Down and dirty - love this one!
From the race site:
4th Annual Great Pumpkin Run at Venetucci Farm - October 2nd, 8:30 a.m. - Registration opens at 7:00 a.m. Race shirts and Running Bibs, for the 4th Annual Great Pumpkin Run at Venetucci Farm, are now available for pick up at Runners Roost, 121 North Tejon. If you registered online or via mail, you can pick up your packet through 6:00 p.m. on Friday, 10/1.
Race Limited to 600 runners - $30.00 - Register at Runner's Roost until 6:00 p.m. Friday, October 1stSaturday, October 2nd - Registration opens at 7:00 a.m. (t-shirts not guaranteed for racers after 600)
I signed up for this race probably close to 5 minutes before online registration closed. My PT doc had been talking about it and then I got an email so it was one of those, why not!
Expo: There wasn’t really one. Packet pickup was at one of the local running stores. In and out, nice, quick and easy.
Start Line: This race was on a pumpkin farm! The starting line had all of six porta-potties (I will get to those in a minute), Harley – the monster pig, a bunch of pumpkins, and a hand of runners! There were six porta-potties with a cap of 600 runners. The race was held off until all the potty people were lined up ready to race.
Course: Keeping in mind it is Colorado, this course was pretty much flat. Ok, Colorado flat. We were warned about animals (and the fact we weren’t supposed to ride them to the finish line), cow pies (hello, farm!) and holes. The course had some pretty narrow areas, but it was a very peaceful run. It was 99% dirt (I think I stole about five pounds of it in my shoes), there was a short section of cement and about two feet of asphalt (ok, it was more than two feet, but whatever!).
Course Support: There was only one water stop (10K hit it twice), there were multiple volunteers along the course making sure we didn’t take the scenic route (I heard one lady did). They were all very friendly and cheering everyone on. It was great!
Finish Line: Was well marked, the last .2 miles passed some horses, Harley and I think some chickens. The two shoots were VERY vibrantly marked.
Overall: This race was run. I was using it as a training run and enjoyed every step of it. I PRed (but then again, I have only done two 10Ks and the last one was up a mountain). I would highly recommend trying to be one of the first 200 to register, the tech shirts looked a lot better than the t-shirts. For a small local race, it was perfect!
