Fairfax Four Miler

2010 was my first year running the Fairfax Four Miler. It’s a Pacers event held every New Year’s Eve. It seems like a good way to run out the old year and ring in the new year. Like all Pacer’s events it’s well-​organized. It is a chip-​timed event, which is nice. My gripes are about the boring course and the poor-​quality runner premium. First, the course seemed like all hills. Not steep cliffs, mind you, but slow, gradual uphills that just sapped my legs and made the run less fun. Plus, the course is not exactly scenic, starting in Old Town Fairfax, but then running through the bland George Mason campus. My other gripe is the runner premium: it was kind of a cheap sweatshirt. This seems like a better giveaway than other races until you realize how cheap the sweatshirt is. Just give away a nice quality technical shirt, instead!
I’m not sure if I’ll run the Fairfax Four again. A run on NYE is a great concept, but the course is a real drag.