We registered a few weeks ago and they sent our race packets to a local running store. The packets didn't get there until Friday. When I got the packets I noticed we had been put in a non-qualifying wave even though I had submitted our qualifying information. I contacted them and was told we could get there early and exchange our bibs/chips. Since we were driving up from our house - about a two hour drive - we decided to skip the exchange as it would mean leaving about an hour earlier - 4 AM instead of 5 AM. We should have been in the wave based on Vicki's qualifying time - 52:45 - and the other runners in that wave would have all been similar runners. The non-qualifying wave was after all the qualifying waves had started and it's made up of people who either didn't have a qualifying time, or who run slower than 10 minutes miles. Some of them even walk most or all of the race. Ours was actually the 8th non-qualifying wave, so there were already a few thousand slower people in front of us.

At the start Vicki and I were in about the middle of our wave. Perhaps we should have started near or at the front. When the starting gun went off, I started fast and tried my best to get around the slower runners/walkers. It was difficult to say the least. I was alternating between a good race pace, a sprint to get around people, and almost a walk in spots when it got jammed up. By the one mile mark I was already passing people from 2-3 waves ahead. Kinda frustrating but that's the way it played out. I found it best to stay to the outside, but that had me running several of the many corners at the wrong tangent for a good time. The last mile and a half I think I must have passed most of the non-qualifiers and many of the slower qualifiers because most people were at least running more consistently. About a mile out a kid about 12 or so passed me and I ran behind him, but he faded after a few hundred yards and I passed him again. There is a hill at the end going up into the stadium finish and it got really jammed up with walkers. I got around them going into the stadium and found some clear track on the outside to let it fly for the final couple hundred meters. Finish time as noted above.

New since we last did this race were timing mats at every mile, so those are the splits they recorded.

My 10K PR is 45:23 and I think I could have broke it if we had started from the correct wave. From as far back as we started I was pleased with the result and it was the fastest I've done this race.

Normally we would have waited around until the citizens race was over so we could watch the pros race, but just after I finished it started raining. By the time Vicki finished in 55:26, it was fairly steady, but light. The temp was in the upper 50s so with the rain it was too cold to sit around for several hours. We did a quick tour of the big expo, then left to go home.

Start from the correct wave.

None, other than walk around the expo and jog back to our car in the rain.


Starting in a non-qualifying wave for sure. Not really training for this race after a huge marathon PR a few weeks ago.


Always a great event. Bands playing along the course. Thousands of spectators. Huge number of potties, so almost no waiting if you go to the right area. Usually a thrill to watch the pros race, but weather dampened that this year. Can be interesting to run in an early wave, then watch people pour into the stadium for almost 4 more hours by the tens of thousands.