2015 LA Chinatown Firecracker 5/10K Run/Walk

Since I have moved home from Amsterdam I have had my eye on this event, and it has just never panned out. I think that I was in the past intimidated by the hill factor. This last time running the New Years race put all of my hill fear to bed. I think it is one of the most gruelling hill courses. BUT I am a legacy runner and I WILL put myself through the torture every year, especially since it's first thing in January and sets the tone for bad assery for the up an coming year. So since hills are now my b!tch I decided to take my chances, so much so that I decided to sign up for not only the 10k but also the 5k, making it my first combo race. I figured ehh, its still less than a half. One great thing about this race was that it was metro-able, and I had just been to Chinatown the weekend prior for Chinese New Year so i was confident and comfortable. There is a small festival that corresponds with this event. They even light 1000 fireworks before the races. I ran up and have a video of the end of it. It wasn't as loud as I thought, and the smoke cleared rather fast. There was no corraling so both starts were a large cluster of people. Which although I like weaving in and out of the crowd because I feel it makes me faster sometimes it is just TOO much. I was able to make it back before the 10k stared. The 10k was also crowded at the start but I didn't have a time to worry about completing it by. I took my Sunrype and checked it so that I could give it out after the run. A lot of people were receptive, but I had to sneak-argue my way through to be able to hand them out to the runners. By the time I got to the refreshments area a lot of the items were gone, due to the 5kers that had finished long before. So it was nice to be able to have a treat for my fellow hill slayers. I stayed and watched the festival for awhile. Thankfully I was able to get in and out of there before the rain started. Which makes 2 weeks (races) in a row that I have been able to defy the weather. I closed out Feb at just under 93 miles. LAME! So close but so far from 100. Good thing I have that overlap from Jan. This 15k was a nice way to kick of March. At the end of the month. The LA Marathon is this month too, the 30th one! I wanna do it but I don't know if I have it in me.