Race Recap – NYCRUNS Firecracker 5K

On the Ferry

This past 4^th of July, my family competed in the NYC Runs Firecracker 5K on Governor’s Island. We were very excited to sign up for this race, since it was a unique venue and would be my 4 year old son Teddy’s very first timed 5K.

We had to pick up the packets the day before in the city at the New York Running Company. Since we live in NJ and have to pay to go into the city, we made a day of it, and went to the AMNH to see the Pterosaur exhibit a second time. Then, Teddy and I walked across Central Park to the running store. It was really fun day and we even saw the Go Ruck people in the park.

A hurricane was predicted for the day of the race, so we were a bit nervous about the weather. But, as luck would have it, the rain missed us and it was a nice day for a race.

Pre-race

We woke up at 5am to drive in, since you had to be at the ferry terminal by 7am and the trains don’t run that early. Teddy was exhausted from so much walking the day before, and from getting up early, but was still in a good mood and made a lot of friends.

I considered this “Teddy’s race”, so I let him set the pace and kept him on track when he got tired or distracted.

The course was over paths and nice and flat. It was two loops and he kept a nice pace for the first mile, running a good portion of it. By the second loop, however, he was a little tired and for the first time ever, I experienced the “back of the pack” feeling.

Running around the castle

Teddy felt it too, sadly. He kept saying how “terrible” he was and I almost wanted to cry, because it was just not true. He was doing so well and trying so hard. On the second loop, they were breaking the course down behind us. There were runners walking in front of us, as if we weren’t there and at times we were unsure of which direction to go because the course was no longer clear. Because this was a race, however, I made sure that Teddy never deviated from the course and never stopped.

Near the end, we motivated him by reminding him of the bagels that awaited him at the finish line. Teddy loves bagels. At the finish line they had already disconnected the timer and had to manually write down our times. Prior to this, my husband said they were calling out the names of each individual as they crossed the finish line. They didn’t do that for us, but thankfully, Teddy had made a lot of friends on the course and a group of the volunteers cheered him across the finish line.

 

The Big Finish

I was, and am, so proud of him. It was a lot of work for him. His little legs are so much smaller than an adults and it must have seemed like twice as far to him, but he never quit and he finished with a time of 1:02:43. I hugged him tight and we went to get some post-race sustenance. When we got there, there was no cream cheese or spreads left, which really really disappointed him.

Nevertheless, we were looking forward to picking up his medal, since I knew there could not have been many under 10s at the race. What a nice souvenir it would be of his first race and his hard work! We watched the entire ceremony and my heart sunk when I realized that they had grouped the 1-19 into one age group. I just couldn’t believe it. After all was said and done, he was competing against adults! Three people in his “age group” were 19 years old. The second place winner overall of the race was 15 and in his “age group” as well.

I explained to Teddy what they had done and he seemed to take it ok. He was, however, still mad about the cream cheese and made a point to tell one of the volunteers that. I love that kid. So, we went and got some ice cream at the Mister Softee truck and headed to the ferry and home for the day.

When I got home, I reviewed the rules again. Maybe I had misunderstood or misread them? Nope. They stated:

Awards: Awards will be given to the top 3 male and female runners overall and the top 3 in each ten-year age group approximately one hour after the race begins.

My friends assured me that if I wrote the race director that surely they would give him his medal. So, I did.

Their response was as follows:

“While your son’s performance in the Firecracker 5K was more than worthy of recognition, it is our current policy to have a 1-19 age group. We do appreciate your feedback and will certainly take it into consideration the next time we revisit that policy. Thanks so much and a big congratulations to Teddy!”

I’m not sure where this “policy” is written. I, personally, think they just made it up. I looked at site and at their prior races, including the same race last year, and they did have a 1-9 year old age group. I have to say, I am very disappointed in the NYCRUNS organization. I would have no problem with this result, if it was clearly stated in the rules beforehand, but it just wasn’t and it seems really unfair to me. But, I guess that is life and Teddy is going to learn this lesson sooner rather than later.

As for this race overall, we won’t be doing it again next year. While it was a good course and well organized, it was huge PITA for us to pick up the packets and to get there in time and in total, between the parking, trains, registration, and disappointment healing ice cream, this race ended up costing us $156.00. Next year, I think we will just do the local 5k and visit Governor’s Island another day.