Resolution 5K Race Report

Submitted by Sean Astin @SeanAstin

The Resolution 5K on January 5 was… Joy, pure Joy! I loved this event. I love Downtown LA when she puts on her best face. The traffic surrounding the event was stifling, but that just served to heighten the sense of anticipation and fun.

The start line was long, arranged in 15 Corrals. The 1/2 Marathoners were out in force by the thousands. Because of my finishing times I was placed in Corral #3. I felt like a total fraud. Because of my injuries and attendant weight gain (I'm getting in good shape finally) my time was actually going to be really slow—between 10&11 minute miles (I hoped! My actual finish time was 34:08). But, because of #run3rd and all of the PR stuff I get to do (not this night, but others) I felt a little sneaky, like someone let me cut into their lane on the onramp.

I took tons of pictures with runners. I'm genuinely shocked at how many runners I've met at other events. I always talk about the sense of community, but dang it is really fun standing next to folks all of the time and having them say, "oh hey I ran the Tink/LA/this 10K/that half with you." I tried to fire off some good #run3rd tweets while waiting for the start (20 minutes late). I was having Tweet Tech issues, bummer.

But, the klieg lights danced in the sky, the music bounced off of the buildings, and the city, my city, the City of Angels was alive. I've competed in so many events Downtown, it was a thrill to run at night. The whole way around the oddly but interesting T-ish-shaped 5k course, I kept thinking: I hope I can make LA (the Marathon of course). It will be a stretch and everything will have to fall into place: diet, training, work schedule etc. Fingers crossed. But the idea of running under those buildings at night and knowing I might be able to run through them in the sunlight on the Marathon in just a couple months was really cool.

The finish line was top notch. Medals (bitchin medal!) The announcers pulled me to the side at the precise finish line. I was so out of breath I have no idea what I said to the crowd. All of the post race accouterments were pretty classy. I did get lost finding my way back to my car. I seriously walked way further searching for it than I ran in the race. Special shout out to the Traffic Cop who sent me in the wrong direction. :-)

The run itself was pretty easy. I pushed it the whole way, but that's just how I roll. I dreamed of the upcoming weeks where I know my lung capacity will improve and full strength will come back into my legs. But for now, I was so happy to be on the road again, with thousands of people, getting a medal and Resolving in this Year to be bold, to dream and to have fun. It had been many months, I think, since my last formal running event, that all I could think as I stood there (coincidentally hanging with Kurt Broadhag my trainer and running partner for my first LA Marathon) was, in the words of a short, fat, plain-spoken Hobbit, "Well, I'm Back."