Lisa P's Scotia report - it's all about the bag check!

[purdy65]

Well everything began perfectly today!

Tummy was good, legs were ready to go. Temps were fine, and no precip, but that wind was crazy! Oh oh. guess that will be what I deal with this race.

So I got to the new start area, and was immediately totally confused. Finally had to walk all the way up to almost Dundas to drop off my bag and use the porto-potty. Good thing I left myself lots of time to do this, but I was freezing after I dropped off my bag. I had decided on shorts and a short sleeve tech. Kind of wishing I had gone the long sleeve route though!

So I found the 3:45 pace bunny, in my coral - great!, but do tell me what was the 2:15 half 10+1 pace bunny doing right there with us! She was confused, I can tell, because she stopped her group and let everyone else around. She should not have even been starting for 5 more minutes! All of this confusion got some of this in my area walking and taking more time to get to the start. I noticed that it took me 5 minutes, where most of those with my time made it across in 1 or 2 minutes! WTF????

This also explains the bobbing and weaving I had to do for almost the first 5K!

Ahh never mind, I'm moving along at a nice pace and feeling good! I can tell early on, it's probably not a PB day, but I felt great! The above mentioned wind did not it us until about 5K, adn even then, it seemed to have little effect on my pace, and wasn't really bothering me. I hit 10 K in about 53:30 - OK not bad, still moving along!

I should mention, that at about 8K I saw the lead marathoners, including Cooleset and Gillis coming back on Lakeshore. They got lots of applause! I saw the next pack about 1 minute back at that point.

Carrying on, and turning around @12.5K. I love this, because you feel like you are heading home. You can see that magic yardstick - the CN Tower, and just keep running for it! At this point I ran into Alfiefrompickering. He was running at about my pace, and we had some back and forth, but he headed off to the marathon course. I was hoping to get more help from the wind, but it was coming more from the south. Still not bothering me terribly though.

At 18K, I knew it would not be a PB, but a pretty decent strong performance for me. I was hoping for better, but it is what it is.

Finally a strong finish, for 1:52:33!

I'm cursing myself a bit for the slow start, and coral confusion, I might have added a couple of minutes, but other than that, it's what I had today.

So if everything ended right here, I would have had a great day!

Unfortunately I had to get my bag. Others that ran this will tell you, that it was an unmitigated disaster. The truck that we loaded was driven to the finish, and it seems like the bags were just thrown into the tent. It was taking forever for the volunteers to find them! 1.5 hrs later, I had my bag. It was windy and freezing to boot!

It was so bad, that the crowd cheered every time a bag was found. Seriously.

Then! You had to make your way back through the line to get out of the area.

Sadly, this was such a horrible experience, it spoiled my day. This will either change next year, or I won't be doing the race. Maybe I'll have to put my sherpa to work, but even finding friends and family was hard!

I'm not sure why they moved it from Nathan Phillips, but it was a perfect spot, and the bag check seemed to work! I never had to wait for more than 5 or 10 minutes.

I can't wait for the post race survey. They will hear my opinion.

All of the other elements of a great CRS race were there though! Crowd support was great!, well stocked aid stations etc. Many volunteers.

I'm sure they will address this issue - they'd better anyway.

So all in all a great race, but a sucky post race. I'm glad I'm home!

[Half-Mary]

Congrats on a strong race, despite a blustery day, and the pre-race discombobulation at the bag check and with the starting corrals.

The post-race bag pick-up just sounds horrible! I hope it gets sorted out before next year's race, otherwise, they will see registration start to decline. Running a race is about the entire event, not just the time spent running.

[Spirit Unleashed]

Good time!

[QuickChick]

Hey Lisa, I heard horror stories from a girlfriend who checked her bag as well- that is BRUTAL. I'm sure they'll change it, though. CRS is usually pretty efficient. I agree that Nathan Phillips Square is a better finish area overall.
Anyway, good job on your race! That is a really solid result especially considering the slow start.

[Jwolf]

Great race Lisa! Glad you felt strong and solid.

Too bad about the logistics!

[Jo-Jo]

That's too bad about the miserable logistics.

The good news is that you won't experience this in Boston. They have the bag pick up and meeting family/friends down to a science!!!

Nice race on a very windy day!

[trixiee]

Well raced Lisa!
Too bad about the lousy bag check.

[mas_runner]

That bag check would have pissed me off, especially when cold/tired after a race. Sounds like you had a great race though so congratulations for that.

[HCcD]

Congratulations, on another solid race, Lisa, in particular under the conditions of the day ...

[RobW]

Congrats on a solid run out on the course today!

[PinkLady]

Wow, you had a great run out there, despite the conditions! Congratulations, Lisa!!

[Miss*Smiles]

Great run! Hope you are warm now and out of the blistery wind

I'm sure logistics will be figured out for next year, but sorry to hear that was your experience

[AlfiefromPickering]

Congratulations on your performance Lisa. It was great seeing you performing in the 1/2.
I dodged the line in the bag check area by going through the back and looking for the bag myself. I spent in line like 10 minutes and then I walked through the back and found my bag within 2 or 3 minutes.
And the finish area was so cold and unfriendly. Most people left the area as soon as they could, as there was no where to remain indoors after the race. So sad that the organizers have to schedule the race in October when it's cold and windy (and don't consider what runners have to endure in the cold after completing the run) as opposed to September when usually no indoor premises are actually needed.

[scrumhalfgirl]

i agree that bad logistics can really spoil a race experience!

congrats on a great run - you are running consistently well this year!

[AjaxRunner]

I ended up doing the same as Alfie, but after an hour of waiting and not moving. Just extremely poor organization.

[Sir Crashalot]

I hope the bag thing doesn't spoil the day too much. You did a great job!

[Jwolf]

I hope the bag thing doesn't spoil the day too much. You did a great job!

I agree with Sir Crash. Keep the big picture in mind.

[Doonst]

Ugh, that would totally suck. Good day otherwise!

[Pat29]

Congrats on a great race!

[Sandra]

Great job out there today Lisa! Sucks about the bag check - i would be fuming too!

[ian]

Nice race. More evidence that the legs take a long time to forget all those miles from previous training cycles.

The good news is that you won't experience this in Boston. They have the bag pick up and meeting family/friends down to a science!!!

I wish this were always true, but alas, your bag will be in a bus with 499 other runners with a similar BQ time (grouped by race number), therefore many of you will be showing up at that bus together.

[chunkymonkeymelonhed]

bag check
Lisa's race

I really wish we could run one together some day.

[Hammie]

bag check
Lisa's race

This! It's a real shame about the organization, but give them your feedback and see what they can make of the event!

[getfit]

Congrats on a solid performance Lisa. I didn't have a bag checked, but I was still stuck in the lineup for a while because I mistakenly saw the line of people and thought that was the way to get out. I totally agree, I did not like the new finish area and found it difficult to find people. Hopefully they'll change it back.

[Robinandamelia]

WTG Lisa! Great race. I must have been pretty close to you too on course but too many people I guess....WTG!