Awesome Possum

Saturday, December 7, 2019
Hazel Green High School
All races begin at 8:00am

Choose from 5K, 10K, half marathon, marathon, 50K or 50 miles. Generous time limit, tons of support, mostly flat course, relaxed atmosphere. Test your abilities - and have a bunch of fun doing it - at the inaugural Awesome Possum! Join us on the Trojan Trail around Hazel Green High School, just north of Huntsville, during our full-day running party! 

The course is a 3-ish mile loop around the grounds of Hazel Green High School. It is a mostly flat, gravel trail, with some very short, small inclines and declines - we don't think they are big enough to be called hills, but they are what make this course not completely flat.

Walkers and slower runners are welcome and encouraged to join us! The multiple loop course means you'll never be left behind. Time limit of 14(ish) hours for all distances...we'll start packing things up at 14 hours, but if you're still moving forward, we're not going anywhere. We want to see you finish!

All runners receive an oversized coffee mug as their race "swag", a wooden finisher's medal for all distances, all the food you can eat from Saturday morning until the last runner finishes, and a rocking good time! IMPORTANT: You MUST be registered by midnight on Wednesday, November 14th to guarantee your shirt size! After that, we'll do our best, but we cannot promise that we'll have a shirt in your size available. If you run any distance at this race as well as any distance at Pier Pressure in September, you will receive a bonus Awesomesauce medal!

IMPORTANT: This is NOT a typical race. If you show up expecting a typical race atmosphere, you are going to be disappointed. This type of race ONLY works when the people who show up are there to have a good time, to make some new friends, to participate in a LAID-BACK experience. There will not be an army of volunteers handing you cups. Timing is done by hand and there are no splits recorded. The course is not and will not be certified. (It is a USATF sanctioned race, so it does count for all of your marathon and half marathon clubs though.) There is only ONE award given out at Awesomesauce races: the Sloth Society award, for the person who finishes last. AKA the person who perseveres the longest. There are no age group awards and no age group results. There are no awards for first, second, third, prettiest, Miss Congeniality, or any other category.

We want to make sure we're very clear: you are welcome to run fast, whatever your version of fast is. But understand that getting to the finish line as fast as you can is NOT the purpose of this race. We're here to have fun, we're here to support people of all speeds, we're basically a big family picnic with some running and walking involved. If you are going to be annoyed that the path isn't super wide and people are walking on it, if you think walking isn't a valid form of "racing", and if you're not going to bother to talk to anyone the entire time, this is NOT the race for you. 

For those of you who have done an Awesomesauce race before, this will be no different than what you're used to from us.

To ensure a positive experience for everyone, there is a cap on the number of participants in each race distance.

A donation for every runner at the race will be made to Hazel Green High School to use on school programs. We're so excited that our wacky little race can help out this high school! Because this is a fundraising race, there are no discounts available, not for groups, not because you missed a price increase and think you are special and deserve a discount, not because you have to travel. Volunteers at all Awesomesauce races receive credit toward a future race; if you think our prices are too high, please consider volunteering or recruiting volunteers (volunteer credit is transferable) at any of our races, like the dozens of other people who run with us for FREE because they help make these races happen.

Food at the aid station to include (but not limited to):
Energy gels, fruit (bananas, oranges, and whatever else happens to look good at the grocery store that day), sandwiches (peanut butter and jelly, peanut butter and honey, grilled cheese, grilled ham and cheese), hummus and kalamata olive wraps, quesadillas, various soups and broths including vegetarian options, pickles and pickle juice, a variety of chocolate candy (Snickers, Milky Way, Reese's peanut butter cups, peppermint patties, etc.), a variety of sugary candy (gummy bears, Skittles, Sour Patch Kids, Twizzlers, etc.), a variety of cookies, chips, chili, BACON, burgers...we've been known to buy a kitchen sink when we go grocery shopping!

Drinks to include Gatorade, water, sodas, coffee, hot chocolate, chocolate milk. Vegans and dairy-free runners, we've got you covered with chocolate almond milk.

We also come armed with Vaseline, BioFreeze, basic blister supplies, salt pills, feminine products, ponytail holders, all the random stuff that helps you get across the finish line. DUE TO INSURANCE RESTRICTIONS WE CANNOT AND DO NOT PROVIDE PAIN KILLERS. If you think you'll want Tylenol, Aleve, Ibuprofen, or any other pain killing medicine, you will need to bring it with you.

Any runners expecting to take longer than 10 hours will be required to have a headlamp or flashlight. It will get dark around 5pm.

A note about last-minute registrations: the price goes up drastically as we get closer to race day. Orders for swag have to be finalized weeks in advance and we have to guess at those last minute numbers. When we guess wrong, we get charged a LOT of money for last-minute production, if it's even possible. We recommend that you register early at a lower price!

As with the majority of races throughout the United States, all sales are final and there are NO refunds. Before you send us an email a couple of days before the race asking for a refund because you're injured or you have split ends or you didn't bother training, we're going to tell you how we already spent your registration fee - because there are no sponsors covering the costs for this race like there are at most other area races - on all of your swag and shopping for food and scheduling port-o-potties, etc. Also, it makes us cry. Big, fat, Alice in Wonderland floating away in a bottle tears.