I have to share a funny that happened to me this week. I can’t even think of the last time I screwed up this bad. It starts with an email I received. The Churchill’s half marathon is a long standing race in our area. We’ve run it for years. It’s one of those races that it’s just a given that we will be running it. It’s a great race, we see all of our friends, they have a beer tent, and it’s low cost!! Alan and I both signed up for it back in August when the rates were low, because you know, we’re all about saving some $$!
I received an email that the race is looking for volunteers. I was scrolling through the list of spots available and thought maybe I could work packet pickup. Always a fun job to see my running friends! I checked the date on my calendar (Thursday, Nov 8th) and then I wondered why I had a camping trip planned for the next day (Friday, Nov 9th). What the heck? Did they have the date of the race wrong?
Clearly, the race is on November 4th. That’s what is on MY calendar. In fact, the weekend of Nov 10-11th was the first free weekend that we didn’t have anything planned, so we planned our last camping trip of the season on that weekend!
Huh. Time to check the website to make sure I had the date correct. Surely they have some huge typos in this email.
OH MAN. Yep, the race really *IS* on Nov 10th…. not the 4th. Heck, it’s not even on a Sunday… It’s never on a Sunday. It’s on a Saturday morning! I really screwed that one up.
The very funny thing about this is that I wondered why the training plan for Dave’s Running went “all the way” until Nov 7th (yep, the one I’m sub coaching for!!). How odd is that, right?? Uh huh. It never dawned on me until now that I put it on the calendar on the wrong day. FAIL!!!!!!
Since Alan is injured, I’ve decided just to sell our bibs. Our calendar has been full with cross country events all season, it’s nice to take a break. A chilly fall camping trip with my family sounds like more fun anyways. There will always be another race, but not this time with my kids 🙂
And good news, there’s still time to transfer bibs. I sold our bibs within an hour. No lost money. Yeah!
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Q: Have you ever shown up at a race on the wrong day??
Q: Do you keep a paper calendar or online?
Cozi is the best online calendar!
Q: Have you lost any money on race entries because you couldn’t run?
I’ve only had one Did Not Start… and it was Churchill’s a few years ago due to a hurt knee!
I haven’t shown up on the wrong day (yet) but a couple of years ago I signed up for a race in Colorado that I was positive was on a Sunday. I got a really great airfare flying on Saturday morning. The week of the race I received my confirmation email showing the race was actually on Saturday! Damn! I had to rebook my flight for Friday and it cost 3 times as much! As for losing money on races; I DNS at least one a year. This year it was the Rocky Mountain Half. I missed NYC in 2014. That one cost $255.
Ouch on NYC! Did you go collect your race goodies though? Get the shirt?? That mix up on the Colorado race does sound like something I would do! Glad you were able to at least get out there, even though the extra $$ sucks. I did book a flight for Alan on the wrong day and we showed up at the airport. They were able to get him on a flight that day, just had to pay to rebook it. Oops.
NYC was actually even worse because I had originally been entered in 2012 when Hurricane Sandy forced the cancellation of the race. I was already in NY at the expo when they made the announcement. There was NO REFUND! Deferred to 2014. Deferred again to 2015. Paid for NY THREE times!
Oh yeah I have def lost money due to DNS. That’s why I have commitmentphobia and only want to do races last minute!
I’m glad you didn’t lose money on your bibs. You’re right, camping with your family will be much more fun at this point!
I use a paper calendar. Love it.
Megan @ Meg Go Run recently posted…Hello, Thursday.
You seem to have some good luck with booking races last minute these days! We’ll be losing some money on Alan’s entry for Columbus marathon, but he said he’s still going to go through the food line at the end and get his food and goodies after the race 😉
Well – in 3 days I’ll be in Columbus as a spectator vs. running the full like I registered for. I think that is the first race I’ve ever signed up for and won’t be running. Hopefully all this time off running will actually fix me and in a few more weeks I can start back at square 1. As in running 1 mile.