The day after the first annual Hometown Classic 10K was finished one of my fraternity brothers was looking over the leftover T-shirts (there were several) and kindly pointed out to me that the first year of an event is known as "inaugural" not "first annual." I felt that statement pretty much summed up my experience as a first time race director.Looking back on the Hometown Classic 10K, there are many things I see that could have been improved upon. I think about the way I kept records, the number of T-shirts I ordered and several little tasks that could have been done to make the race more of a success. In the pages that follow, I hope to discuss the preparation which began months before the race, take you right up through race day itself, and then tie up all the loose ends. In addition, I will include several suggestions on how I could have done things better and difficulties others should try to avoid; it is sort of like saying "Take my advice; I'm not using it." It is my hope, however, that the Hometown Classic will continue as an “annual" event and that this thesis will help the future race directors avoid many of the problems I encountered.Considering all that could have been improved upon, the race itself came off pretty well. I realize now that I gained a great deal of knowledge from this experience, hard knowledge, the kind of knowledge you only get from diving in head first without stopping first to check the water depth.When the event was over and all the equipment had been cleaned up and put away or sent back to whomever it was borrowed from, I began sorting through all the files and stacks of receipts, entry forms, finishing results, sponsorship letters and agreements (there were many more letters than agreements), logos and anything else I had deemed important to save at the time. In doing so, I came across a few quotes and motivational readings that had gotten mixed in with everything else. After taking a minute to read over a few of them, I came across a poem by Earl Raum titled "A Wish for Leaders" (p. 6). The poem refers to leadership and the triumphs and difficulties that go with it. I realized when reading that poem that it applied very well to what I had just gone through.