2012 LA Chinatown Firecracker 10K Race Report

When I ran this race last year, the previous race I ran was in November of the year before. But this year, I had actually ran 2 half marathons in January, so you’d think I would have been better prepared for this race. But after reading last year’s race report, it sounds like I ran the race very smart and was able to run slightly faster than this year. Results: 43:43 (7:03 min/mile), 15/75 AG, 81/2396 Overall. So it was about a minute slower than last year, nothing to complain about, both solid performances. And keeping up with last year’s trend, I was able to beat my brother and his friends this year as well (although my brother did quite well at 49:16 considering he ran once in the last month or two…I wonder who that sounds a lot like??)

I don’t run very many 10Ks, so whenever I do run them, I am never sure how fast or hard I should be running. Obviously the pace should be between a 5K and Half, but to what degree? The Firecracker 10K is even harder to strategize for since there’s a fairly long and steady uphill in the first half or so of the race. But my goal for this race was pretty simple: run a similar time as last year and beat the people I came with, check for both. This year started off very similar to last year with a very crowded starting line. After weaving in and out of slower runners, I was able to find an opening to the side of the course and take off. Just before we hit mile 1, I found the same friend that I caught up to last year. So we went back and forth running up the hill passing other runners. But before I got to the top, he had fallen back and wasn’t able to catch up to me. The uphill was pretty tough, mostly because it seemed never ending. There’s actually a part of the course where it flattens out and actually goes downhill for a bit so you think you’re done, but then you have another uphill, which can get discouraging. But I was able to get through the hills and tried to push the downhills as much as possible (although my quads are killing me!) The part that goes through Dodger Stadium is pretty boring since it’s basically from the freeway through the stadium parking lot and into Chinatown for the finish. But like I said the 2^nd half of the race was downhill so it went by pretty quick. Splits: 7:31, 7:48, 7:45, 6:29, 6:56, 6:12, :56

Keeping up the trend of 2 races per month, I have another half marathon next week. It’s an inaugural half which I was one of the first ones to sign up for so it was really cheap. Hopefully, I don’t get burned out from too many races so early on in the year. But if anything, it’ll just prepare me for the full marathon I already have signed up for in June.