Hats off to the organizers of Go! St. Louis for the smooth operation of the 5K, Read Right and Run, Fun Runs and Mature Mile on Saturday in Forest Park. Check out the video.

Though the distance events Sunday get more publicity, Saturday’s events have grown to the point that they would stand as a fitness festival on their own. About 5,000 people ran or walked the courses centered on Cricket Field and events stayed on schedule.

Courtney Irwin and the staff of the Read, Right and Run marathon had to adjust on the fly when the majority of cricket field was either too spongey or muddy to accommodate the 3,000 students and their families. They quickly relocated to a slightly drier, slightly smaller staging area across the street. Though the 300 groups were packed together, they got organized, stayed together, then marched in orderly fashion to the start. The whole procedure was smooth.

The 5K has gotten bigger, too, so that the lines for package pickup were long. To accommodate the crowd, organizers delayed the start of the race by three minutes. Everyone had time to get to the start, pin on their numbers and take their positions.

Want to share your experiences? Maybe you ran your first 5K. Maybe you have a suggestion. Maybe a criticism. Speak up. This is your forum.