I got to Chinatown early and met my friend and RP, Melissa and we headed over to the registration tables. Once we got our bibs, goodie bags(probably the best goodie bags I have seen at a local race) and t shirts, we went looking for A Runner's Circle's tent. After making a couple of trips back to the car...don't ask...we headed to the starting line to watch the opening ceremonies. After the Boy Scouts presented the colors, and a beautiful rendition of the National Anthem, the traditional Chinese ceremonies started with the drums, gong and dragon dance. After the dragon dance came the lighting of the 100,000 firecrackers.
After the ceremonies, Amy, Melissa and I did a nice little warm up jog down Broadway Ave. We started to make our way closer to the starting line and ended up about 2/3 of the way back. We started at a nice pace and after my 20 mile run on Saturday, I was definitely feeling my tired legs. The first 2.5 miles are up hill, actually there is about 500 feet of elevation gain in that 2.5 miles. We tried to keep up a decent pace but ended up walking a bit up the steepest portion of the course. I think Melissa's comment sums it all up...
We finally got some relief...it was all downhill from here on out. We picked up the pace quite a bit. I actually struggled to keep up at some points but eventually caught back up. We cruised through the Dodger Stadium parking lot and headed for the home stretch. We turned back on Broadway and could see the finish line and really pushed hard. In the end, Melissa came in at 59:39 and I did 59:40...so yes, I did get "chic-ed"...but I'm OK with it. We had a well run race. I enjoyed the race, I would like to do it again on fresh legs as I know I could shave a couple of minutes off my time.
After the race we met up in the beer garden with several of our friends. We then headed over to Ocean Seafood to try and catch the official "Tweetup" but we were late to the party. We did get to say Hi to everyone and then got our own table for some yummy Dim Sum. This day was a day of firsts for me...first time to Chinatown, first time running the Firecracker 10K and first time eating Dim Sum.
Be sure to check out Glenn - The Running Fat Guy's Race Report as well. He did a much more thorough report with pictures and video.
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3 comments:
Glad you had a good time! Going up to the top of Elysian Park is a bit of a bear, but the weren't the views up there were pretty fabulous?
Glenn,
Views were beautiful! Funny thing is that after living for 42 years...I had never been up there.
Congrats Bob!!!!
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