First of all, let’s just say it was an awesome day for a run. We left the house this morning at 8am and got downtown to a very crowded set of streets trying to find parking. We managed to find something and get over to City Hall where the action was. I thought it was busy when I went to the Freedom Run, but that was nothing compared to this event. I later overheard that there were 31,000 people who preregistered for the event. My best friend, Brent, waited until today to register and he was assigned the number 37653, so there were a LOT of people there. I have never been involved in any event with that many people except for a few baseball games.
We managed to find Brent just after he had registered (he had taken the DART rail line to downtown so he was there ahead of us). After initial preparations (dropping off everything except the essentials with my wife), we ran a short jog around City Hall to warm up. He proceeded with a few stretches while I looked on and then we made our way over to the starting area (I prefer to stretch afterward, but I ended up forgetting anyway). By this time, the 8 mile runners had already left and it was only 10 minutes until the 3mile Fun Run began.
Once the run started, it was such a slow start with thousands of runners/walkers/strollers/dogs, that we didn’t cross the starting line until the race had been going 10 minutes. We ended up weaving through the crowds to keep a decent pace (probably putting in more distance than just the three miles). We passed a few bands performing on the side (including one Mariachi band playing “Feliz Navidad”) which prompted my comment to Brent that most everyone running hasn’t even had their Thanksgiving Turkey yet.
We finished strong and then sought out Amy to get a final picture together and then get something in our stomachs. We found yogurt smoothies, bananas and water. I had brought along a Clif bar for the occasion (appropriately Pumpkin Pie flavor). Brent turned to me and announced that next year, we should do the 8 mile run. At that point, I agreed and so we plan on doing it. I am looking forward to it so much.
We wandered over to the 8 mile finish line to watch dozens crossing the line and then made our way to the “official” photographer station to get a photo together. We then left and walked over to where we finally parted ways, Brent to return to the Dart Rail Line to go home to Thanksgiving with his family and ourselves to our van to go visit my parents. Photos from the event can be found here.
