The morning after.....

I was reading a good article in my Road Race Management newsletter written by Boston Marathon Race Director Dave McGillivray. Basically what he writes about is how many emails he receives after a big event like Boston. Most are congratulations on a job well done but there are many he receives from runners making complaints about certain aspects of their run and the race. With the internet and emails you just can't put off answering these folks. He makes it a point to answer all emails and explain why things were done certain ways. I have to agree with him. I could not keep up with all the emails I received after our Delaware Marathon. Most were positive but some were from irate runners complaining about certain aspects of our event. I spent a good hour and a half race night answering some of these emails and then spent at least 2 hours Monday morning answering more. This continued most of the week. I have to admit.......many of these emails had very good points. I save these emails in a file so we can do better next year. I was surprised how many runners responded to my emails right away thanking me for getting back to them so fast. The way I look at it is the same way that Dave McGillivray does......."if you don't respond and totally ignore the complaints this just adds insult to injury." Thus the morning after headaches.