All Star Game!

Sunday, I managed a day off from church work and headed back to the homeland, Anaheim!

Dark and early I set of for the All Star Game Charity 5K & Fun Run at Anaheim Stadium (a.k.a. Angel Stadium of Anaheim), host of this year's All Star game as well as home to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (a.k.a. California Angels, Anaheim Angels, ....).

It was exciting, though I was nervous after Saturday's troubles. I arrived early as they were still setting up registration.

Soon enough, I began check-in to find my name listed TWICE. This made it a bit more challenging to get my bib; but, it all worked out and I got my bib, chip, and shirt! I was surprised there was no swag bag.

I stretched and tried to keep loose. I also visited the few sponsor booths and managed a free shirt for my efforts.

A treat was I got to meet up with a high school classmate; so, we found each other amid the crowd and spoke a bit. Servite forever.

Soon enough, it was time to go to the starting area. It was kind of disorganized and I could not get in the right corral since it meant having to climb over a barrier, which seemed less than wise with my muscle pull.

Finally I got in the over 12 minutes corral and soon realized there were problems. Little kids, people who obviously could not keep a 12:00 pace, etc. were way ahead of me in corrals. Oh well, this was not really a race for me, per se. It was more recovery run, working on form, and enjoying the experience.

They introduced numerous cancer charity speakers. Their groups benefited from Major League Baseball's event. Then they introduced old familiar names ... Harold Reynolds, Reggie Jackson, Tim Salmon, Bobby Grich ... I am a devout Dodgers fan; but, still, it was neat.

Finally the horn sounded and after a few minutes I reached the starting line and began picking my way through the crowd. It was Servite track all over again.

The police had done a nice job making the course clear and the streets of Anaheim are in far better condition than Los Angeles. I was not going all out; but, I was working and also feeling much better than expected considering Saturday. I began picking off runners as well.

One big issue was people who should have been behind me in placement were not and they would stop suddenly or take pictures or walk slowly or just not up to the 5K that day. I almost ran over several.

Running along to Orangewood, State College, Katella ... it was fun. The Gatorade and water helped as well.

Eventually, after a relatively easy little hill, that claimed a lot of people ... it was back to the stadium parking lot.

Then came the real fun, getting to run on the warning track. I felt a burst of energy and good for whatever reason and started passing people and speeding up. I definitely had negative splits.

Then it was out after doing the loop. (One cool thing was the announcers randomly announcing runners in the stadium over the public address system).

I turned the corner and saw the finish line and put a little sprint on ... and finished!

This race also offered a very nice medal (for a 5K!); so, i picked that up, water bottle and some banana pieces.

5K complete! Not a P.R.; but, it felt good and much better than Saturday.

31:12 of running
3.12 miles of running
9:57 pace