In order to work off all of those calories from delicious Dodger dogs and nachos, I started to run a couple of years ago. Over the past year, I have started to enter in races and when the Dodger Dream Foundation opened the inaugural Dodgers 5K, I was one of the first to sign up (the first 1000 received a reserve ticket to selected games). The day finally came and this past Sunday I strapped on my running shoes, sneaked past SOSG security, and joined about 3,204 Dodger fans to run around Dodger stadium.
For their first race, the organization was fairly smooth. Race packet pick up was well organized and there was some serious "swag to be had." I picked up my Dodgers tech dry fit shirt, bib, timing chip and an AJ Ellis Bobblehead. Apparently the people that picked up their packet the day before also received a Dodger backpack. Already the day was a success! The Dodger legends present were Al Ferrara, Dennis Powell, Derrel Thomas and Tim Leary. The grand marshal was Carmelita Jeter, the fastest woman in the world and London gold medalist in the 100m dash. I was lucky to take a picture with her and her medal before the race. SO COOL.
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| They seemed to have the START/FINISH banner reversed, but this was right before the race |
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| Ferrara, Powell, Thomas, and Leary |
For you runners out there, the course was a little difficult at the start. Beginning in centerfield behind lot G, we ran counterclockwise around the inner circle - which meant straight uphill to start it off. Then we looped into the reserve parking lot on the left, came back out and down the other side of the inner loop. The rest of the race were switchbacks along the outer parking lots that looped around to the finish. For my sixth race of my "career" I finished in the top 10 for my age group. Not bad, but consider that BOTH a 11 AND 12 year old girl absolutely CRUSHED my time, not much to write home about. Seriously check it our for yourself
http://www.geminitiming.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/dodgers_overall_14.htm
But the important part was that I finished! And the Dodger legends and volunteers were handing out the medals at the finish line. After the race we were able to warm down along the warning track of Dodger stadium so I took some pictures.
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| Retired numbers |
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| Dodger Dugout |
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| Panorama shot from centerfield |
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| Oh how I wanted to jump the wall and sit down after that race |
The sponsors that I saw were KIND bars, Coconut water (am I the only one that thinks coconut water tastes like feet?), Powerbar, and Avita water. The medal is totally awesome as you can see from the pictures below. It is fairly large and heavy and the colors make it pop. After the race, I ran into the Dodger Dream Foundation coordinator and told her how great the event was organized. We talked about how they are planning to expand this event (as the Giants have THREE races in Scottsdale, San Jose and San Francisco) and possibly a 10K next year. If they do, I will be sure to sign up! If there are runners or walkers out there that are thinking about it, strap on your running shoes and start training for next year. You won't be disappointed. GO BLUE!
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| Dodger Swag |
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| Probably my favorite medal of my small but growing collection |
