Even in a big city like Pittsburgh you still have to appreciate a good local race. On June 14th I ran the Oakmont 5K for my 4th time. For me this race is the definition of a “local race”. Oakmont is a small town with great local shops lining the main road and is known for being home of the U.S. Open for golf every few years.
REGISTRATION
I arrived to register at 8:00 am for the 9:00 am race. In order to pre-register you have to print the form from their website and mail it in. If there was a huge price difference I would have went this route but even race day registration was 20 dollars. The only thing I may have missed out on was the shirt. Not that I didn’t want one, but if I didn’t receive one it wasn’t the end of the world for me. I however did register early enough to get the shirt. They usually order enough shirts so everyone gets one. Besides the shirt you were given your chip for timing. One thing I really like is you aren’t given a bib. I don’t like bibs that much anyway so not having one felt great. Your chip is all you needed. I am not sure if people who pre-registered were given a goodie bag or not. I did see some people with little bags but I didn’t pay too much attention to the other tables at registration.
THE COURSE
One of the main reasons I love this race is the course fast and flat. You start in the middle of a field and run on a double gate onto the street. You make 2 turns and you are on the main road of Oakmont. From here you run pass the famous Oakmont Bakery and numerous other shops. The smell coming from one of the restaurants had me salivating at a half mile into the race. You continue on the main road just before the mile mark and you turn off onto a side street. You run pass the Greek Orthodox Hall which marked 1 mile and then turn as if you are going to be making your way back to the main street. I had my wedding reception at the hall so I was pretty familiar with the area. Instead of going all the way back to the main road you turn right down a dead one street. There was a cone set up in the middle of the road for you to run around. This was the turn around and marked 1.48 miles. After running back the same way you came you enter the field. Instead of going on the field you stay on the pavement that takes you alongside of the field. You follow the pavement down a slight hill and end up on a track. Once you are on the track you ran 200 meters to the finish. I have no complaint on the actual course. The track was only 4 lines so at times it did get tight but everyone managed to maneuver around each other without causing a jam. The top 3 times were all under 17 minutes, just to give you an idea of the fast course. I ran a 23:14 and finished in 62nd overall out of 247 finishers. Not my best time but not my worst, and far from a PR.
POST RACE
Once you were in the finish shoots there were 3 people waiting to cut your chip off. They were quick and kept the line moving. After you exited the shoots you could either make your way to pavilion in which you registered for refreshments or step to the side and watch the rest of the runners finish. They had an assortment of bagels, fruits and drinks. I was happy to see chocolate milk. One thing I can say is they made sure there was enough snacks for everyone. As soon as the race ended they used the same pavilion to start announcing raffles and awards. This race probably gave away more raffle prizes than any other race I have done. Go figure I didn’t win anything though. They also gave awards for every age group both male and female and overall winners. At one time this was a money race but it has changed and now just gives the winners trophies and medals. However even without the money the competition is always very good and runners from all over come to run the fast course in hopes of getting a PR.
Overall I would give this race an 8 on a scale of 1-10. Great course with good competition, very organized and easy to navigate around if you are a spectator.
If I had one gripe it would be the same for this race as it is almost every local race I ran. The start!!!! Parents please quit letting your kids stand at the front of the race. Every race I see it. A young child stands on the line and wants to be at the front. This is great and cute in all, but it can lead to an injury, and chances are its going to be the child. This race had a line drawn almost across the whole field so you could spread out. However there was still 3 rows of people. I did not see it take place but my father who was watching the race said a young kid started on the line and when the gun went off he was running way to slow and the runner behind him went to the right to pass. Now here is the problem with little kids at the start. If you are directly behind one you know they are there, unfortunately the person behind you can not see them. So when the runner stepped to the right the guy behind him sped up and basically ran up the kids back. I do feel bad for when this happens because I have went down in a race and had people step on me, and let me tell you it is scary and painful. Parents should step up though and tell the child to let the runners who deserve to be up there go first. If you are a newbie to a race fall back a bit until you know your ready to be up there with the fast runners. I don't fault the race's for this because they have enough on there plate. I put this solely on the parents.
If you ran Oakmont how did you do?
Have you ever almost ran a child over at start?
Like most local races all you got was your shirt and timing chip. This was the second race in recent weeks that I did not have to wear a bib. I am starting to like this non bib thing. I also have to say I really like the shirts. It is a normal T-shirt and is very comfortable. Don't get me wrong I like tech shirts but there is something about a nice cotton T that makes you feel good when your throw it on...No, ok maybe it's just me then. 
Once you finished the race and had your chip cut off you could enter a area that had refreshments. They had the normal water, fruit and bagels. I am not complaining I ate a few bagels and had a few waters. They had a board with numbers that coincided with the ticket they gave you during registration and this was your way of knowing if you won a raffle prize. I didn't win anything but Anna won a nice little cooler. They also gave away a weekend trip to seven springs which was pretty nice. We did not win that either. After the last walker finished they announced the winners and the age group winners. The top guy and girl won 250 dollars, second won 100 and third won 50 dollars. The age group winners won a trophy. I came in second in my age group so was pretty happy. 2 of the top woman could not accept the money and had to give it to charity in order to keep their amateur status. That is another topic for another time, because I think the NCAA is bullshit when it comes to students and money, I digress though.