Trev writes:

Went out and ran the half in the Forest City Road Races in London today, being Mothers' Day. (Figured I could sneak it in and be back at the house before Mom got up.)

Course was very nice, following a couple of major roads in London and winding its wa through the University, along a (paved) riverside trail, and through several residential areas of the city. It started and ended in Victoria Park downtown.

I'd say there was an average number of spectators for a race this size. I found them quite enthusiastic, though.

As I ran I made a few mental notes on the race organization relative to the Rocks! event last weekend: subdivisions weren't pyloned at all but it seemed to work ok. Marshalls made sure no one ran astray (no pun intended); main roads were pyloned but not as generously as in Sudbury; police worked well with traffic, letting cars go in between gaps of runners; Starbucks provided post-race coffee and other stuff; Dominos was setting up as I left, too; start/finish area was set up well with sufficient room for everyone as the masses came in; second loop of the marathon followed a different loop than the first, which I thought was a good idea; signage was LARGE and was color coded to each event, making it easy to stay tuned in to where you were; water stations were sufficient but not as plentiful as Sudbury.

Generally, it was a very well organized event. If I had to pick, setting biases aside, I'd still give the Rocks! races the higher score overall.

Must say I got a bit of a boost towards the end as the half course merged with the 10k course at 19k. I converged with the leaders in the 10k at that point and was passed by several other fast folks who provided some incentive to finish as strongly as possible