Trail Running Blog

Finish Chelsea’s Run 5K Race Report

Finish Chelsea’s Run is a race I’ve wanted to participate (or at least support) since they started it back in 2010. This race is dedicated to Chelsea King who was sadly taken during one of her runs in that same year. A group of runners were so affected by the news that they planned to meet at the same park and ‘finish Chelsea’s run’. “Word quickly spread and on the morning of March 20, 2010 more than 3,500 community members joined together to run and walk in solidarity with, and in honor of Chelsea, who they adopted as one of their own.” It would have been nice to join in that run, but for one reason or another, I couldn’t. They moved the run down to Balboa Park to accommodate more runners and had as many as 7,000 runners this year and I am glad I was able to join this time around. Results: 21:34 (6:57 min/mile), 12/57 AG, 84/1978 overall. Before the race, I was hoping to run somewhere between 21 and 22 minutes, so I’m definitely happy with the results. I’m already starting to feel sick from this race, but I won’t have much time to rest, I have my first ever cycling race tomorrow morning and it’s a 40-miler at that. I’ve rode a couple of 20-milers before, but I am definitely not ready to ride competitively. Hopefully, it’s a scenic ride and I can finish it!

The course is pretty straightforward: you start by running about half a mile north along the park, make a U-turn and pass the starting line, going into the park and finishing near the starting line. The race was so big, there were still runners waiting to start the race after my first mile and we got to run by them on the other side of the road. The thing I don’t like about running out-and-back courses (other than the obvious fact that you’re running the same thing over and over), is that if you’re running downhill at one point, you know that you’re going to have to run up it on the way back. That happened at least 2-3 times, which kind of sucked. But these hills were nothing compared to last week’s 10K in LA. I was very pleased with my pace throughout the race too: 6:50, 6;49, 7:02, :50. With most of my 5Ks, I tend to start off too fast and am pretty tired the last two miles. I was able to hold back just a little bit which made for a more pleasant finish, although I was still tired at the end.

I’m hoping this 5K won’t affect me too much during tomorrow’s 40-miler. The good thing about cyling is if you’re tired, you can easily just cruise (unless you’re uphill, of course) until you recover. Like I said earlier, I’m hoping to just have a good time, enjoy my first cycling race and see if I enjoy cycling competitively. This will also give a feel of what it’s like to compete in a triathlon, which is still on my list of races to complete. Of course, I still need to master the swimming portion which I know is still my achilles’ heel. I’m hoping to get tomorrow’s race report up just as quickly as this one.