All-Star Game 5K

Today I ran the 1st Annual All-Star Game 5k in Downtown St. Louis.  A crowd of 8,000 gathered for this charity 5K and fun walk.  There were 5151 5K finishers.  I finished in 24:57, 627th overall.

I’ve run a bunch of races over the past year, but surprisingly this would be my first 5K.  My goal was under 25 minutes and I just made it.

As I suspected, the start of the race was very slow.  Even though the fun walk was supposed to start 30 minutes after the 5K, there were a lot of people walking as soon as we started and a bunch of other slower runners up where they shouldn’t have been.  The first mile involved way too much dodging back and forth and my split proves it:  1st mile – 8:43.   After that things opened up and my following miles were 7:47, 7:28, and finally 0:59 at the end.  My Garmin 305 had the race at 3.17 miles, so it was a little further than 5K, but that’s no biggy…  still made my sub 25:00. 

The race started next to Busch Stadium and ended over at the Dome and America’s Center where the All-Star Fan Fest was happening.  MLB had a nice group of folks to start off the race.  Lou Brock, Vince Coleman, Rollie Fingers, Brooks Robinson, Olympian Shawn Johnson, and a number of big names in the fight to cure cancer were all there to kick off the race and say a few words.

I had a decent BG morning.  I woke up at 143.  Tested at 180 just before the race and 176 afterward.  I ate a small clementine for breakfast with a Propel water and then ate one GU about 10 minutes prior to the start.  Race started at 7:30.  I had lowered my basal to 50% at 5:30 and left it there until 8:00.

It was a good time and I’m very glad I ran it.  It’s always fun to be a part of an event like this.  Wish the All-Star Game could be in St. Louis every year!!

Some Video from Channel 5 – http://www.ksdk.com/video/default.aspx?aid=103980