With a number of races scheduled for San Marcos, I started to think about what brings a runner to the race. First item is the race organization and the course. A poorly organized race will see a declining number of runners each year. And while some runners like to run hills, the majority of runners tend to stay away if the course has too many steep hills. Most runners will not mind a couple of hills.
The next items seem to be the race t-shirt and the awards to the fast runners. I mentioned that it is the small details that often go unnoticed to race organizers. Ordering race t-shirts may seem like a small item, but it is one of the major reasons a runner enters the race. And that “small” detail can get complicated when the person in charge of ordering shirts looks at all the options available. First is the color of the shirt. White isn’t one of the better choices for an active runner. And then you have to choose the fabric of the shirt. The cheapest shirts are a simple cotton shirt. These were one of the only choices back decades ago and getting a pre-washed non-shrinking cotton shirt was a better choice. The 50-50 shirt of cotton and nylon was a favorite for many years. Then the hi-tech shirts became affordable and the shape and color of these shirts lasted many years. I recall some of the early cotton shirts that either shrunk or lost the shape of the shirt after the first washing. For the sponsoring advertiser this wasn’t especially liked as after the runner wore it once it was never seen again. They did make good rags for washing the car or dusting the house.
As for colors, this can be another area that can make a shirt popular or not. Dark colors such as black or navy blue are okay in winter months, but for a summer race, the better choice is lighter colors. I had a couple of my races with fluorescent colored shirts. One was the safety orange and the other was a lime green. Runners liked them because they could wear them when they would ride bikes for training purposes and it made them very visible to cars. For choices, it might be a color that represents the sponsoring organization. And for a few years the camouflage pattern was popular. The only problem was the logo on the shirt had to be a white or bright contrasting color that would stand out.
And that brings up the choice of the design. The design usually is in the same theme as the race name. The Thankful Turkey race had some form of a turkey in the design. The Pumpkin Dash would have a running pumpkin on the front of the shirt. The person that designs the logo needs to be an artist or handy with a program for designing logos on a computer. I drew a couple of comic or cartoon runners as a logo, and it is one of the race shirts that I hardly ever see at future races. The size of the design is another consideration to include in ordering a race shirt. If it is too large and is screen-printed, runners don’t like them because the shirt doesn’t “breathe” and becomes too hot during the race. The new technique of sublimation is good because the shirt can have multiple colors and still breathe. With screen printing each color in the design will cost you extra. Making the design attractive and unique will have the runner wearing it for other races.I had a couple small logos on the left chest that are worn often outside of a race because it didn’t splash that large logo in a crowd.
And adding another item to a race is what organizers can do to make their race different from the other races. I tried offering a nice sized hand towel with the “I (Heart) To Run” on it. I thought after my pile of race shirts on my shelves that a towel would be liked by runners. This was true for the veteran runner that had entered a large number of races. For the first time runner, they wanted a tee shirt and were disappointed with the race towel. I had several requests from runners a few years later wondering if I had any left-over towels. They were a handy item in a runner’s handbag. One race had a sleeveless hooded t-shirt for the Heart Association. This was a popular shirt, but for some reason, it is no longer available. If any older runners remember that shirt, hang on to it as it is a one of a kind race shirt. I offered a runner’s jacket one year that was popular, and I still see a few at races in the colder months. This year the Kiwanis Great Pumpkin Dash 5K is offering a long sleeved hooded race shirt. With cooler months coming on, it should be a popular change in race shirts. And don’t forget to put the sponsor’s logo on the back of the shirt – more money means a bigger logo.
