Walk, Jog, Run, or Compete

Psst.  I have a secret about the Pro Football Hall of Fame races.  Wanna hear it?  Come closer.  I'll only share this with you if you promise to tell everyone you know, ok?

Let's talk about the Gold Jacket 5k series.  For those of you who are football-vocabulary-deficient, the name comes from the Jackets worn by enshrinees to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Honestly, I'd call this color "Mustard," not "Gold."

By the end of 2016, there will be a Gold Jacket 5k in every NFL city plus Canton!  You, Runner-Friends, are getting this scoop before the official announcement!  This year the schedule includes the following cities:

​​Canton - April 25th

​Detroit - May 17th

Cleveland - June 7th
Cincinnati - June 14th

Pittsburgh - June 28th

Baltimore - July 12th
Chicago - July 19th

Buffalo - August 9th
Championship Race - Canton - September 13th

Anyone can participate in the Gold Jacket 5k.  You can walk, jog, run, or compete--whatever makes you happy.  The winners of each Gold Jacket 5k will get a free entry and free travel to the Championship race on September 13th.  Participants will wear a bib with the name of the NFL team for their cities.  Canton's bib will be for the Canton Bulldogs.  I am already registered for the Canton Gold Jacket 5k because when Jim showed me the medal (He THUNKED it on the table--that's how big it is!) I lost my mind.  You, too, can earn this, and you can earn one for every Gold Jacket 5k!

Look at it!  LOOK AT THIS HUGE RING!!!!

I've got my eye on either the Pittsburgh, Chicago, or Baltimore Gold Jacket 5ks because I think my husband and I should take a short vacation to run one together.  We'll leave the kids at home; they are old enough to open cereal boxes and peanut butter jars.  What could go wrong?  (Before you go all nuts on me and I have to respond to Child and Family Services, I have to tell you that I'M JUST KIDDING about leaving the kids by themselves with just some cereal and peanut butter.  We have plenty of frozen pizza, too.)

Anyway, I am excited to treat some of these 5ks as race-cations, and hopefully you will join me.

This is EXACTLY how I look when I'm showing off my race swag after running a 5k!

Wanna join me?  Click here to register for the Pro Football Hall of Fame.   Remember; you can walk, jog, run, or compete.  Be daring; try something new. This year I am running a relay for the first time, and I'm really excited.  Plus,  of course, I'll be running for that huge ring in the Canton Gold Jacket 5k.  If I run the Gold Jacket in all the cities this year, I can use the rings as weapons during cafeteria duty.  I'M KIDDING!  I wouldn't want ketchup on my rings. Look for the national announcement of this series just after the Super Bowl during the week of February 2nd.

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Get It Now: Pro Football Hall of Fame 5k

Well, the Pro Football Hall of Fame Gold Jacket 5k has sold out.  Wow, that was quick!  Are you upset that you didn't register?  Never fear:

You can still get this!  

The Powers-that-Be (you can call him Jim) have decided to give you until midnight January 31 to sign up for this fun 5k.

Why would you want to sign up for this 5k?  So glad you asked:

1.  LOOK AT THE RING!!! Holy cow!  When Jim plunked this ring down on the table to show it to me, it almost SPLIT THE TABLE.  I'm not exaggerating.  Much. It weighs 13 oz. More than a steak. More than a can of soda / pop / juice / adult beverage.

2.  The 5k is the day before the marathon, half-marathon, and relay, so you can do two events if you want.  I am running the 5k and a leg of the relay.

3.  It's totally fun.  You can walk, jog, run, or compete--completely up to you.  Why not take the whole family?

4. There will even be a real life Hall of Famer or two at the finish line giving you a high five!

5.  The price point is right on--$35.00 for this awesome ring and a chance to finish at the 50-yard line of Fawcett Stadium.

Join me by clicking here to register for the Pro Football Hall of Fame Marathon, Half Marathon, Relay, and/or Gold Jacket 5k.  Remember, you only have until midnight January 31 to get this ring!

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Let's Play!

"Why does it take a year to plan a race?" I asked Jim Chaney, race director for the Pro Football Hall of Fame Marathon.  "What do you do all day?  It's just one day, right?"

"How long did it take you to plan your wedding?" he countered.  Touche.  My wedding had MAYBE 50 people involved, and it took months to plan.

This is EXACTLY how my wedding looked.  I got the dress at a discount.  Just kidding; this is Kate and William.  They copied off my wedding.

"The Pro Football Hall of Fame Marathon is like a wedding day for thousands of people, with a wedding hall that spreads out over 26.2 miles,"  Jim explained.

I wanted to know what Day 1 Planning looks like.  Initial stages of planning a wedding are the most exciting and fun because anything goes, and you don't feel bound by budgets or rules.  According to Jim, this is NOTHING like the first day of planning a running event:

"Day 1 is the worst day of the entire year. The focus is to identify everything that did NOT go according to plan the previous year. The bulk of what goes wrong is generally not visible to the runner, but critical to resolve for future success.  Day 1 actually happens 5 days after the event. We ask all of our volunteers to document what they feel could be improved, what went wrong, what went right, and anything unexpected."

Jim gave me some examples from 2014: Runners felt they needed better signage to mark where the marathon and half marathon split.  (I know from running other half marathons in marathon events that this is very confusing to runners.  It shouldn't be difficult--it's not rocket science, after all--but it is very difficult when your head is in a certain place and you don't know the course.)  What Went Wrong: The entire gear bag volunteer team did not show up (It was a high school group - should have considered this possibility!), so Jim had to scramble and cover that activity quickly. What Went Right:  Almost everything went according to plan....awesome!  What Was Unexpected: A very nice family provided orange slices to the marathoners but left a quarter mile trail of orange peels with no one to clean them up.

From that session, the team establishes the game plan for the coming year. Yes, they indeed have a "playbook" that documents all of the facets of the race.  

 Just when I thought our conversation was going to be about more Day 1 details, Jim took a different turn:   "Also, my job involves more than just race-day planning.  I want this event to be more than a fun day for runners.  I want to involve families, and I want to connect them through a love of play and movement."

This is where I snapped to attention.  As a high school teacher and a mother of two, I worry about the lack of play and movement our children have, both in and out of school.  I thought Jim said he was planning a marathon--why is he bothering to think about playtime and family?  Also, my kids can't run a marathon. . . yet.  How are they going to have fun at a marathon event?  What can my family do if they can't run the marathon or even the half marathon?  This is where the YMCA Football Combine Experience in Fawcett Stadium and the Gold Jacket 5k Series come in.

During the Canton races, families can hang out in Fawcett Stadium, where there are activities for children such as a timed 40 yard dash, agility drills, jumps, obstacle courses, passing drills, and a touchdown dance competition (Boy, my son and I would tear that up!).

This is EXACTLY how my son and I look in a touchdown dance competition.

I'm excited to get the view from the sideline for this family-fun weekend.  Wanna join me?  Click here to register for the marathon, half marathon, relay, or Gold Jacket 5k. 

I have lots of questions for Jim about what he does to plan for these events.  I'd love to get answers to your questions, too.  Tell me in the comments what you would like to know about planning for the Pro Football Hall of Fame Marathon Weekend.  I'll do my best to snoop around (quarterback sneak, anyone?) and write about what I learned.

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