Pro-Motion Events

I just did the Kirkland Half yesterday on Mother’s Day and it was a doozy. Considering the humidity and the hills I really think there should have been more water stations. You can’t go wrong with TOO MANY water stations. There were a ton of police volunteers and community volunteers and that made getting across the streets and not being shown the right way perfect.
They had a lot more booths this year that last so I’m told but it was oddly set up. Pretty much anyone could walk up and take the after race food. It wasn’t cordoned off like most races only have it for the runners, it was all out for everyone, both cool and odd. The potty lines were horribly long but that unfortunately is normal.
My real only complaint that the directors really should consider (besides the water stations) was starting the walkers early. Because the running area was so narrow it made sense to start the walkers behind the runners on this race. Even if by 15 minutes (not 30 minutes before). Most walkers walk in groups and talk the whole way, therefore they block the trail and make it impossible to navigate a narrow area. I really feel great for them that they are doing a healthy thing for themselves as a group BUT, I would love it if they wouldn’t block the runners who ARE going for a time. I wish race directors would acknowledge this as well.
All in all it was a great event and I hope to be back again next year and the medal and shirt were nice.

My husband did the Kirkland Half Marathon this past Mother’s Day. I was appalled at the amount of disorganization for such a large turn out. Yeah, sure, they had police and security… but the event as a whole was poorly run.
We arrived a half hour before his race start and they didn’t have his shirt — despite the site clearly saying that shirts were included with registration AND asks size. He was given a 5k shirt… um…just saying someone running a HALF MARATHON would like a shirt saying that, not 5k.
Then, during the race they had a kids’ dash. That too was poorly organized. They did little kids and big kids together. Some little ones got trampled and the course ran in front of all the vendor booths so anyone trying to visit the vendors was immediately in the way.
So now after the race they screwed it up again. He looks up his bib number on the site — nope, some woman is listed under his number and his name isn’t listed anywhere.
Now at the event the ladies handing out shirts insisted that if I were to email Brian my husband would get his correct shirt. I did so ON SITE via my BlackBerry. I just now (two months later) received a response that he cannot get his shirt from this year, but two years ago. WTF? Seriously? UGH!

I’d written the original review specifically for the Firecracker 5000. Since it ended up being a review for Pro-​Motion events, I felt that it was appropriate to update it.
Pro-​Motion Events coordinates several races in the Seattle area, including the Polar Bear Dive and most recently the Greenlake Gobble 5k. These have been fairly well run and the addition of the packet pickup the day before is logistically helpful. Adding an event with what would otherwise be a regular 5k race (such as a mashed potato eating contest for the Thanksgiving themed Gobble 5k and a lake dive for the Resolution Run) are nice touches.
So an upgrade.