Audrey was the brains behind it and major organizing force. Even though we'd run many races before, none of us really knew how much planning and work one takes! She had guidance and support from the Princeton Running Club and people at Dillon Gym, to know that you need to rent portaloos (Luc's favorite term for them), should order X number of t-shirts, and have so many officials. We thought of many different possible 3.1 miles-long routes in Princeton, but most involved township approval and shutting down roads. No way. We settled on the Princeton cross-country course, which was easily approved by the university and all in cushy fields.
A week before, Audrey and I printed off hundreds of fliers and posted them all over campus.
We took turns sitting in the Frist campus center, advertising and signing people up. That turned out to be highly unlucrative. Out of seven days, three hours each, we registered about six people. We also signed up two or three one evening, sitting outside the Graduate College dining hall. The most successful advertising was probably through active.com, and possibly our fliers.
Audrey and I meticuously painted medals for first, second, and third in six divisions: Males over 30, Males under 30, Males under 15, Females over 30, and Females under 30, and Females under 15. We also had two extra medals: Average Place Male and Average Place Female:
The night before the race, Audrey, Luc, and I assembled the medals, assigned bib numbers to runners, and organized t-shirts. We also baked sugar cookies. Audrey decided that every runner needed a snowman-shaped, frosted sugar cookie. So she baked 150. Rachel and I frosted them all.
We were ready. The weather was supposed to be about 26 deg F, cold, clear, and windy. I set out my many layers of clothes, breakfast, and last minute supplies I needed to bring, and went to sleep. The only thing I forgot to set was my ALARM.
Audrey woke me up at 7am with a text message "sooo...you ready?" "AAAGH I WILL BE!!" I dressed and left in FIVE MINUTES. I swear that is a record! I picked her up only ten minutes later than we had planned, and we headed to Wegman's to buy several dozen bagels, a hundred bananas, and COFFEE. We scarfed down a bagel in the car on the way to the course. Volunteers--BEAUTIFUL WONDERFUL FREEZING volunteers--met us, helped unload, and set up.
All too soon, it seemed, the masses came to register. This is really the only piece which we would drastically change. Mostly, we'd have more than one registration table, separate lines for day-of and pre-registration, and possibly separate male and female lines. It was mildly chaotic (especially as our hands slowed increasingly as they stiffened and froze), but finally, everyone paid, recieved race bibs, and had the t-shirt of their choice (mostly).
Audrey and I at registration:
We started only five minutes late! Our 95 runners embarked to the sound of Justin's trumpet, which was pretty sweet.
Our timing team eagerly waited the arrival of the first finisher:
Luc manned the water station halfway through, and captured Meg running by!
The winner overall and of Males under 30 came blazing in at 17:30ish! Tyler, from PPL, came in second with 18:30ish. Full results are posted at frosty5k.com.
After the runners hydrated, ate bagels, bananas, and cookies, and warmed up with some hot chocolate, Justin's trumpet called them to the medal ceremony with--of course--the medal ceremony music from Star Wars. Awesome. I think everyone thought the medals were cute and enjoyed the event. :D
Clean up was fun--Luc got a flat tire driving over potholes by the fields, we had to divy up dozens of leftover bagels, bananas, and cookies, and we had to dump out about seven gallons of hot chocolate. Eh, we over-planned, but at least no one went hungry!
All in all, it was a fantastic event, we are incredibly close to our fundraising goal (the race raised over $3000), and we are PUMPED for Disneyworld!!!
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