Olomouc Half-Marathon, Jana and Darren
Recently I ran in the Olomouc Half-Marathon in the Czech Republic with the wonderful Jana (see the cute blonde on the left). It was her first “half” so I made a training event out of it. I’m going to make a point of running more events with friends of various running levels, it reminds me to have fun. We still make reference to the dreaded “BFA” that passed us at the end of the race.
In running an event for “fun” I can look at Olomouc objectively and see that no matter how well panned events are there’s always the potential for a “gong show” ending. Imagine training for months, perhaps even years. All of your effort is focused on a single event, it’s your life. Many, many people and factors are involved including the all mighty dollar. The big day arrives, an hour of running later, it’s all over. Crossing the finish line with a fantastic sense of accomplishment, it appears you’ve won the race. For Stephen Kibet and Stephen Tum, both of Kenya, heartache followed shortly after as they were disqualified. They had followed a media truck off of the course in the middle of the race resulting in a disqualification. If ever there was a time to hate the media this is it.
Running their first international event ending in disqualification must have been devastating. Combine the anxiety of running an important race with the fact that they’re in a foreign place surrounded with an unfamiliar language on an unfamiliar course. The organizers of the event certainly hold some of the responsibly but ultimately it was simply bad luck. My heart aches thinking of what they must have felt when they realized their situation.
invermere, British Columbia, Canada
My recent half marathon event, the Loop the Lake in Invermere, British Columbia was a disaster for me in a way that I can only imagine might have been like for the runners in Olomouc. It turns out there was very little “Lake” or even “Loop” in the “Loop the Lake” event. Apparently the running route was new and I dare say poorly designed. The course took us winding through rural neighbourhoods with stairs as part of the course. I’m sure there were more than a few groups of runners like the one I was a part of that simply got lost. There’s nothing more frustrating knowing you’ve run off course with no clear indication of how to get back on track other than to turn around and hope you find the missed turn. I ended up running an extra kilometer and a half.
I’ve known this can happen as I’ve read about it often. I never imagined it would actually happen to me.
For the record, I would never recommend this event to someone that is not local to the race. Making a special effort to be a part of the event through travel is in my opinion a waste of time, training and money. There are many other events in the region that will give you an opportunity to enjoy the scenery and I dare say are better organized. I suppose this is bound to happen sooner or later but I still feel compelled to point fingers at the event organizers. In all fairness, I should never be too critical of a volunteer organized event so forgive me if I sound bitter or too critical.
My final result was 1:53:20, roughly 3 and half minutes behind my PR at the half marathon distance. I know the day is coming when I’ll not be able to make excuses for my results and will be forced to accept that I simply didn’t improve. For now my ego is going with the excuses Rounding off, compensation for lost time trying to get back on course and adjustments for the hilly terrain of the route have soothed my running soul after the poor result. Perhaps I’ve made progress, my next race in Edmonton will be the final judge. It’s been 10 months since I competed at this distance. I’ll be a little upset if I’ve not made progress. Be still my ego, I think I’m still in good shape.
Next weekend (22 August) I run another half marathon at the Edmonton Derby. The course has been redesigned and is said to be very “flat and fast”. There will be international caliber elite runners so I’m guessing this is an indication of the caliber of the event’s organization as we;;. All that’s left to do is simply run, hopefully very fast resulting in no need for excuses this time.
Tags: Edmonton, Event Organization, Loop the Lake, Running Goals, The Czech Republic