The Manchester Road Race has been around quite some time and is a Thanksgiving Tradition for many in the Connecticut area. I decided to do it last year since my husband is originally from Manchester, so I thought it would be fun.

I have to say this race really left much to be desired. It was incredibly crowded for the entire race, with over 14,000 people running a race that is less than 5 miles long and had no real corrals (except for a few people who met a qualifying time at the very front), there really wasn't enough time for the crowd to spread out. I also found a HUGE lack of race etiquette. As I said, this is a great Thanksgiving tradition that many do with their families, however because there were no corrals, I was often stuck behind families with young children walking several across and taking up most of the street that left me with the choice of slowing down to walk or knocking over small children.

I basically was never able to run at a comfortable pace for this entire race and really didn't find it enjoyable at all. I heard that for 2014 they made the qualifying time to be placed in the corralled section broader so I would have qualified to be in a corral, so I'm interested in how different the experience would have been.