listening to my podcasts, but I guess if I want to be faster, I’ll need music.

Oh, I forgot how long it feels that last half mile of the race! It feels so much longer than 13.1 miles! I was pushing hard to get to the end, but I still felt good enough for an extra punch at the finish line.

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  All the half marathons I’ve done this year plus the Heartland medal.

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  All the Heartland medals. I did six years.

After I got my Garmin Oz medal, I headed out to find the Heartland booth. I got a hoodie and another medal. I was still concerned that I missed the T-shirt. When I asked, I was told they didn’t do one this year. The hoodie and medal were all they did. That’s fine. It was really cold though. So, like many other people, I immediately put my hoodie on to keep warm. This is the first time I’ve gotten my Heartland stuff without my Hubby. I got my snacks and my beer. I found a nice warm area and sat out in the sun to eat and drink. It was a good spot to watch the seniors race which I didn’t know they had until now.

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This next bit might be a hot topic because of the Boston Marathon. I saw an article where people would look up photos of themselves at the Boston Marathon using their bib number. The results ended up with a surprise when they would see other people with the same bib number. One bandit (that is what they are called) even smiled and posed for a photograph with a medal she took. Boston Marathon ended up not having enough medals to give to all the people who legitimately signed up for the marathon. That sucks big time! I believe the race directors were in the process of trying to track down the bandits and take appropriate action.

Now, here is my two cents for what it is worth. I think banditing a race is wrong if you partake in the support and definitely if you take a medal or any other swag. You didn’t pay for that medal, you didn’t pay for that water, banana, cookie, etc. That is stealing. It might be a public road, but people paid to be there just like a concert, festival, or any other event. Now, having said that I know some people want their friends to pace them. I’ve heard some races still want the pacer to pay and register. The reason is that they still have to pay for the support and then there is the liability. Maybe the pacer might pay a reduced rate because they don’t want the swag or anything, but water, emergency responders, etc. still need to be in place. I’ve actually heard some races don’t charge, but they still want to know who the pacers are and put them in the total headcount again for liability and support. Now, I think I remember one, way back when, that didn’t require anything. Your friend could just run with you. I’m not sure how that worked out and that might be why I remembered it from a long time ago because most races don’t do that anymore if ever.

Now some people find it okay to bandit a race if they don’t partake in the support or swag. Some would say that is okay. It’s kind of like listening to a concert outside the stadium. You get to hear, but you don’t get to see. Right? Well, there is still liability. If you get hurt, it’s going to take the resources there to attend to you. Then again, I’ve done races where I see people running along the race, but they are going in the opposite direction. Why are they there? Well, it’s because it is their usual running route. I’ve actually done that. I’ve done my regular running route and accidentally happened on a race. It’s because I run a popular trail. Nobody got onto me and nobody seemed to care. I didn’t use their support and I definitely didn’t take their swag. So, just with everything, I guess it depends on the situation.

Why do I mention all this? Well, because I think I know someone that bandited the race. I’m pretty sure they didn’t take support or a medal. I just had “feelings” about it. At first, I felt it was wrong, but when they don’t take anything and they don’t get hurt and everything is fine. It’s hard to judge. I try not to judge if I can. You know glass houses and all. I mean that race I happened on. I guess someone could have yelled at me if they wanted. I could honestly say though that I didn’t know what was going on and I was running my usual route. As I said, it’s the situation.

I don’t really remember what else happened that day. The next race is with my daughter doing our own little Sweet 16 Series which is the four-four mile runs in the KC Metro. We did St. Patrick’s Day virtual and now we have The CCVI Trolley Run. She complained a lot last year when we ran it. We will see how she does this year.