The Other Shoe

At races that I have helped put together there is always something that goes wrong. It could be small or it could be major but something always goes wrong. Most race directors know this going into an event and are prepared for the eventual apology or running around with the fix. Part of our jobs is to try and think of every eventuality that could happen that could make the event go awry and plan backups and then backups for those backups. It is actually sort of a fun game, trying to guess what was the one major thing you forgot! I am always waiting for the other shoe to drop.

When this does not happen it is an eerie feeling.

At Good Karma 5K I kept on waiting and waiting and waiting. The timing system guy's truck is going to break down on the highway, OK, nope, he is here, my key volunteers have forgotten to set their alarms, no, they are all here, the Porto-potties are going to tip over when being delivered, not quite, they are right there, snug in their spot, we are going to run out of safety pins, nope, there are 16 boxes full of them on the tables, someone is going to get lost on the course, but here comes the first place guy, right on time, someone is going to trip at the finish line and get hurt, yet here are all my participants, happy and smiling, we are going to run out of food, not this time, there are still piles of food on those tables.....Really? Nothing at all!?

We are packing up, everyone is gone, truck has been unloaded, ok, for sure I am going to get into an accident with this UHaul, for sure my credit card will be declined, ok, I am positive my car has been stolen at the parking lot and my house has caught fire!

Nothing at all!? Really!? I had to be sure, I needed some outside verification, so I sent out a survey to our participants and sure, there could have been better water placement at the finish, or there could have been more people cheering at the finish line. But, hey, I will take that as a huge success!

My race director heart sings when I still have two shoes on my feet. Nothing dropped here!