Running Race Doldrums

I had the opportunity yesterday to run a 5K race in scenic and historic St. Augustine, one of my favorite cities in Florida. Instead, I decided to pass it by, having come up with some new parameters regarding my participation in races.

Having repeatedly endured unpleasant starts to previous 5K (3.1 miles) races because of other runners pushing ahead and blocking me from establishing any kind of reasonable early pace, I have decided to avoid this short type of race and instead have established 5 miles as the absolute minimum distance that I will run in a public race. And I'm not so keen at 5 miles either. Secondly, I have decided to ALWAYS avoid the tedious and drawn-out awards ceremony after races as they are almost always held too long after the race. And I will rely on my own timing to clock myself, having seen in three of the last four races either no timing done on the part of the race's organizers, no times posted, or the wrong times posted.

Yes, I will henceforth tailor my participation in running races to my own standards and make events work for me. I may even decide, after a race's finish, to just keep on running for a longer workout!

I e-mailed a letter to my Florida Track Club (I say "my" even though they readily deposited my entry check by July 8 but have yet to acknowledge my membership, even with my e-mail address provided on the application form) about their mishandled timing on their July 4 Melon Run. In reply I got a sickly sweet runaround e-mail letter written by a member who took great pains to let me know he was a "doctor" (as if that had ANYTHING to do with my question). Still nothing was ever done to correct the erroneous times, so I can only presume that this is a do-nothing good-ol' boy kind of club existing just to puff up certain of its members' egos. I didn't shell out very much money to join, so I'll just chalk it all up to a "live-and-learn" type of personal experience and move on.