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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