Welcome to Wednesday Word, a weekly linkup for everyone, not just health and fitness bloggers. Each Wednesday you will have a single word prompt to write about. Let your imagination run free and share with your readers your interpretation of that word, or simply use it as inspiration for your post. Today’s word is kerfuffle….. I’d love to have you link up, and if you do, please remember to follow my six simple rules.
Kerfuffle – Disturbance, fuss
~ Merriam-Webster
Perhaps the following story was more of a series of train wrecks, than a kerfuffle, but it’s fair to say that when all was said and done at DC’s one and only Hot Chocolate 15K, the resulting chaos created quite the kerfuffle.
Train Wreck #1:
We woke on that infamous race morning back in December 2011 to the promise of a beautiful day and race ahead. Bill, our Cruiser friends, and I piled into my Cruisermobile for the four mile ride across the Potomac River from our hotel to the race. As soon as we got on the Woodrow Wilson Memorial Bridge, we came to a complete stop – something completely unexpected at that hour on a Saturday morning, even on the beltway. We heard the radio announcer say that traffic was snarled because so many cars were trying to exit to the National Harbor for a race. Hmmm, that would be us… We sat on the bridge for an hour and twenty minutes going absolutely nowhere! We even saw multiple runners get out of their cars to run across the bridge to get to the race on time. People running on the beltway; are you freaking kidding me? We decided that since we had timing chips on our bibs and so many other runners were sitting on the bridge with us, we wouldn’t stress out and would stay in our warm SUV.
Train Wreck #2:
Eventually we got across the bridge, parked the Cruisermobile, and found our way toward the starting line of the 15K. BUT FIRST, we had to pick our way through the 5K runners coming toward us who had been accidentally started in the wrong direction. Yes, they were running toward us as we were trying to make our way from the parking lot to the starting line of our race!
Train Wreck #3:
We eventually made it to the starting line of the 15K and waited yet another hour because the the 8 AM start time had been moved to 9 AM to accommodate the rest of the runners who were still stuck in traffic. At this point we were very glad that we’d waited on the bridge in our warm vehicle instead of getting out to run to the starting line. The expression on the face of the young lady front and center in this picture says it all.
Train Wreck #4:
Once we started running, we relaxed and decided to just enjoy the course and make the most of our race, but before we knew it, we turned onto a coned off and crowded single-lane on a busy highway right next to traffic in the adjacent lane, resulting in breathing in the exhaust fumes from the dump trucks idling as we ran by.
Train Wreck #5:
After the race was finished, we’d stuffed our faces with Ghirardelli chocolate fondue and hot chocolate, and then headed to our car. Just as we got back on the beltway, we got caught behind the truck picking up race cones and watched as traffic was snarled for a little while longer…
And Then The Social Media Kerfuffle Began:
Driving home, we talked about the various things that had gone both right and wrong during the race. It wasn’t until we got on social media that we saw what a kerfuffle had ensued. Facebook and Twitter were ablaze with nasty comments from unhappy runners slamming the producers of the race for letting so many things go wrong. Let’s just say that there hasn’t been a Hot Chocolate race in the DC area since…
Note: To read my full 2011 Hot Chocolate 15K recap, click here. Much of the race was quite enjoyable, especially since I wasn’t racing it, and could just laugh at the various train wrecks happening all around us. And just to be fair, I’ve since read recaps from Hot Chocolate races in other cities, and haven’t heard too many complaints about those races.
Have you encountered any kerfuffles at races you’ve run?
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Next Wednesday’s Word: Captivate
Oh, the memories! I was one of the runners who got out of the car on the bridge! You forgot to mention that the 10K (?) timing mat was on the wrong side of the course, or the roadkill that shouldn’t have been on the course at all! It was so bad it was a topic on the Kojo Namdi Show!
Coco recently posted…Building Confidence For Climbing
OMG, what if that had been you in that picture on my little poster!?! Tell me more! I don’t remember the road kill or the timing mat misplacement. You need to jog my memory!
Huge kerfuffles at my first half, Vegas, so much so they offered all runners a discount for the next year. Most of them didn’t effect me, either & I had a great race.
Judy @ Chocolaterunsjudy recently posted…What I raise a kerfuffle over
Glad you ended up having a good first half despite the kerfuffles. And yeah, that’s why on my original recap I tried to focus on the good as much as the bad. I wasn’t racing so the mess ups didn’t really effect me that much.
I ran a Hot Chocolate event back in 2011 and it was a kerfluffle. Actually it was more than that, it was a clusterf. Never again!
Wendy@Taking the Long Way Home recently posted…Hot Wheeling: Venus de Miles Ride Recap
HaHa! I originally used the word clusterf^#%, but changed it to train wreck at the last minute. 🙂 2011 must not have been a very good year for them…
Oh I was there too! What a disaster huh? I ended up bailing on the 15K because we had already waited so long and my family was there doing the 5k. Kerfuffle indeed!
Deborah @ Confessions of a mother runner recently posted…I knew I Was A Real Runner When….
You were smart to switch to the 5K or your family would have been waiting forever for you to finish since we started the 15K an hour late.
That is a new word for me! I’ve never heard of it.
I remember hearing about that race. Wow, I know some things go wrong during a race but that was just too many things. I’ve done one Hot Chocolate Races and was not impressed. Haven’t done one since then.
Zenaida Arroyo recently posted…Summer Scenes from my Run
Cool – happy to have introduced you to a new word!
I have to say that I haven’t read very many good things about any of the Hot Chocolate races. My sister did the one in Philly last year and she said it was fine. She did the 5k though so she was there all of what like, 25 minutes…lol
HaHa! That’s a good point about running the shorter races. I’m glad Lacey had a good race.
yup. had a few, Read my post.
Darlene recently posted…Wednesday Word: Kerfuffle
Definitely will do!
I could not come up with a way to utilize the word “kerfuffle”…., I never thought about tapping into my archives (#mybad). I did a half marathon a few years ago (on an extremely hot morning) with the impending fear of needing a porta-pot stop and there weren’t any. I later learned the antibiotics I’d been on had side-effects of dehydration AND diarrhea. Thankfully, nothing embarrassing happened, but the fear of it was nasty.
Ohhhh, that sounds like a tough run! Glad it turned out okay.
Wow it sounds like you had quite the running kerfluffle!! I have actually remember reading about this on FB!!
It was one hot mess!