Best (or Worst) of My Racing HIstory

Thanks to The Right Fits for this topic.

Best Finisher's Shirt: The 2013 Flying Pig 10K and 5K shirts.  They are made out of this magically soft material that words cannot describe.  All of the Flying Pig finisher shirts have pig tails on the back so they are cute.

Worst Finisher's Shirt: TCM 2014 10 Mile because they ran out before I got one. 

Best Finish Line: Bolder Dash.  Because watching kids finish a 5K and cheering them on is fantastic. For all that I love about the Flying Pig, I hate what happens in the finishers corral. Mostly because everyone stops moving, it's impossible to get through, and my legs cramp up every time. And according to my parents it's hell to try and spectate on the course and then find a way to the finish line on foot.  They get screwed up every year by barricades and impassible streets.

Best Overall SWAG/Gear: I agree with The Right Fits.  It has to be be the Flying Pig.  I have a backpack (that I've since beaten to death), duffel bag and cooler from them.  Are those really the only years I ran?

Best Crowd Support: Twin Cities Marathon.  Hands down.  Flying Pig Half Marathon is next.  The first few miles are easy for spectators to navigate on foot, but there are gaps in the crowds when we run through some more industrial/business areas.

Hottest Race: 2012 Brew to Brew, with honorable mentions going to 2011 Brew to Brew and several years of Ragnar Relays.

Coldest Race:  2013 Dreidel Dash.  Dreidel Dash being the correct answer to that question.  The first one that came to mind was the 2010 Monster Half Marathon becuase I was absolutely shivering the back half of that race.  Honorable mention goes to this insanity.

Most Beautiful Course:  TCM is the Most Beautiful Urban Marathon, truly.  But Trail Mix was nice just for running on grass through a park for so long.

Race That Took the Most Mental Strength: My first marathon.  Because I was alone on the course for so freaking long looking at one side of the Amstel River and then the other. 

Most Disappointing Finish: 2014 TCM 10 Mile.  I wasn't disappointed in myself so much.  But I thought I'd reached my goal and then found out that TCM shorted the course.  And they ran out of finisher's shirts.  For a race we had to register and pay for months in advance. 

Best Start Line: Trail Mix.  Trail races are so low key. Honorable Mention goes to Ragnar Relay because the start line is like a party, and to Brew to Brew because the start line is a party and beer is officially part of the party!

Most Organized: Flying Pig.  For local races, anything put on by Final Stretch or Mary Anderson Races.

Flattest Course: The old Bolder Dash course around Lake Nokomis.  I had to rack my brain for that one.  For living in Minnesota, I sure can find a lot of hilly courses.

Best Finish Line Food: Have you run a trail race?  Otherwise, I'm going to go with Flying Pig because one year they had a tent with free Goetta.  The food at TCM is generally pretty run of the mill, but they do have chicken broth which tastes good on cold race days.

Coolest Medal: The 2011 TCM Medal is my favorite.  In general the best medals come from TCM and Flying Pig.  Gopher to Badger is also a funny medal. 

Most Emotional Finish: 2009 - Amsterdam Marathon because it was my first marathon.