Wet & Wild 5k

The Wet & Wild 5k was a fun little race. I absolutely loved running through the lazy river and I thought it was great that the Chick-​fil-​a cow ran the race as well. Now for the bad news…
The organization at this race was severely lacking. Within the first mile the front runners were at a turn around point and passing slower runners. There WERE cones to separate who was on what side but there were not enough of them and there should have been ropes tied to the cones to keep the lanes separate. We were in a huge crush of people and some individuals crossed into the oncoming traffic of the faster runners to escape the madness (or just to escape being stuck behind a slower runner/​walker). Measures should be taken to prevent this.
The water stations were a bit of a mess as they often are in these races. Even so, I still have to mention it and suggest that next year they space out the tables so that it isn’t such a cluster**** to try and get some water. My friends and I ended up skipping all the stations because they were a mess (and it was only a 5k).
The lazy river. This was the HIGHLIGHT of the race — but even it’s glory was dampened by lack of organization. Volunteers were present to hand out bags to people for their electronics. Thats great, but if you KNOW you’re going to be running through the water, don’t bring your phone — or bring your own baggie and don’t slow the rest of us down. There were also a TON of people who thought it would be a great idea to take off their socks and shoes at the entrance which backed up traffic big time. Wear old shoes or vibrams, or be prepared to get out of the way to remove your shoes. Also, getting into the river was a mess just because there was no clear path. As people caught up to the crush they just started pushing their way in rather than entering in an orderly fashion so that those of us who weren’t rude had to wait longer to get in. Again, some form of roped off line would have REALLY helped for this part. The finish line came at a very narrow section which made it hard to continue passing people and almost immediately after the line came the time chip return «station» that was once again a HUGE mess because there was no order to it. More volunteers and a sign saying what was going on would have been helpful, as would moving it back from the finish line a bit further.
Right after the chip return came the line for supersport photos. HUGE mess. The photographer was on no kind of time schedule which made the line last forever. There was no roped off lines (yet again) so people just entered and exited wherever they pleased. This should have been further back and should have had roped off lines.
The course itself wasn’t great either. Just hard pavement and not much to see but the lazy river really did make it worth it.
Next year I hope to see much better organization or it will have to be my last year running it.
One final note — the gal who sang our anthem started and stopped it several times before the race. INAPPROPRIATE. Do it and do it right. Don’t start and stop. That is our anthem, it should be respected.