I’ve heard wonderful things about the Mini 10k and was excited to be a part of it this year. I knew that it has a huge turnout every year, but I guess I just wasn’t prepared for such a big headliner race. With over 8,000 runners, this isn’t the race to PR. You will find yourself in a crowd of runners the whole way through and attempting to weave around them takes up a lot of energy throughout all 6 miles in the summer heat. Once you enter the park after running on the streets, the road gets even smaller. Aid stations were impossible to get to, but I gave 5 stars because volunteers deserve it. Central Park hills are typically a bit of a challenge, but again given that there are so many runners, they pretty much carry you through them before you even realize you were running uphill. One thing I really liked, however, was the chance to meet pro runners like Des Linden at the meet and greet after the race!! Overall, great energy and pink bagels were quite a treat. Just wish I had more space to run!