After training through a particularly cold and long winter for my first half marathon, the New Bedford Half Marathon, it was an underwhelming experience.  It was cold and windy day, but at least the rain and snow held off.  The course was challenging with some major hills, but while it is marketed as a scenic race, only some of it is by the ocean.  The rest is through unremarkable suburbia or dilapidated neighborhoods.

 

Instead of lace chips, the chips were on velcro straps worn around the ankle.  I ended up with blisters from it.  The chip timing was bad, too.  Everyone's time was started at the gun, not when they crossed the starting line, which was poorly marked, so I didn't start my watch at the right place.  I noticed a minor discrepancy between the official clock at the finish line time and my chip time online.

 

For a race this distance, Gatorade is taken for granted and I was disappointed that there were none, and at water stations often I got cups with hardly any water in them.  I never saw any portable toilets.  People were directed to duck into stores along the race course.  I didn't see any facilities at the start/finish line either.

 

In the pre-race announcements, the organizers had promised donuts and hot cocoa at the finish line, but none were to be seen.  The website claimed free massages, which I never found.  The website promised free showers at the YMCA, but no one seemed to know where it was.  There were no signs for anything.  It was also not obvious you had to go back to the academy for the post-race food.  The food was gross fish sandwiches (one of my friends ate one and e-mailed me to say he was sick for hours last night), clam chowder, bananas, and non-fat frozen yogurt cups.

 

Overall, the organization of the race could use some improvement.