I’m no longer religious, and my other half has never been baptized. But I don’t have a problem with religion. Everyone should be able to make their own choices in life and religion is one of those freedoms. I did do a freeish fun run, A Jog With Christ, the other day because it helped support a local women’s shelter.
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| From KMVT.com |
It didn’t really register with me that this was A Jog With Christ when I first read the community announcement. What I originally read, I swear it said it was a 5K with the entry being donations to a local shelter. OK. I can donate some things that ladies could use.
Baby formula is expensive as Fuuuuuu, TP, and a pack of pads. I think that is a fair race entry cost. I love race entries of donations of products like this. Seriously, this makes me so happy. There is a local Christmas fun run that has a race entry cost of toys for Toys for Tots. Its one of my faves.
The night before I still laid out my running outfit. I kinda assumed it was not going to be timed.
The drive is about 30+ minute freeway drive east. I know that in bigger cities a 30 minute drive is nothing. But it seems SOOOO far away in these small country farm towns.
But we made it to the park for the race site about a half an hour before the race start. . And there was a little crowd getting registered.
I knew that this wasn’t a normal “race.” When I looked at all of the people with bibs on, they were all in jeans and sweats. There wasn’t anyone that was dressed like they were planning on running. I felt kind of over (under) dressed for this small town Christian crowd.
The race said it was supposed to start at Noon. Well, we all got called to the band shelter in the left of the pic above about 12:05. I was kinda annoyed. There was a teenage girl who tried to explain the trot route.
The shelter that we were supporting had some issues last year where they needed to reorganize after a funding loss. I can see the cluster that was forming from the start of this race.
There were some very generous people who gave Costco packages of TP and other Costco food items. The shelter really got a lot of things that they needed. But the race didn’t get started til 12:15. I was kinda annoyed. The race director girl did however decided to take on this project herself. I don’t know if it was a school project or a project because she got the call from God who wanted her to help the shelter. So I give her that much. She didn’t really know what I 5K was and wanted people to run a route, which was great by the way, for an hour and 15 minutes. I didn’t bring a hat OR sunscreen and it was sunny and about 80 degrees. So that was really it with my annoyance.
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| I was in no hurry. |
I think a lot of the people kinda gave up and there was about 5-6 of us who stuck out the whole hour. The path was new to me and I loved it. It was along the river and people were boating and fishing back and forth.
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| I think a farmer was burning his field in the way background. |
The loop was a .45 mile. It could have been made bigger but I was OK with that nearly half mile. And it was SOOOO well marked. The race director girl kinda had a hard time explaining the route but it was so well marked with sidewalk chalk every 5 feet, there was no explaining needed. There were lots of smiley faces and bible verses. The other half wanted to quote of some of his favorite verses but he never got the chance.
The route, I’m in love with. I don’t know how big it is but there are a ton of trees. And unique non-native trees with little plaques educating about each tree.
Anyways, there was plenty bottled water during the run and after. After we did get a hot dog lunch, with a ton of food left over. There was also a prayer session after lunch but we kinda stepped out at that time.
I could feel that I was starting to get burnt like my weenie. And I did!
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| Late-Late-Summer |
My post-run aloe felt so good. So, if the people doing the race next year, I think if you want to do it for a set time or distance, that is fine. A set time would be good if we had a cheapie clock at the start so we could see it when we pass by. I would have used sunscreen if I expected to be outside so long.
A sign out on the Lincoln, which is how you get to the park would be good. If I didn’t know about this race from online, a sign prolly would have gotten a few more people. Plus, I was a little unsure about the location because I am not a local. I think they were disappointed with the turnout. It was about 50 people so it wasn’t that bad for a high schoolers project. And the shelter did get at least a pickup truck load or two of donations.
Since the crowd was small a PA system wasn’t as needed but if there are more people next year, it will be needed.
All in all it was worth doing. I would support this race again.
Do you like races where the entry fee is donations?