In the 41st year of the event, I learned a valuable lesson. You may think you are ready, but
sometimes, a PR isn't in the books.

I had hoped and thought that I was ready to run sub-18:00 and really do something strong in this race. I have been training hard, and had some expectations. However, blame it on a long soccer weekend in the African like heat, or eating bad for a couple days, lack of sleep, whatever....all excuses. At the end of the day, I didn't get it done for whatever reason.

It's not that I am ok with it, but I simply cannot change it. I have to move on and I have 18 days until the featured race. Anyway, on with the race report specifics.

The 10K and 5K average a couple thousand runners combined. I always do the 5K, but am tempted to do the 10K every year.

I ran the 5K in 19:28 and finished 38th overall out of around 1500 people. I missed placing in my age group, finishing 4th of the 40-44 year old males.

The race in general was great as always. The organization, the setup of tables for registration, food, SWAG, all were well done. I only have 2 issues with the race. First, the start is packed and I worry about falling. However, I worry about stepping on and trampling a kid even more. I think it's time that they at least entertained the idea of 2 waves at the start. I would think a wave of runners with times under a certain amount, maybe 24 minutes, in one wave. In the second wave, all those above the 24 minute mark.

My second issue with the run is the shirts. Almost every year, the shirt is disappointing. This year, it was a sleeveless V neck in light blue. Jesus....One year it was black and people were dropping like flies in the heat wearing it in the run. Another year, it was this horrible gray tank top, and it was cotton!! Why is it so hard to do a nice white or blue tech T with some patriotic red/white/blue fonts and maybe a small flag or something?!

Weather-wise, I didn't mind it, but it may have affected me. It felt heavy at the start. As you can see in the picture, there was a bit of a sprinkle as we got ready to start. Besides that, it was about 196% humidity.

After the 5K, we walked around and got some food and drink and watched the mile races of the Masters and the Elites. The final event, the one my kids were excited for, was the 1 mile fun run that took off at 12 noon. We had a great run through the neighborhood as we hit a bunch of sprinklers and water stations, ran with a 6 year old having stomach pains from sprinting, and actually watched a 9-10 year old girl standing and waiting for her 30-40 year old dad that was having some serious hamstring cramping going on. It was comically awesome!