Goals of my race reviews

Cross training on the schedule today.  Ten miles on the bike and also lifted weights.

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Just to be perfectly clear, I want to explain the main reason I do race reviews.

• For runners - to give them an idea what the race was like so they can join in(or not).  With the growing number of races, most runners need to pick and choose wisely for what they want to run since they don't have unlimited funds to race.
• For race directors - to help them improve their race each year by reading a runners perspective.  It never hurts to have an extra pair of eyes look at something and I think this holds true for races as well.  My hope is that everything I write about a given race is analyzed to make it even better.  Whether some believe it or not, I write these reviews to help improve their race, not bash it.  They are a fair assessment of MY experience.
• For myself - hey, let's face it, I'm a runner, so I want every race to be a success because I love that the Detroit area has lots of race choices.  With the growth of our sport over the last couple years, races are an important part of our sport and one that I personally enjoy and want to continue to support.

My goal is to provide a fair and honest opinion of my race experience.  That being said, I review the race like any other runner would review it.  I join the crowd and see how the chips land.  I don't see all the details of the planning and I realize that the planning is a huge logistical challenge no matter the size of the race.  I try to review it like any other runner would critique a race and those categories are registration/packet pickup, start area, course, aid stations, finish area, amenities, organization and overall.  The key to my reviews are always honest opinions no matter what happened.  Frankly, I've not had really bad experiences at most of the races I've reviewed.

Some races are much better than others, but overall, most are enjoyable experiences - even the ones I didn't enjoy as much.  I'm happy to be out there running.  To have to do a race review that is less than complimentary is not something I enjoy writing.  It's not something I want to do.  It's something I need to do.  Brutal honesty is my policy.

"One of the truest tests of integrity is its blunt refusal to be compromised." - Chinua Achebe

Have a great day and....Keep Running!!!!