This was the Inaugural Weeki Wachee Mermaid Race located in Weeki Wachee, FL managed by Landmark Races, which included a half marathon, 5k, and Challenge which included both and additional 1miler. For those that don't know, Weeki Wachee Springs State Park is actually a world famous piece of history. Located just North of Tampa, this popular spring was turned into a huge mermaid roadside tourist attraction in the 40s. Underwater shows were performed by mermaids and even celebrities came just to see! Today, the park still has the Mermaid Shows, but also a water park with 3 slides, tubing, a wildlife show, and a boat that takes you down the spring and back to see the crystal clear natural habitat and possible wildlife.
This race was managed by Landmark Races. From previous experience, I know to never trust an Inaugural half marathon. Thirteen miles, especially one that you travel for, is a long time to be upset if things go array. Which of course they did, but we will get to that later. So my excuse for 'giving in' to another Inaugural was: Weeki Wachee is an easy driving distance from Jacksonville that I have never explored, the Mermaid theme was cute, its a State Park and so far Ive had good luck with those, but it is also close to the only area that is legal to swim with the manatees which has always been on my bucket list. I decided to bite the bullet and wish for the best.
TWO DAYS BEFORE RACE DAY
The race announces that they have decided they want to do 'waves' for the Start. Therefore, they will start at 6am, instead of 7am and will continue until 730a and let only a certain amount of runners take off, to prevent over packing the course. Ok, I can be okay with that, especially since they repeatedly said if you planned to run at 7a originally, do not panic, you can still run at 7a.
PACKET PICK UP
Packet pick up was 2 options, one in Orlando on Thursday, and one at the park on Friday. They stressed multiple times that race day pick up would not be an option. Two days before the race, they decide this will now be an option.
(Also, there was an option to have your packet mailed, and apparently there was a huge data problem as tons of people did not even receive their packet. I assume this is why they opened up race day packet option)
I was about the tenth person in line for packet pick up and it took over 30 minutes for them to just hand us a bib and shirt.
I was about the tenth person in line for packet pick up and it took over 30 minutes for them to just hand us a bib and shirt.
COURSE
Well if you have been following me long enough, you know I usually do not analyze course maps, but I do at least read the description. This is what they promised:
"Set in the unforgettable Weeki Wachee Springs State Park comes the inaugural Weeki Wachee Springs Mermaid Race! You can choose to run or walk along the cool urban trail route that incorporates sidewalks and urban trails. This open road course starts and finishes at the Weeki Wachee Springs State Park in Weeki Wachee, Florida"
You really cant blame them too much. Everyone is already so 'high' off the Mermaid theme, their advertising person did a perfect job in enticing runners to pay to run what actually was:
Start/Finish an out and back course along a busy major highway with four traffic lights to cross without police escort, completely on sidewalk with pretty much no shade, nothing much water (not even cups), that never sees any of the beautiful Weeki Wachee Springs nor the gorgeous surrounding waterways and never steps foot inside the State Park.
Now read the original description. Feel fooled dont ya?
They later added/removed items from their website including the warning of the stoplights, that times can be changed at any time, parking information, and even the entrance to the park went from available Sat or Sun, now to only Sat.
"Set in the unforgettable Weeki Wachee Springs State Park comes the inaugural Weeki Wachee Springs Mermaid Race! You can choose to run or walk along the cool urban trail route that incorporates sidewalks and urban trails. This open road course starts and finishes at the Weeki Wachee Springs State Park in Weeki Wachee, Florida"
You really cant blame them too much. Everyone is already so 'high' off the Mermaid theme, their advertising person did a perfect job in enticing runners to pay to run what actually was:
Start/Finish an out and back course along a busy major highway with four traffic lights to cross without police escort, completely on sidewalk with pretty much no shade, nothing much water (not even cups), that never sees any of the beautiful Weeki Wachee Springs nor the gorgeous surrounding waterways and never steps foot inside the State Park.
Now read the original description. Feel fooled dont ya?
They later added/removed items from their website including the warning of the stoplights, that times can be changed at any time, parking information, and even the entrance to the park went from available Sat or Sun, now to only Sat.
SHUTTLES
Say WHAT?! Yep, two days before the race, they decided to let us know there would now be shuttles to the race start. Ugh. I decided to take my chances and parked across the street at Motel 6 instead. I later heard they gave the wrong address for the shuttle pick up/parking.
START
I stayed about two miles away so decided to push it and sleep in til last minute (well, I wouldnt call it sleep. Being used to working til 2a, I had a hard time falling asleep until after midnight, then tossed and turned all night, and up at 630a. I parked across the street at Motel 6, and arrived to my surprise that not a single 'wave' started. I asked and no one seemed to know what the hold up was, but hearsay later was the timing mat and police escort were a no go. Some runners decided to just go ahead and run on their own. I waited it out because really my coffee still was kicking in, and I wanted to see how this panned out. They finally let the first wave go at 730a...an hour and half after they told people to show up earlier than originally planned.
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| the infamous water station |
FUEL STATIONS
The first water station wasnt until M3, which ended up being just a couple of people with a cooler of water and no cups. They offered to hold it up so we could open our mouths to get water. I shook my head and continued on. The next water stop was just a cooler on an empty table. I felt bad to even take any because some people didn't even bring a bottle or Camelpak. So I skipped that one too. The next stop was these poor two little boys listening to everyone bitch with still, yep, just a cooler of water and no cups. This has got to be a joke. We have a cup free race and they forgot to tell us? No Gatorade, no GU, no 'shade stations' that they had promised on the website. Just water. I later learned they even ran out of water.
RESULTS
The sun was up at 7a, so at 730 we were already cooking. Thankfully I knew to bring my Camelpak. Down the sidewalk we went, which ended up being pretty covered with thick grass and other debris that a lot of people complained about, but I just chalked it up to trail running training. (I guess this is what they call 'urban trail.' The sidewalk was very windy and narrow so the first half was difficult to even pass people. Because of that, a lot of runners decided to put their lives in jeopardy and run on the highway with cars whipping by.
I knew quickly this wasn't going to be my day, but hot Florida races usually aren't. Running in the sun, the heat hit me about M5, where I decided to would run in my bra. M7, they handed out cold full bottles of water and I just dumped it on my head. I felt pretty good after that, but still wasn't performing. My body was checked out. Then I realized they had a M11 sign at M7. The mileage signs from then on out were wrong. Its like they skipped 8 and 9, 11 came before 10. This is the first time I didnt even care if the course was short. I just wanted it to be over.
Then around M11 a biker was riding on the road and out of nowhere, completely passed out and fell in the middle of the highway. I had to run out to make sure the cars were not going to hit him, as he was not responding. Thankfully a couple of other runners were with me and helped direct traffic and the other called 911 and I tried to assist him through the seizure and looked for any medical ID. Poor guy was unresponsive for a while but having been through a seizure before, I knew there really wasn't anything we could do except protect him. He finally came to, and the paramedics came shortly after and took over. My adrenaline was pumping for the next couple of miles as I just wanted to be done with this race. The courses ended short at 12.5.
FINISH LINE
After trying to even find the finish line to cross as everyone was running in different directions, we were handed a water. That's it. Nothing else. No direction. No medal. I finally found a tent that had mermaids and knew photos were taken with them, and saw the medals sitting on the table to just pick up yourself. I then walked up to every single tent and found that there was not a single piece of food provided for us.... well, unless you want to pay for an over priced, under quality something from a food truck. I think they had nuggets and hot dogs.
SWAG
The swag is the only thing good this race has going for this Inaugural. You had an option to chose between a tank top, performance tshirt, or hat for your race item. The medal is super cute and they made different ones for the different distances. And they give you a comp entry to the Weeki Wachee Springs State Park
OVERALL THOUGHTS
Where did the money go? It certainly didnt go to the functioning of a race, thats for sure! If this race had presented itself as "a casual, fend for yourself type of race with no support" but you get a cool shirt, medal, entry to the park, and the rest goes to help support the park, then I would have walked away completely fine. But they didn't. They presented themselves as an experienced race company hosting a pretty big 'Challenge' that had runners in dire conditions all day. Those are the runners I feel the most for. They paid a ridiculous amount of money than just the 5k or half marathon, and for what? The only thing extra the Challenge runners received was another medal. This race company took advantage of the 'mermaid' theme and enticed these poor victims. They should be ashamed. And as of now, there still has not been any comment from the director or the park on what went wrong. They did however, disable Facebook followers from being able to post on their page and removed all negative feedback.
After learning the history of Weeki Wachee, being a roadside tourist attraction, and after thinking about it for a while, since day one this park has been cashing in on kids dreams that mermaids are real. One can kind of understand how this race too is just a money making scheme and nothing more. Some people say the park is not to blame. But they hired Landmark Races. They are both responsible. If they were to hire another company next year, 'maybe' things would be better, but I would still be cautious.
Mid race I seriously contemplated calling the cops. This race put runners at risk in more ways than one. Its one thing to already be an extreme race being a late morning in early September in Florida. Heat should always be a concern for race directors in these conditions and it is like they did not even care. Add in the open road course with no police escort at intersections, and no course bikers to make sure runners are not running on the road, they are lucky no one got hit by a car! Then to have every single water station not have cups? How does a race not tell you they are going to be cup free? And how do you not offer one thing at all other than water?? Unacceptable.
The entire race experience I kept reminding myself and others this is an 'Inaugural" and this is usually what happens....things just always go wrong. But it is still no excuse. Especially to this type of level. I tried to not let the negativity consume me as I already went into it with those expectations, so just chalked this up to as just another training day for my big 40 mile challenge in a couple weeks at TrailFest! But I still cant help from feeling robbed. This could have been an awesome experience and instead they charged as much as they could and gave as little (or less) as possible.
UPDATE-RACE DIRECTORS APOLOGY
Three days after the race, the director emailed and posted on Facebook, an apology solely accepting the blame and not the park, but also half assed it because he used the excuse of the hurricanes. He said 40 volunteers and the police escorts were taken away last minute. However there really was no reasoning on why they did not have cups nor why they did not have enough water, nor explain why there wasnt any of this communicated leading into race day to set our expectations. Like someone else mentioned, we are runners and we want a good race, so we will help out any way possible, especially when we are paying good money. If we knew the issues that were arising in the couple days before the race, we could have tried to get friends/families to volunteer, etc. But no cups? C'mon, Publix and Walgreens were right across the street from a couple of the water stations!
ACCOMMODATIONS
There is not much for hotels in this stretch of Florida. I rented an Airbnb room for only $27 and it was amazing! The extremely friendly host had not only the cutest room, but a screened pool, tiki bar, lanai lounging furniture and outdoor dining. In the room she completed it with microwave, fridge, coffee maker, even the cutest toaster oven. Coffee, teas, hot chocolate, oatmeal, candies were all provided! To Reserve, click Here
WEEKI WACHEE STATE PARK
It feels weird calling this place a state park, as Ive never seen anything like it. Mermaid Tails was the show I decided to watch (the other was The Little Mermaid) and it gave some good history on the place. Besides the underwater mermaid show, there is a water park with a beach, grill, swimming, a small tubing area, and 3 slides. The slides were fun and the water felt great. There is also a very small wildlife show, which basically only showed you a snake, a turtle, and an alligator. Definitely geared towards children. There is also a boat that takes you about a mile or less down the spring and back. It was cool to see how clear the water actually is and see the mullet, but that is about all we saw. I would take the young kids, they will enjoy it, or go as an adult once just to go. Other than that, you still have access to the springs/waterway with local kayak companies.
SURROUNDING AREA
Make sure to check out the following while in town:
Pine Island-awesome sunset view park with dolphins
Sams-Hudson Florida-20min South-huge outside tiki restaurant on the water for sunset, theres a public park with a swing and pavilion as well
Crystal River-30min North-the only area you can swim/snorkel with manatees (check Groupon for the best rate) Official manatee season is Nov-Mar, but there is a few that stay year round. They have a pretty successful rate of finding them even in off season and its worth it, even if its just a few.
Homossassa-another great place for a house rental on the water with a boat and charter a captain to take you scalloping.
HM#78
I knew quickly this wasn't going to be my day, but hot Florida races usually aren't. Running in the sun, the heat hit me about M5, where I decided to would run in my bra. M7, they handed out cold full bottles of water and I just dumped it on my head. I felt pretty good after that, but still wasn't performing. My body was checked out. Then I realized they had a M11 sign at M7. The mileage signs from then on out were wrong. Its like they skipped 8 and 9, 11 came before 10. This is the first time I didnt even care if the course was short. I just wanted it to be over.
Then around M11 a biker was riding on the road and out of nowhere, completely passed out and fell in the middle of the highway. I had to run out to make sure the cars were not going to hit him, as he was not responding. Thankfully a couple of other runners were with me and helped direct traffic and the other called 911 and I tried to assist him through the seizure and looked for any medical ID. Poor guy was unresponsive for a while but having been through a seizure before, I knew there really wasn't anything we could do except protect him. He finally came to, and the paramedics came shortly after and took over. My adrenaline was pumping for the next couple of miles as I just wanted to be done with this race. The courses ended short at 12.5.
FINISH LINE
After trying to even find the finish line to cross as everyone was running in different directions, we were handed a water. That's it. Nothing else. No direction. No medal. I finally found a tent that had mermaids and knew photos were taken with them, and saw the medals sitting on the table to just pick up yourself. I then walked up to every single tent and found that there was not a single piece of food provided for us.... well, unless you want to pay for an over priced, under quality something from a food truck. I think they had nuggets and hot dogs.
SWAG
The swag is the only thing good this race has going for this Inaugural. You had an option to chose between a tank top, performance tshirt, or hat for your race item. The medal is super cute and they made different ones for the different distances. And they give you a comp entry to the Weeki Wachee Springs State Park
OVERALL THOUGHTS
Where did the money go? It certainly didnt go to the functioning of a race, thats for sure! If this race had presented itself as "a casual, fend for yourself type of race with no support" but you get a cool shirt, medal, entry to the park, and the rest goes to help support the park, then I would have walked away completely fine. But they didn't. They presented themselves as an experienced race company hosting a pretty big 'Challenge' that had runners in dire conditions all day. Those are the runners I feel the most for. They paid a ridiculous amount of money than just the 5k or half marathon, and for what? The only thing extra the Challenge runners received was another medal. This race company took advantage of the 'mermaid' theme and enticed these poor victims. They should be ashamed. And as of now, there still has not been any comment from the director or the park on what went wrong. They did however, disable Facebook followers from being able to post on their page and removed all negative feedback.
After learning the history of Weeki Wachee, being a roadside tourist attraction, and after thinking about it for a while, since day one this park has been cashing in on kids dreams that mermaids are real. One can kind of understand how this race too is just a money making scheme and nothing more. Some people say the park is not to blame. But they hired Landmark Races. They are both responsible. If they were to hire another company next year, 'maybe' things would be better, but I would still be cautious.
Mid race I seriously contemplated calling the cops. This race put runners at risk in more ways than one. Its one thing to already be an extreme race being a late morning in early September in Florida. Heat should always be a concern for race directors in these conditions and it is like they did not even care. Add in the open road course with no police escort at intersections, and no course bikers to make sure runners are not running on the road, they are lucky no one got hit by a car! Then to have every single water station not have cups? How does a race not tell you they are going to be cup free? And how do you not offer one thing at all other than water?? Unacceptable.
The entire race experience I kept reminding myself and others this is an 'Inaugural" and this is usually what happens....things just always go wrong. But it is still no excuse. Especially to this type of level. I tried to not let the negativity consume me as I already went into it with those expectations, so just chalked this up to as just another training day for my big 40 mile challenge in a couple weeks at TrailFest! But I still cant help from feeling robbed. This could have been an awesome experience and instead they charged as much as they could and gave as little (or less) as possible.
UPDATE-RACE DIRECTORS APOLOGY
Three days after the race, the director emailed and posted on Facebook, an apology solely accepting the blame and not the park, but also half assed it because he used the excuse of the hurricanes. He said 40 volunteers and the police escorts were taken away last minute. However there really was no reasoning on why they did not have cups nor why they did not have enough water, nor explain why there wasnt any of this communicated leading into race day to set our expectations. Like someone else mentioned, we are runners and we want a good race, so we will help out any way possible, especially when we are paying good money. If we knew the issues that were arising in the couple days before the race, we could have tried to get friends/families to volunteer, etc. But no cups? C'mon, Publix and Walgreens were right across the street from a couple of the water stations!
ACCOMMODATIONS
There is not much for hotels in this stretch of Florida. I rented an Airbnb room for only $27 and it was amazing! The extremely friendly host had not only the cutest room, but a screened pool, tiki bar, lanai lounging furniture and outdoor dining. In the room she completed it with microwave, fridge, coffee maker, even the cutest toaster oven. Coffee, teas, hot chocolate, oatmeal, candies were all provided! To Reserve, click Here
WEEKI WACHEE STATE PARK
It feels weird calling this place a state park, as Ive never seen anything like it. Mermaid Tails was the show I decided to watch (the other was The Little Mermaid) and it gave some good history on the place. Besides the underwater mermaid show, there is a water park with a beach, grill, swimming, a small tubing area, and 3 slides. The slides were fun and the water felt great. There is also a very small wildlife show, which basically only showed you a snake, a turtle, and an alligator. Definitely geared towards children. There is also a boat that takes you about a mile or less down the spring and back. It was cool to see how clear the water actually is and see the mullet, but that is about all we saw. I would take the young kids, they will enjoy it, or go as an adult once just to go. Other than that, you still have access to the springs/waterway with local kayak companies.
SURROUNDING AREA
Make sure to check out the following while in town:
Pine Island-awesome sunset view park with dolphins
Sams-Hudson Florida-20min South-huge outside tiki restaurant on the water for sunset, theres a public park with a swing and pavilion as well
Crystal River-30min North-the only area you can swim/snorkel with manatees (check Groupon for the best rate) Official manatee season is Nov-Mar, but there is a few that stay year round. They have a pretty successful rate of finding them even in off season and its worth it, even if its just a few.
Homossassa-another great place for a house rental on the water with a boat and charter a captain to take you scalloping.
HM#78
Pink Feet's half marathon calendar runs from March to February with the final race being the full marathon at The DONNA Marathon! I am on Year 7 of a 10 year mission to complete the 50 states while also running a half marathon a month; all to help spread the word of breast cancer prevention, early detection, and living a healthy lifestyle including running and walking. My goal is to raise $100,000 for breast cancer charities. Current donations are going to The DONNA Marathon whose beneficiaries are The Mayo Clinic and Donna Foundation.
