Just Plain Disappointed All The Way Around...

So, this past Saturday was the Charlottesville Marathon - (trust me, I am not cheering).
As you read in my earlier post last week, I was so excited about this race. The trip with the girl's, the excitement and expectation of the great running town of C'Ville, just all together EX-CIT-ED!
Well, that has passed...
So Friday was packet pickup for us. At the local and sponsoring running store - small, quaint shop, no hooplah, just a store, our race bibs, a bag and off we went - and I was fine with that.
Not all races have expos, and trust me, not all expos are great (ask me about Nike Women's in San Fran).
As we left the packet pickup, I must say I commented again to Judy and Maggie about how few porta-potties there were right there at the starting line...that should have been a warning.
We had a super fun girls night, hanging in the room, jetting out for late night pizza slices, teaching Maggie how to use the internet on her phone and Judy learning not to leave her PC logged into FaceBook and unguarded.
We were up at 5am on Saturday - with a leave time out the door at 5:30am for the little over a mile walk to the start.
This post will be broken into 2 posts - my report of the course/race support and then my personal experience.

Allow me to be clear, I am not posting my opinions or observations to sway anyone from this marathon, but I feel it an injustice to fellow runners if I do not share my experience.
Once we all got there and headed to the porta-potty line, we realized there was no way the hundred and something people were going to get thru the 9 provided toilets, so we opted for a bush and a transformer and then headed to the corral.
So there is an 8k, a Half Marathon and the Full. We looked for the designated starting corrals for each and there was NONE. They had 8k runners all mixed in with the half and full marathon runners! WHAT?
So off we go and it's s-l-o-w...we had all made our deals to run our own race. Per usual, within the first mile and a half, Maggie was warmed up and on her way, soon to be out of sight until she finished - GO MAGGIE!
Judy and I hung together and Jill and Kim were shortly behind us (they were running the half).
I mentioned to Judy that I would surely need a bathroom by mile 4, which is typically when you see a toilet in a marathon, we will see.
As we got closer to the 2.5, I noticed the 8ker's on their out and back were fighting, yes, fighting like salmon going upstream, to get past the hoards of us half and full runners hogging up the tiny path. We weren't even on a road at this point and I felt so sorry for them and kept yelling "Move left, runners coming through" but between the earphones and socializing, most didn't listen and many of the front running 8ker's were literally having to break stride and yell for room to get by.
We passed mile 4 and no sign of a potty...it wasn't until mile 5.5 that there was a potty stop at the water table - yep, 2 toilets...I waited 14 minutes to go...
So we continued on the wrenchingly boring first half of the course - which was an out and back to 13.1 (where we would drop the halfer's at their finish) - so that meant bathrooms (2) at 5.5 and again the same 2 at mile 8 when we came back and that was it...seriously?
Charlottesville Marathon advertises itself as the "most scenic marathon course in the country"...let me tell you it was not...the first 13.1 out and back - other than a quick run past the UVA Rotunda and one big fancy house, I saw nothing but blacktop, and normal houses and a few fields. Nothing stood out as memorable or even scenic. I find Riverside Drive in my own back yard to be a much more memorable stretch than this first 13.1 miles.
Okay, so we make it back into "town" towards the half finish and then marathoners split left to do a 6.5 mile loop twice then back in to the finish line...as we split left Judy and I were hoping for the scenic part of this marathon to kick in, as well as we hoped for some bathrooms...the Gu was talking to me and we hadn't seen one since that last sad one at mile 8.
We hit the 14 mile marker and (no potty) began a even more boring run through a "less that nice" subdivision.
I will tell you that at this point we finally realized something else out loud - absolutely NO SPECTATORS...NONE! Not that I need an audience to run but here we are in one of the most runner friendly, most beautiful, country scenic towns...no scenery, no spectators - I wasn't feeling the L-O-V-E.
About mile 16, what I was feeling was hungry. The promised "Gu on the course" and occassional table with chips or pretzels was non-existent. I looked over my shoulder and getting ready to pass Judy and I was a woman who's hubby was "running a bit with her" while he was pushing two toddlers in a B.O.B.
I commented "Great, not only am I being passed, but I am being passed by a man pushing two kids in a stroller..." He chuckled and said he was just coming in for a few miles. Then I asked for a ride to which he responded "Can't give you a ride, but how about a fruit rollup or some juice?" Nah, I said..."Nilla Wafers?" he asked - SCORE! I was in, yes sir may I have some! I dropped one on the ground but he, Judy and I all yelled "3 second rule" and I picked it up and ate it. I would have eaten it had it dropped in mud at this point.
Pardon my wandering - but that THAT was literally the highlight of our race - a husband pushing two kids and offering Nilla Wafers to strange ladies while running.
So on we went, we are half way thru the first loop and still no bathrooms and we would see nothing else race associated since the water table at mile 14 until we made the complete first loop, and that includes no bathrooms still (there would be none until the finish line).
Something else we didn't see - First Aid - we saw one ambulance at the 5.5/8 mile marker (they are both the same spot) and again we saw one ambulance somewhere around mile 18.
No course marshalls in sight (atleast to us at any time) so if we did have a medical issue, who would find us, who would report it, who would help us?
Not to mention, the course was open to traffic which left us hoping the cars saw the occassional orange cone and didn't run us over.
The finish area was small and there was no fanfare or cheering other than a dozen or so people that were obviously waiting for runners to come in.
There were no bottles of water, just a table with some cups, a small tent with a piece of pizza and a banana and at 4 hours in to the race, they were already out of ice for injuries....which leads me to part 2 of this post...
Why was I at the finish line before the 4 hour mark?
I knew by mile 8 that my hamstring wasn't going to make the distance...
At 13 I as going to go out, but Judy said she was going out with me and I couldn't have that...
So I struggled the first of the the 2 loops on the back half and at mile 18 as I trudged up a brutal hill and I told  Judy I was going for the second loop.
When I got to the split for finishers of the 2  loops to go in to the finish, or one timers to make their second loop, I told Judy I was toast.
I peeled my chip off my bib, tossed it in the trash and headed in at 20.2 and claimed no time.
Not only did I run a "P.U." (personal underachievement, lent to me by MomOf3) but I got to claim my first DNF (Did Not Finish) - Yep!
I like to think part of it was me being smart and the other part was possibly because it was the worst race course ever, but truly I was smart and I am okay with my DNF, I will live to run another day.
I hate being negative, really I do. I try to see the best in things all the time, but honestly this $90 marathon was some of the worst money I have ever spent.
My expectation of a beautiful town like Charlottesville and the title "Country's Most Scenic Marathon", I was expecting rolling hills, scenic countryside, breath-taking real estate...NOT!
We still went to McDonald's (because 20 miles qualifies me for a BigMac and fries) and I still had a wonderful trip with the girls, it just had a crappy race and race course in the middle of it!
Run safe, run happy!
-d