Halloween Half Marathon & 5k/10k

I’ve ran my share of 5k’s, 10k’s and Half Marathons over the past 2.5 years and know what to expect from races now. Some races have been great, others decent and a few not-​so-​great. This morning I ran my 5^th official 5k race event over my running career and it happened to be my least favorite 5k race to date.
A few months ago I was on a race registering kick and came across The Halloween Half Marathon & 5k/​10k Race in Dana Point. The summary of the race encouraged you to dress up for the race in your Halloween best (which I did — rocking my Hot Pink Tutu and spooky Bat Headband) and it promised the event would provide a Tech T-​Shirt, a finishers medal, and «tricks and treats» and some spooky fun along the course, which I assumed would be volunteers throughout the course in costumes to scare and cheer you on and possibly passing out candy. Since I am a self proclaimed Halloween enthusiast and it is my favorite holiday of the year, I thought this race was right up my ally and I optimistically signed up for the 10k at the time. The prices for the race were a bit steep for me at $ 99 for the Half Marathon, $ 60 for the 10k and $ 40 for the 5k. I figured I’d suck it up and sign up anyway, which I did.
I went to the packet pickup Saturday and was highly disappointed overall with the pickup process. It was located at Road Runner Sports in Laguna Hills, which at least 3 of my other races have had packet pickups there as well. There was only two volunteers working the table on Saturday when I went and they didn’t seem really prepared for the people coming to pick up their packet — they even ran out of safety pins for the bibs! What else got me was everyone was getting a standard cotton t-​shirt for the race, including the Half Marathoners. I asked why we weren’t getting a tech shirt like it stated when I signed up and they responded with «I don’t know» and just handed me my bag. Bummer!
Race day was this morning, 10÷28÷12. The race started at 8am sharp, so I got to the event about 7:15am in hopes to get in race day spirit. Over the past few weeks, I’ve been blessed (haha) with a nice knee injury. Due to this, I downgraded myself to just running the 5k course today so I don’t cause a bigger injury of the knee and also, honestly, I can’t seem to run more than a mile without pain these days due to it. What struck me this morning was how SMALL this race was. Overall, there was only a combined total of about 280 people running all three races! So freakin’ tiny! I honestly prefer the medium-​to-​big sized races so there are more of us 11 – 13 minute a mile runners in the crowd and I’m not the last (or one of the last) to finish. After hearing the buzz of people talking around me, it seemed like most of the runners/​joggers/​walkers were planning on participating in the 5k, which made me happy that I was doing the bigger race event of the day.
Now onto the course. It was just… meh. The first 1.5 miles was a moderate-​to-​steap uphill battle, which I was not ready for AT ALL. The uphill battle majorly slowed me down and I ended up walking at least a half a mile of it and the rest was a very slow jog. I have never been so grateful to see the 5k split, where us 5k-​ers turned around and got to enjoy an easier downhill run, where I picked up my pace and helped save my time. I finished with my worst 5k time to date (39:44) and with a major kink in my walk since my knee was hurting like no other when I finished. The course did have some nice scenery (ocean views, a golf course, nature, etc), but since I was in such pain most of it, I didn’t even bother with enjoying my surroundings. Also, since there was so few participants, I ran most of the race without anyone really around me and I was wondering if I was going in the right direction. I like the support of fellow runners around me during a race and hearing and feeling the buzz of excitement. I didn’t get that from this race.
As far as the «tricks and treats» and spooky fun throughout the course… well, there was none. There was a water station and one porta potty at about mile 1.2 with some volunteers working there. But, that was it. I was really disappointed with the course due to that. I wanted spooky fun! They also had ran out of 5k medals by the time I finished and I never received one. What the heck! Major disappointment there!
The post race part was the best part for me! They were passing out the standard water and bananas, but there was also bagels with cream cheese and cupcakes as well! Sweet. There was also a mini graveyard set up and some friendly volunteers walking around.
Overall, I would never run this race again and I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone. This is how disappointed I was with this race!
Happy running!