Fair 5K

I ran the Mercer County Fair 5K this morning. Well, most of it anyway. I need to run more often is all there is to it. The fact that I showed up and ran it, finishing last in 0:39:02 ought to count for something. It is Sunday morning now, I just saw the results. I really appreciate the rest of the race participants waiting for Betty and I to finish since most of them crossed the line several minutes before we did. The course has lots of cross country elements, grassy fields and hills, a dirt path through the woods, a bit of gravel, all mixed with some track, pavement, and sidewalk made for a pretty tough run in my book. Oh and don't forget the rain, but even I finished before that got bad and we moved the trophy awards inside, so it wasn't a big problem. I got a trophy too, 3rd place in my age group. Yes there were only three of us. It is funny, I finished last and got a trophy, some of those kids who were so speedy didn't. I will be back and in better condition next year. Hey at least I have lots of room for improvement.
The worst part of the whole thing was the way the Mercer County Fair directors handled the parking. Their plan was to collect $8 from everyone who came on the property. That $8 was to pay for parking and entrance to all the main events i.e. the tractor pull, rodeo, and lawn mower races.
Well, when we saw they were charging parking for the people who were participating in the 5k it got messy. So then they said ok, just pay for the people who are not running, but came along to watch. That was insane too! It was even crazy to charge the Pancake breakfast people. We were already paying a premium to particpate in the race and breakfast and nothing else was even happening that early. Just don't stamp our hands and expect a little honor among people who decided to stay. I mean really, who was going to come at 7am to run or eat and stay all day long anyway? There really isn't much to do at the fair in the first place!
OK rant is over, but give me a chance to voice this again and I will. There is a lot of work into putting together these races and they don't need the property to cause a problem that is this dumb.
Besides that we enjoyed the rodeo last night. Except for the really wet pink stamp on our hands that really had no purpose since everyone had to get one! Check my other blog for some video of the rodeo later on this weekend.