I hate running, so no, I did not run the 5K. I walked it. Finish The Run was held at Griffith Park, at the Autry Museum of the American West, hosted by Streets Are For Everyone (SAFE) to promote safer roads across California. Ironically, a few bikers almost biked right into my group at full speed as we crossed the street.
This is the third 5K I have done – the first one I ran, and the second and third one I walked. Registration for this run was not cheap! However, if you have a group of 10+ people, you can get a discount (in addition to the early bird discount if you sign up by the deadline)! If you refer five friends, you can also get a $20 refund! Unfortunately I wasn’t able to reach the referral count, but I still got the group discount.
Since there were races for the half marathon, 10K, 5K, and 1K, it was pretty packed. I had my bib and swag picked up the day before, but I realized that it did not come with pins so I had to stop by the registration booth anyway when I arrived. There were a lot of other booths as well, including different drinks, free canned coffee, food trucks, and even Costco!
The runners (and walkers) all gathered around the starting point by 8:20am, and the organizers gave a speech on the purpose and stories behind the organization. The 5K was scheduled to start at 8:30am, but it started closer to 8:40am. The runners ran ahead, and the walkers followed behind. The run was along a trail, with some occasional horse manure on the way (it smelled pretty bad though). At one point, it got so hot that I pulled out a hand fan to start fanning myself. Dirt started getting into my shoes too. At the 1-mile and 2-mile mark, there were signs, and towards the end, volunteers guided you on where to go and cheered you on.
After almost an hour of walking with my group, I finished the race! There were so many people standing around to cheer for the runners. Volunteers handed me my medal, and there was a water station, cut fruits, and snacks waiting at the finish line. There were also a lot of bugs flying around. I was a bit surprised there weren’t water stations throughout the trail though – at one point, we also weren’t sure if we were going the correct way. The medal for finishing the race looked really nice!
I checked out a few of the booths. There was also a beer garden which took some time to find. Each registrant gets two free drinks, but I ended up giving away all my tickets anyway.
Overall, this was a great way to get some steps in! It definitely gives me an excuse to be outdoors.