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The Nike+ Human Race 10K
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I liked the previous Nike 10k I did (the night one) but this was rubbish.
I think what Nilke try to do by getting non and casual runners excited about running is really worthwhile. The first event I did was a Nike one, and it was great. But if you do all the hype, and then it's a rubbish run and you don't do what you saidyou'd do, I doubt it does what they wanted.
Honestly, I think this was even worse than the British 10k. Shame was I really wanted to enjoy it, but they made it as hard as they could.
You wait.. and wait. and wait to start, the course is dull (which at least when it's dark you don't notice!), it doesn't feel particularly safe ( lots of narrow bits, poor lighting, sharp turns, dark tunnels, flooded drains.. all ingredients in a great run!).
But what really put the lid on it for me was at the end of all that, you get to the finish, in a huge scrum, and theres no medal, despite them promising one in the promotional bumf. I like a nike t-shirt as much as the next man, but I was really dissappointed not to get the medal, I like collecting them.
I suppose what this highlights is the poor information Nike gave out before the race. If they'd said "It's a 2 hour wait at Wembley stadium, a night run for waves 3 and 4, no medal..." I doubt I'd have signed up.
Still, Wembley did look very cool for the last 3k all lit up.that, at least was good.
But, I still think Nike played with the formula too much this time. Like others I have run other nike events, and they were good. But a poor route choice, bad timing (we had to wait for ikea to close basically), and the waiting around for the start made this a poor event for me.
The weather was unfortunate, but unavoidable so I won't complain about that, and I live in Brent and there are lots of nice bits for running, but the industrial estate ain't one of them!
"I wouldn't have entered if I had known that this event was just to promote Nike around the world and nothing to do with entering a race that would allow runners to attempt to better their times "
Bit naive as this is all the Nike 10k have ever been about....I have done one yonks ago and that was enough for me.........
You can search for your result here:
http://nikeplus.nike.com/nikeplus/humanrace/leaderboard.jsp
Couldn't see anywhere to get all the London results though.
Agree that the marshalling and t-shirts were good. That was about it though.
Whoever came up with the idea of keeping people sat in plastic seats for two hours before a 10k run is obviously an idiot. I was kicking myself for not bringing my latest Runners World to read whilst we were 'entertained' by the stage acts (I'd only heard of Moby, and I'm not a big fan!). It just dragged on and on and on.
Wembley has a sliding roof by the way - why do they never use it?! The last time I went to Wembley was for the American Football last year. The roof was open for that in the the pouring rain, the pitch got ruined and was one of the (many) reasons we lost to Croatia in the football there a bit later that year.
One high point was being overtaken by Paula (I was in wave 3, she was in wave 4!) around the 7km mark. She really does run quick!
Probably echo most of the above: the north v south Nike 10 was my first evr 10k so had held fond regards for the nike events. However the atmosphere just wasn't quirte the same......Being at Wembley was impressive: the rain less so. It was the waiting around and lack of info that was the most galling. The gig needed to be much shorter as we just all wanted to run!!!! The two t shirts thing was a bonus as towards the end was thinking I will be so wet going home!!!! Every race I have done this year bar a couple have been beset by rain so I should be used to it.
Sadly my lasting memory will be a pulled hamstring. Ouch!!!
Never run a Nike race before. I agree that the music went on too long (and was really quite rubbish) and we weren't really told what was going on.
I would imagine a lot of people wouldn't have run great times because of the weather and lack of lighting. I came in (just) under my target time.
I liked watching the screens beforehand and seeing other cities runs.
Can't believe we started at that time because of Ikea!! And yes, I saw Paula speed by too!
I'd probably run another Nike race if it was during the day and in one of the parks.
But no medal, boo! 2 good t-shirts though.
I must admit I enjoyed it.. but only because it rained (I like rain) and I ran with a mate who was doing her 1st 10k!
Otherwise it was a bit dire! I did manage a Pb but felt I could have run faster but it was so over crowded. I felt so sorry for the guys in waves 3 and 4 they must have finished at midnight! If nike did it again they need to have the concert after so we can mix with the supporters and enjoy our success! Rather than be pre-occupied with our race nerves!
Oh and was demoralised you got to 9k think yep im there only to disappear off around the corner!
Like the shirt though... think it's the only thing that stopped me freezing to death!
This was my first 10k running event and although I thought it was brilliant and the atmosphere was amazing, I didn't like the fact that we were waiting in the rain for so long. I was soaked!!. I was in wave 4 and that didn't set off until 8.20pm in the end. I like the fact that there were supporters all the way round. I like my t shirt, but would of loved a medal also. I did beat my PB, so I was very pleased. Very strange thing was I was wearing my ipod sensor and that logged me as doing 11.7km at the end?..lol...
I didn't like the route but don't have any others to compare against. It was good that everyone was chatting to everyone and funny when getting the tube to wembley and slowly but gradually the whole tube was filled with people wearing the same t shirt.
A good day
My garmin also measured the course as long (10.34km), but it may have been confused by all the close switchbacks and constant weaving by me trying to get near the front.
The dry teeshirt was very welcome, although I must apologise to anyone who had to see me strip off to put it on at Wembley underground station!
Wembely stadium solved a few problems - especially the toilet situation most races suffer with and a public transport system designed specifically to bring in vast hoards of people. However I'd have loved to finish running into the stadium ... might have made more sense than starting the race there as the the field or runners had thinned out by the end instead of a guaranteed 'free for all' that you get at the beginning of every large race. They could have filled the stadium with light and noise and the few spectators could have kept dry. Like most people have said the course did let it down not just for runners but for their friends and families it really didn't allow for crowds to cheer us on although the marshalls did a cracking job !
However, good or bad, at least it was a true event... something to talk (or in some cases moan) about in the pub... the day i ran at Wembley.
well, i signed up but didn't turn up for the following reasons:
1) felt crap yesterday
2) read that there was no medal at the end
3) it was going to rain
4) you got a t-shirt anyway if you logged a 10km run on the day at Nike+
5) didn't fancy standing around for an hour before running
6) the course route wasn't exactly a 'draw' and did not inspire to make the effort to go.
so i did a 10km run along the Thames instead, as i felt crap I could always return home easily if needed. i kept dry, there was wonderful scenery, no standing around, no hiedous tube journeys... yeah, it cost me £30...but I also ended up with two t-shirts anyways.
sounds like i made the right choice! sorry to hear it wasn't what was expected...and as for starting at 8.20pm, that is just awful. well done to everyone who completed it, PB or not.
Cheers. I'm putting my feet up with the new edition of runners world magazine now!!
Hoping to find my next run in Essex.
Well done sole survivor on your 10k
It was definitely an experience - at least the weather was warm(ish) in the rain - not like the driving wet rain on the great south, when I froze even whilst running.
I think the event was good, worldwide what an event to have been part of. Sadly I don't think runners are the ideal audience for Pendulum and Moby, most of us wanted to start sooner and finish earlier!
I don't expect a PB when sooo many runners are out there, but I do think better organisation of runners (ie. submitting estimated completion times and sorting people into the waves accordingly) would have improved the situation. Overtaking a walker in the first kilometre (wearing a shower cap to protect the hairdo!) and seeing her dancing round puddles was not what i'd expected in the early waves... and there were several people like that.... The warm long sleeve race T was a saviour!
Oh well, onto the next event. I now have 2 nike tops to train in - good stuff!
Huge piles of plastic blowing about in Olympic Way this morning. What were the small Starbucks cups about? I didn't see any yesterday, or were they left over from the rugby on Saturday?
Agree with comments above though despite the crowding I did a PB, and I was fortunate to be in wave 1 so by the time the rain starting falling heavily I was well into the run and warmed up (but the wet shirt gave me joggers' nipple!). Grateful for the dry shirt at the end and also for the earplugs to keep out the worst of that unholy din from that supposed 'concert'. Do Nike aim only at the teenage market? Presumably they figure that adults are too sensible to pay their prices.
Anyone figured out where the results are on Nike's website, surely the most annoying website in the world?
Starbucks were doing a low-key sampling of their new smoothie on the way out towards the tube (it's the same product as the voucher they were issuing with the pack).
Shame about the cups blowing about - Starbucks are big and ugly enough to clear up after themselves...
I still maintain the event was pretty much as I expected - but my view is a bit more sympathetic because I didn't pay and I was in wave 1. Had I been in the 820 start I would have been a bit annoyed.
I've never run an event that big before and I did at times definitely feel claustrophobic. However as an event for mixed abilities and as a draw to get people training for a distance I think it probably did a good job.
I enjoyed the actual run itself - including getting overtaken by Paula! Have to say, the lack of street lighting was a bit rubbish though, considering it was totally dark by the time we (wave 3) started. Still, better that than to have been stuck on the pitch in the rain for hours before even getting going.
If they were going to make people hang around for so long, they should have had more water and food available (although they were giving water away to waves 1 and 2 on the pitch, when I asked for a glass of water at the food place inside the stadium they tried to charge me £1.90! And had to check whether they could just give me the plastic glass to fill up at a water fountain - very cheeky), and there didn't seem to be any food available afterwards, which was rubbish as it was 9.30 by that stage so we'd basically skipped dinner. More info as to when we would start would have been good to, so you could time your last half a banana (or £6 slice of pizza).
Long and short is I wouldn't do the same event again (Wembley, music before etc.) but I would do another Nike run. Although a medal would be nice. Good tshirts though!
M2P: ah, that's why I didn't see the Starbucks, as I went in the opposite direction from the station.
Btw, am I right in thinking that I saw someone after the race holding a sign in the concourse of the stadium pointing the way to 'Wembley Central Park station'? Unfortunately Wembley Park and Wembley Central are different stations in different directions.
Just been for a jog around the industrial estate - how you guys with just field, trees and flowers must envy me - and they've done a pretty good job of clearing up, though I suppose that's another hundred thousand bottles for landfill and something for our descendants to remember us by.
I must admit, I wasn't too impressed with this Nike run. Too late in the day, poor idea to play music before we ran (so we're waiting around in the cold) and it was badly lit (considering the time we actually kicked off)! The stewards were good (apart from near the end where there was that kerfuffle by the bridge with visitors running across the road getting in the way of runners) and the music along the route was great! Anyone know the name of the first band we came across?
Was I the only one who thought the race would be in the morning or early afternoon? 7.30pm at night? What's that all about? I guess it gave Tesco enough time to close so we could run through their car park though.
Hats off to them though for managing to martial 4 waves of runners fairly smoothly. Though I wish people were honest about their running times - I thought wave 1 was supposed to be for the fast runners! I guess it kind of made it fun though, having to weave around and duck and dive between pools of water and people walking.
Nice running top though at the end and it was great being on the train from Wembley with the whole tube full of us wearing our matching tops!