On 7/13/13 I ran the MLB All-Star 5K, put on by NYRR, in Prospect Park, Brooklyn. The race is an official All-Star Game event (which is hosted in NYC this year at Citifield) and the proceeds go to Hurricane Sandy Relief.

I did not “race” it, as I am training for my half marathon and have a 10K race tomorrow morning that I am running as part of a 9 mile training run, so I did not want to jeopardize that (9 miles is pretty far for me). I also ran it without my Garmin (BECAUSE MY GARMIN ISN’T WORKING…. It is having severe trouble locating satellites lately…help!). And I ran sans calf sleeves because I CAN'T FIND ONE OF MY BLUE ONES (what the heck...just wore it for my 10K on July 4th!). I ended up with official time of 32:27. I ran it “comfortably hard”--- not all-out, lungs exploding, collapsing in the grass after crossing the finish line, wonder if I will *actually* die effort like I did my 5K PR race (28:16), but definitely was pushing harder than my easy pace (which is anywhere between 11:30 and 13:00 minute miles depending on the heat and humidity). Every single time I have run a 5K at the effort level I did today I have finished within a few SECONDS of today’s time. Since March I have run four 5Ks that I could describe that way (comfortably hard) and my times were 32:27 (today), 32:30, 32:23, and 32:19. Well, then…..guess I’m nothing if not consistent?

The race was a large race of over 4,500 finishers for the 5K, and there was also a 1.5 mile Fun Run option, which a lot of families with kids did. Several baseball mascots from all over the country, including my favorite Mr. Met were at the starting line cheering us on, which was really cool. Start time was 8:00am and temperature was 69, cloudy, and drizzling. Better than sunny, hot and humid!

My dad decided to run this race too. As you may recall if you read my NY Giants Run of Champions 5K RR last month, my dad began running to train for that race. We are HUGE Giants fans, and the race finished on the Giants football field. He wanted to do it with me, and worked his butt off training. Well he pulled a calf muscle during the race in the 2^nd mile, and although he had a respectable time for his first 5K of 33:17 he knew he could do better and wanted to try another race. Well we are also both huge Mets fans, so I told him about this one (it is not technically a Mets race, but the All-Star game is being held in Citifield—the Mets home field—this year so it was kind of a Mets race) and he was all in. He got a nice PR at 31:07 today!!! He was a little upset though because he was really hoping for sub-30. And his running app said he ran at a 9:37 pace, which is sub-30 pace, but the course was long (almost 3.3 miles). I tried to explain to him about margin of error, weaving, tangents, ect but he was still a little upset

My dad and I before the race:

My friend Kristen (yeah, I have a few of those…. what can I say great names stick together! She spells it wrong though) also ran the race. She does not run much on a regular basis (treadmill sometimes at the gym kind of thing), but she has run/walked a few Disney races when she used to live in Orlando, including a half, and she is a HUGE Mets fan. She ended up with a PR today too at 34:21!

My friend Kristen and I before the race:

And after:

We got to meet John Franco (used to pitch for the Mets in the 90s) and he autographed our bibs and took a pic with us!

Goofing around by the finish line:

The one caveat was the T-Shirt. NYRR had advertised it as “Awesome Nike Tech T-Shirt!” and many, including me, were excited for it. Well, it was cotton. Whomp whomp. Oh well. They also ran out of smalls and the medium is reallllly big on me. Oh well again.

The back says "Sandy Relief"

Overall I had a great time!!!!!  I love love love that my dad is loving running. And having my friend there too made it all the more fun! Thanks for reading!

**Update**

MarathonFoto is unusually speedy and posted some of the photos already with a disclaimer that they are still identifying. Got one of my dad and I:

One of Kristen and I:

And one of me running through the start:

**Update #2....2 more pics identified and tagged to me**

Always an adept sleep runner! Ugh!:

Slightly better, but kinda not really lol:

Great RR, photos and congrats on being able to run the race with your Dad.  Friends and Mr. Franco, sounds like a very successful day.

Nicely done.

Yeah the shirt is not all that awesome, even aside from being cotton, should have been more basebally. And that is really a medium??

Cool to meet John Franco, he is a Mets icon, pitched well into his 40's.

Looks like a fun time!  Cute outfit, too!

Nice report and pics.. sorry about the cotton shirt.  (And yeah, that's maybe a medium at fat camp, but nowhere else.)

You and your dad are really making the sports run circuit lately - awesome.  Good luck tomorrow with the longer run...good job being smart about today's race.

Your dad has your calf sleeves.

Congrats to you and your Dad!  As you explained, your dad should not be upset, the course was a bit long, and he did great and got a PR!  No doubt in my mind that sub-30 will come for him!

Way to go to both of you! And I read your other report too.  Congrats on your double for the weekend!

Now, if you come visit for New Year's day down here, we can do THREE 5Ks in one day.