Thanksgiving Day is too hectic for me to participate in a Turkey Trot, which makes the timing of the Run Wild For A Child race perfect – at the end of the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. It’s a 5/10K local race in Golden Gate Park that benefits the San Francisco Fire Department Toy Drive. I signed up to run it last year but the weather was bad and I never made it, so the mere fact that I showed up for it this year was progress!

I had planned to run the 10K race but after running 8 miles yesterday, my R hamstring was feeling a little tender when I woke up this morning. Being only 7 days away from Marathon #4, I decided to play things safe and downgrade to the 5K. Truth be told, the 10K course is much hillier than the 5K course and I also had no desire to run up Martin Luther King Drive today.

I got to the park about 30 minutes before it started. I made a trip to the porta potties (where there were no lines) and then wandered around the Music Concourse where all the expo vendors were. RoadBunner’s boyfriend was volunteering at a booth so I hung out there for a bit. Ten minutes before race time, we walked up the hill to the Start Line and found Alyssa, who was running the 10K.

The 5K’ers lined up on the left and the 10K’ers on the right. We saw RoadBunner just before the gun went off.

I planned to just cruise the race so I didn’t even bother to put on my timing chip, I just left it on my bib. I also wasn’t planning to use my Garmin, but made a last minute decision and turned it on just before the race started.

The 5K course looped around the Panhandle.

For the most part it’s flat with just a very, very slight decline, followed by an equally slight incline.

I didn’t look at my Garmin at all during the first 2 miles and just ran comfortably by feel. While I didn’t feel like I was running an easy pace, I also didn’t feel like I was all out racing, as you typically would feel when you race a 5K.

I was entertained by the people around me, getting a kick out of some of the costumes that they were wearing (and also silently cursing all the little kids who left me in the dust). At one point I heard someone calling my name and saw Alyssa as she zoomed by on the 10K course. Unfortunately, I didn’t know Courtney was out cheering and I was so sad that I missed seeing her and this awesome sign she made for us:

{photo courtesy of Courtney}

When my Garmin beeped for a second time I thought, “Wow, there’s only 1 more mile to go then it’s over already!” I looked down at my time and was surprised to see that I wasn’t too far off of my 5K PR that I set 2 years ago. While I was tempted to go into an all out sprint, I reminded myself why I had downgraded to the 5K, however, I did pick up my pace a little, especially when I saw the Start Line in sight.

I thought the Start Line was also the Finish Line — turns out it wasn’t. When we got there it was deserted and everyone kept on running past it. I looked down at my Garmin and saw that it was only at 3 miles – we still had .1 mile to go. The Finish Line turned out to be just around the corner and I finished in 28:30, missing my PR by 12 seconds. I kinda wished I’d worked a little harder in the first 2 miles, but really, I’m not that bummed about it. It’s much better than I expected for the perceived effort that I put into it.

I think this course is a very good one for attempting a 5K PR – plus, it’s just a fun, laid back event, and I plan to run it again next year. (NOTE: while you do receive a fun cotton race t-shirt, there is no medal – repeat – there is no Finisher’s Medal.)

After the race I found Alyssa and RoadBunner and we celebrated both of their PR’s!

Then met up with Courtney, Renee and her friend for what else….ramen!

Overall, it was a great way to wrap up the holiday weekend!