Started off pretty well. I didn't really set any goals for myself for this race as far as my walk/run ratios, but was really hoping to get a new PR at this race. I just decided to go out and listen to my body and then finish strong.

I started a slow jog (about a 14 min pace per my Garmin) when I crossed the starting line and went for about 2.5 mins before I switched to a walk for about 3 mins. I did a couple of segments of 1 min slow jog followed by a 3-4 min walk. I continued doing this for all of mile 1 which I finished in about 16 mins. There was a water station at mile 1 with teeny Dixie cups of water which were only half full. Since there were plenty, I took 2 as I walked through and then I was on my way again. In retrospect, I'm glad I took 2 because I later realized this was the only water station on the course. Personally, I would rather have had it mile 2 than mile 1, but I wasn't the RD.

Not long as I started the second mile than the police came through and started moving us all over to the right-most lane on the road because they were opening the street back up to traffic. It was VERY frustrating to me. Traffic started whizzing by us on the left hand side.

Since we were on a fairly busy street in Anaheim near Disneyland, there were quite a few cars. The exhaust fumes started getting a bit thick which was not good for me since I'm a borderline asthmatic. It was too long before I found myself slightly wheezing, so I backed off on my pace to let my lungs catch up a bit. I ended up walking all of mile 2 and probably about the first third of mile 3 because every time I would start to increase my pace, I would start wheezing again.

About midway through mile 3, we finally turn a corner onto a smaller street that is, thankfully, completely closed to traffic still. I checked my time and realized that I still wasn't too far off PR pace and that if I kicked it in on this last half mile or so that I might just make it.

I really put everything I had out in that last push. Well, until I momentarily lost my focus due to some azzhole out on the course with his daughter. I caught up with them no long after passing the mile 2 marker and then we kept passing each other several times for a while. She was getting tired and just wanted to stop. He kept pushing her and telling her things like "it's supposed to be hard; you're supposed to get hot; now let's go!" I felt really badly for her, so I started giving her little encouragements as I would pass by. Things like, "you're almost to the finish line," or "you're looking good; you can do this!"

When we finally could see the mile 3 marker a bit ahead of us in the distance, she realized just how close we were to the end. Her dad pointed out the finish line to her. I gave her another bit of encouragement and she pushed ahead. When they got about 10 yards ahead of me, I heard the father say to her, "Come on, speed up. Surely you can go faster than her."

I felt like I'd been kicked in my stomach. After a half mile of me encouraging your child you're gonna dis me like that? I realized a few minutes later as they pulled farther away from me that I had subconsciously slowed my pace quite a bit. A glance at my Garmin confirmed that I was only walking at about a 19:00 pace. I decided I was NOT going to let this person steal me of my joy of being out there and racing even if I AM slow. I kicked it in and jogged the last quarter mile to the finish.

I guess it worked out well that way. Right as I was getting ready to round the last corner to the finish line, I noticed the photographers. I was already jogging and had a nice rhythm going. There was no one around me, so I mugged a huge grin and gave them the double thumbs-up as I ran by. They both yelled out "great job" to me which gave me that extra bit I needed to finish on a good note mentally. Thanks guys!

Getting to the actual finish line was a bit hairy. The vendor expo ran on a cross street to the course, as well as on the sides of the actual course, too. The organizers didn't mark the course off in any way, so folks were walking through the course all over the place, especially at the intersection of the 2 streets. It was pretty chaotic. I kept yelling, "excuse me ... excuse me ... GET OUT OF MY WAY!"

In the end, I missed setting a new PR by 18 seconds. The fact that I got that close is still pretty amazing to me. I set my current 5k PR a couple of years ago right before I started having my back problems. I was nearly 50 pounds lighter then than I am now, too, since I put on so much weight during my back surgery/recovery last year. So, I'm feeling pretty good about that!

I really lost a lot of time when I had to keep backing off due to the wheezing from the exhaust fumes. On the upside, even with the backing off, I managed to shave ~2 minutes off my time from my April 13 race.





The only thing over which I had any control that I would do differently is not let the azzhole get to me.

Walked around a bit back down the side of the course looking for my friend who was walking behind me. I finally saw her about 5 mins after I finished. She had just crossed the 3 mile mark, so I walked in the last .1 again with her. After that, we both just walked around a bit. We went over for the free pancake breakfast, but the line was nearly a half block long. We decided to skip it and walked back to our cars and left.


Exhaust fumes


Mile 1 & 2 streets started being opened back up to traffic after 15 mins. MOP's & BOP's were forced over to a single lane on the right-hand side of the road. Since the race is run on major streets, exhaust fumes got pretty heavy at times. There were also occasional times that traffic from side streets would pull out right in front of you. This was definitely a safety issue since there were lots of kids out on the course. The finish line area was extremely chaotic for the BOP's as the course wasn't marked off and expo attendees were walking right through it.