Hi, this is Debbie Boyle's coach at Mojo for Running with podcast number 53, dear race directors.

I know not all of the Mojo listeners race, but I think most do.

And whether you do one race a year or one race a month, you likely have had some not so great race day experiences. Now let me preface the

comments to follow with this. Most race directors do a great job. And I and most of the runners I know

realize that putting on a race is a huge responsibility that requires months of careful planning,

usually on the part of several people,

but it also requires a great leader that's very conscientious and many dedicated volunteers.

It also helps if you're putting on the race in a city that welcomes races and makes it easy for race

directors. But from what I know, most cities make it pretty difficult, at least where I live.

Hopefully that's not the case everywhere. Now, in a prior podcast, I asked for listeners to send me

comments for race directors. Hopefully, I got them all or most of them. Scott says,

Do everything possible to guarantee an on-time start. It's extremely

frustrating to think you have timed your warm up properly, only to end up standing around for

long enough to cool down. Then there's the other late start scenario, which brings the

Florida heat into play more than necessary. And if the race start isn't, if the race shirt isn't a tech shirt, then don't bother,

just lower the entry fee.

Rob says, I wish that during sign-up they listed what number you are so that you would

know if you're getting a shirt or not. Candy says, please,

no more orange race shirts. Can I just get a color that actually looks flattering on people? Or how

about the option of not getting a shirt for a discounted race fee? Tia says, wishing they would

make shirts optional and lower the cost of the race if you opt out of a shirt.

If they're not technical shirts in a woman's cut, I'm always going to get my husband's size and give it to him.

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