MLB All-Star Charity 5K Recap!

This past weekend I ran the MLB All-Star Charity 5K at Angels Stadium.  When I first heard about the run I was all about it because I have grown up as a diehard Angels fan...I LOVE them.  So to be able to run THROUGH Angels Stadium all while supporting beautiful organizations to fight cancer, well, you don't have to ask me twice!  I immediately registered and was ready to go!

I woke up on Sunday around 5, ate 1/2 a cliff bar, laced up and cruised down to Angels Stadium.  I made it down there in no time and picked up my bib and All-Star 5K tee under the two giant hats.

I had a lot of time to kill so I walked around to the different booths.  I checked out Stand Up 2 Cancer, Susan G. Komen, Angel Fans Don't Let Fans Drive Drunk, and I just cruised by Prostate Cancer.  The Stand Up 2 Cancer booth had a giant poster that one can write a message to a loved one on.

I wrote to my Uncle who was taken by lung cancer and to my Grammie who is a breast cancer and melanoma survivor.  There was a similar poster for TEAM Coalition and Angel Fans Don't Let Fans Drive Drunk.  It's a designated driver program that promotes the responsibility of drinking and having a designated driver.  It's a wonderful program!

After an emotional walk through the booths, I cruised over to the giant hats to find the Angels Mickey statue.  There are 36 Mickey statues in SoCal decorated with the colors and logos  of each of the 30 MLB Clubs as well as four All-Star designs, an American League and a National League design.  Here is our Angels Mickey:

By now it was almost time to start, so I dropped my tee off in my car, used the restroom, and headed towards the corral.  It was so crowded!  There were people from all over the country here or the All-Star game, and a good majority of them chose to run this 5K or the 1mile run/walk.  Baseball unites!

Anyways, I lined up near the back and after a 30 minute speech from the Commissioner and a brief speech from Jillian Michaels, the horn sounded and we were off!  Unfortunately it was so packed that it took a good 7-10 minutes to GET OUT of the corral.  But it was a *fun run* and I didn't care about time.  I didn't even wear my Garmin :)

We ran out on Orangewood and alongside the 5 FWY to Gene Autry Way, then to State College to Katella.  There was a little downhill on Katella before the mile 2 marker, which is where I took this picture.  There were so many people of all shapes, sizes, and ages!  It was inspiring!

After a short uphill we were in front of the Pond (now the Honda Center, boo) and turned back towards the stadium.  I was cruising along at a mellow pace and felt pretty good.  I did tweak my knee the day before so I didn't want to put too much strain on it especially with two weeks until the San Fran 1/2.  But I cruised along and felt really good.

Just before mile 3 comes my favorite part...RUNNING THROUGH ANGEL STADIUM!  We went through one of the tunnels and there was major people congestion to the point of coming to a complete stop.

We ran around the edge of the grass on the dirt and it was such a powerful feeling to be running on the field!  I was imagining all the great players warming up while we were running and the seats in the stadium being filled.  What a magical feeling!  At that moment I was on Cloud 9.

While we were running the grass was being trimmed in a giant star shape for the Futures Game and the Legends/Celebrity Game later that evening.  It was so cool!

After running the field we hit the 3 mile marker and I booked it to the finish line.  I got a pretty sweet medal and grabbed a water and a banana before getting ready to head home.  It was such a fun run and a memorable experience.  I ran on the Angels field!!!  Score!!

The rest of my day entailed a long bubble bath and watching the World Cup.  I am so happy Spain won, although I do feel badly for the Dutch...three times there and no win.  Maybe in 4 years, but for now, yay for Spain...World Cup Champs for the next 4 years!

xoxo