Smallest Race I Have Ever Done

On September 10 Don and I participated in perhaps my smallest race ever. This picture shows most of the participants.

As you can probably surmise from the picture, it was a kilt race. Unlike the kilt race we ran in 2013 with 3,000 people registered, this race had 25 participants. 

The description was as follows:

All runners must wear a kilt to participate in the American Highlander Kilt Run!

This is a timed run with prizes for top finishers in each category and a fun run for anyone who wishes to make their way around the course, or complete any portion of it. Categories will be broken down by age for men, women, and children. Timed runners will start at 9AM and fun runners will start 15 minutes later. Since this is also a non-competitive run, participants can choose to run, job, walk, skip, or crawl through the course. This run takes place on grass and off-road trails. All runners and participants who register at least two weeks previous to the run will receive a Kilt Run commemorative t-shirt.

There were not enough people participating to have two different start times.

The description on Active.com goes on to say all participants must wear a kilt, specifically "the kilt must be a tartan or plaid kilt and must be closed by at least two kilt closing straps and buckles per the rules set by the Guinness Book of World Records."

Huh? Guinness? Seems they lifted the wording from the Kilt Run we did a couple of years ago. I heard that day (need to verify) that Irish kilts are a solid color, and Scottish ones have a tartan. This was an Irish event. Therefore if anything we should have all worn one color kilts.

The organizers took a lovely group shot of us before the race. I was hoping they would email it to us. If they do, I will insert it here.

The organizer (whose name escapes me) was the only non-runner to show up for the race. All of his volunteers couldn't make it at the last minute. The fine print said we should arrive an hour before the 9 AM race. I said we could leave our house an hour before, but there was no reason to arrive that early. After checking us in, the organizer walked the course and marked a one mile loop with white flags. He told us we could do as many loops as we wanted, but it was billed as a two-mile race.

The race started about 15 minutes late. The 15 minutes were the difference between the weather being pleasant and it being too hot to run in a kilt. Still Don and I did both laps, with him finishing before me (as usual).

There was no sign of bibs, a timer, or prizes (age category or otherwise). They did give us granola bars, bottles of water, and admission to the Celtic festival (which we had already paid for with our tickets).

Don is more up for doing this one again than I am. I can run around a field in Mercer County Park for free any day of the year. This was nothing special. I can even wear a kilt if I want to (though I prefer Sparkle Skirts). 

I did meet a woman (Lauren?) who did the same kilt race we did in Manasquan. She said the group did not want to pay the $10,000 to have Guinness appear, so basically they lied to us as they corralled us according to the rules of Guinness, and made their two-mile fun run take way longer than it should on a cold day.

Afterwards Don went shopping for his third kilt. A guy cannot have enough kilts.