I think they had just over 13,000 people this year. It was a sea of humanity!!! I kind of wish they would have done more to remember Pat before the race, I mean they did some...but I kind of expected more. A little 11 year old boy sang the national anthem. It was cute!
For the first mile it was very thick. You wanted to run at your pace, but people were totally in your way and you had to jump and squeeze in and blaze a path to do so. Finally as we were nearing the end of Mill ave and turning onto Curry it thinned out enough so you weren't worried about stepping on anyone, but it was still pretty thick. It was pretty much like this the whole way. Just people running as far as the eye could see either in front or in back. I had my iPod, and it was playing the same 3 songs over and over, as these are the 3 songs that I know if I just keep my feet moving to the beat, I will have a good pace, and it pushes me faster than if I had no music. As approached Sun Devil Stadium, there were kids lining the race and holding their hands out for hi-fives, so I gave a lot of those out. I especially like to do it to the girls. I want them to want to be out there running someday too!! Then we started trecking up the hill to get into the stadium, then suddenly, there we were, running on the field. The ASU football team were lining the course, some with their hands out, so as I went by I just started hi-fiving all of them. They ALL started putting their hands out then, and I felt like one of the team members who had just been announced and I was running down the line hi-fiving my teammates. Then that was it. Crossed the 42 yrd line, and was done. I felt I had run a good race, and was pretty consistant the whole way. Ran at a good steady pace, and was pushing myself. It got pretty warm, and I was getting hot. Drink stations should have just had water at them. You don't really need Poweraid on a short run like this. Just got me sticky and made me burp!! After I realized they were handing that out too, I just grabbed the water.
I am happy with my results!

Overall 1318 participants
Age group 103/1591
Sex place 255/4114
Time 35:00
Pace 8:20

Just run in a jog bra and shorts. I got pretty hot and the sun was beating down.

Try to climb the stadium steps to exit out the back. Had some water and a banana.