Girls Day Out 5k...that wasn't a 5k.

Saturday I ran the Girls Day Out 5k. It was freezing COLD.
I'm telling ya, it was hard to get out of my nice warm bed that morning. I was excited about running this race because when you cross the finish line, you get a $300 coupon booklet to shop, and free wine tasting!

This was the inaugural race, held at the new Outlet stores of the Bluegrass. 
Friday night I received an email saying that because of the weather, they were changing the parking, so we could be closer to the start line and wouldn't have as long of a walk. That was good news!

I got there early to pick up my packet. Again, very happy that they moved that inside too! I saw a few people I knew, so got to chat and stay warm until race time.

(source)

And then at 8:30, we were off! The course was through the parking lot, so it was nice and flat. It was marked pretty well, with signs saying stay to the left or right, if it was your first or second loop. There were a couple times it got kind of confusing and you really had to make sure you were going the right way.

I was really happy with my pace, the first 2 miles were under 11 min. miles. I knew this wasn't going to be a PR, but I knew it would still be great!

And then I saw this...

What?? Oh no, I made a wrong turn somewhere, I missed something, or didn't follow the right signs. I haven't even reached 3 miles yet!!
 I'm sure my finish line photos show me stopped right before the finish, looking at my watch, looking around confused.
This can't be right!

I take my coupons and head back inside to where the wine tasting is. When I get in, I ask several other people if they noticed the course was short. I thought maybe it was just me.
 Sure enough, everyone said the same thing- it was short. They were all disappointed and confused too.

The wine was good

Honestly, at that point I didn't even feel like taking pictures or shopping, so I just left.

When I got home, I posted on their FB page, asking about it. They did reply, which I appreciated. They said because of the parking change, that affected the course, so they had to shorten it.

Here's my question, WHY didn't they mention that in the email they sent out Friday? Or why couldn't they at least announce that Saturday morning, as they were making the other announcements??
THAT is what bothered me. Ok, you have to shorten the course, that sucks, but whatever. AT LEAST TELL US THAT. I felt cheated, and like they were hiding that from us, hoping no one would notice.

Apparently a lot of people didn't notice, because every single person who Instagrammed or Facebooked a picture, was so excited about their PR and about crushing their goal. That makes me sad for them.

Love the shirt, but I believe it's in junior size, not womens. My 8 year old niece will love it.

Other than this incident, it really was a great race. Unfortunately, feeling like they were dishonest with us marred the whole race for me.

Disclaimer: I was given a free entry in exchange for a blog review. As always, I give my honest opinions.