Carver Scott Humane Society Howl O'Ween 5K & Kids Run
No time or distance recorded - Kids Fun Run Completed
This past spring, I was asked to help out with a local 5K race hosted by the Carver Scott Humane Society (CSHS). Race details were still pending at that time, but generally speaking, the race was anticipated to be held in Chaska late fall of 2017.
Though things didn't quite work out due to my personal schedule and available free time, I thought ... well, at least I could participate in this somehow. So, with my son now fully mobile and walking, once I heard there was a kids fun run option for this race that was only $10 (early registration) and allowed adults, it was settled.
Fun Run - here we come!
The official race day schedule for the Howl O'Ween 5K was unclear from the get go, as the company that "organized" this event left a lot to be desired (CSHS hired an outside event planner that seemed somewhat inexperienced).
Leading up to race day, I wasn't sure if packet pickup was required in advance or offered day of. And since the 5K was at 9 am, with the kid's run following at 10:30, I was also unsure if day of pickup would still be open after the 5K started.
Thankfully, despite their lack of accessible information on race websites, etc., the race organizers answered their Facebook page somewhat quickly. After a few back and forth questions two days before the race, I discovered that packet pickup was open on race day until the kids run started at 10:30.
Score! Tick the "sleeping in on race day" box for me!
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With a quiet morning at home on Saturday, around 9:45ish my sister helped me pack 3 kids into the car, and my husband drove us down to the race start area. Since this is the first year the 5K has taken place on this date (and taken place in downtown Chaska), that left participation numbers a little soft at around 100 or so folks. Those numbers made parking downtown a non issue.
Within a few minutes of leaving my house, we found a spot about a block or so away from the race start, and headed to Chaska's City Square / Gazebo Park to check in. For those of you unfamiliar with downtown Chaska, here's a picture of the park when it's not set up for race day.
The park itself is a fairly simple space - it's basically a full city block with a bit of a walking path through the center, a few benches, and a small gazebo. Despite it's simplicity, the park really is a lovely little spot to sit and relax.
Also, I'd like to point out a visible mound in the right hand corner of the photo above. Interestingly, there are a few Native American burial mounds that frame the gazebo, with approximately one mound in each corner of the park.
On race day, a handful of various vendor booths surrounded the sidewalks that hugged the gazebo (not on top of the mounds), so the park looked a tad different from the above. Apparently race day photos haven't been posted yet on Facebook by the CSHS, so I don't have those pictures right now. Hopefully I'll do a supplemental post of those photos later.
Regardless of photos - once we arrived at the park, lack of good race organization once again surfaced. When I walked up with 3 kids and 2 additional adults, there was ... nothing. No sign, no volunteers directing incoming foot traffic, nothing. It was totally unclear where check in was taking place.
Leaving the kids to run around the park in their hamburger costumes with my husband and my sister, I took off to find check in and discovered it was taking place in the gazebo itself. And good grief was it a mess! I know I had six packets to pick up ... but that should NOT have taken as long as it did.
Favorite question of the day (as the race announcer is on speaker saying that kids run registrations are still being accepted):
Woman wanting to register next to me: "Can I sign up my kids for the run here?"
Staff at check in: *confused look on face* "Uh... I'm not sure. I don't think so. Let me check if we're still allowing people to register now."
#facepalm
Regardless of the disorganization, the shirts were pretty cool (if I do say so myself):
With check in complete, and bibs in place, the amount of time we had planned for the morning was just about perfect. At 10:20, just as we finished taking a group photo, the race announcer started calling kids to line up at the start line. So, we moseyed that way.
The field of participants for the kids run was around 10-15 kids. It wasn't huge. Maybe that small size helped, but whatever the reason - despite the other disorganization on race day, the kids run was quite well put on.
I have to say, I think the kids run organization was actually credit due to race sponsors from Orange Theory in Chanhassen and Ladybug Childcare, though, who provided volunteers to help at the event - not the paid race organizers themselves. (Orange Theory provided the woman who lead the kids on the run, and Ladybug provided volunteers along the "course" to keep kids on the correct route.) Volunteers aside, the announcer did a good job of telling kids the "rules of the road" and how to follow the adult leading the race. Then, after a brief count down, he directed the kids to "GO!".
Of course, my niece and nephew are quite a bit older than my son, so they took off like bats outta hell ... leaving my sister, dressed as the Hamburgular, to chase two crazy fast hamburgers running around the perimeter of Chaska City Square Park.
While they took off, I spent a few seconds trying to convince my own little hamburger to take off running. I don't know if it was just too many strangers, too much excitement, or what ... but he just wouldn't budge and wanted to be held.
Well? What's a Hamburgular to do? With a 30 pound hamburger in arms, and a hus-burger besides me, we started trotting around the park ourselves. Though I put up the good fight and ran the first half of the race babe-in-arms, eventually my back (and my lack of cardio capacity) started to protest. A little after the halfway point, my husband and I traded jobs and he took a turn toting a 30 pound burger.
Thankfully, the race course was only about 1/3 of a mile long, so not too much later we were at the finish line. There, the older kids were all victory dancing that they got finishers medals. My son ... I don't know if he was equally as impressed:
In addition to the medals, Orange Theory was passing out reusable water bottles filled with water, and every kid that finished also got a inexpensive (pp non woven) zippered and insulated lunch tote with a finisher's certificate inside.
While the kids didn't care much about the lunch tote, I thought it would be nice to have since it was perfectly sized for a 6 pack - heh. They, meanwhile, were pretty darn excited about their race finisher certificates.
It's the little things that count, right?!
Once things settled at the finish line, all 6 of us circled the vendor booths to see if there was anything else for the kids to do. While I noticed there were some nice things available, like natural dog treats, reduced cost micro chipping for pets, and even a few handmade art vendors ... there wasn't much interesting to the kids.
Hungry for lunch, we decided to call it and headed back to the car.
And that's the story of how race bib #82 joined my collection. Here's to another race soon ... being that it's Halloween season, perhaps that will be sooner than you think!
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