Love the Run You’re With 5k in Pentagon City
I was not racing today, but I arrived to the Pentagon City race site for the “Love the Run You’re With” 5k at 7am sharp to do my first volunteer shift as a Pacers Ambassador. I was told to meet down by the ice rink and I rolled on in and was hanging out with a group of guys wearing Pacers and other various running gear, near the new “Pacers Van”. Chris Farley was the only one I recognized and I introduced myself and took a sip of my Starbucks as I waited around for something to do. I was expecting to see more volunteers and wasn’t sure who was a volunteer and who was a Pacers employee. We ended up hanging around for a while waiting for the police to come shut down Joyce Street and the rest of the race course. We were told that the police were able to get free coffee from Starbucks which was a nice touch.
Finally, the road was closed and we started setting up the race barricades for the start corral and finishing area. The barricades had to be taken out of the van, one by one, and they were freezing. Next winter event, I need to make sure to remember the gloves. The American University wrestling team all showed up and eagerly and efficiently made quick work of setting up the finish area and refreshments. After a couple of unsuspecting drivers ventured into our closed off area, we were set up and ready to race and more and more runners were showing up.
Around 8:30 the Pacers Race MC went live and kept the crowd entertained and informed of the various sponsors. He introduced the VIPs that were in attendance. About 8:45 he called all the runners to the starting area and the race day excitement was there for me even though I was not running. The elites were doing their last minute race prep strides and sprints in front of the start area. And right at 9:00 the starting gun shot off, the elites vanished down Joyce Street and the rest of the runners marched towards the start line and then started their run.
Those of us not running and the family and friends and loved ones of the runners all eagerly anticipated their return back after the 3.1 miles. About 15 minutes later, we saw the police escort arrive at the bottom of the hill, he stopped and then a few seconds later, we saw the silhouette of a super fast runner coming flying towards us. He was the only one on Joyce Street as he barreled towards the finish tape… and after about 15:30 minutes, Robbie Wade was the first one across. Local speedster Steve Crane finished about 30 seconds later. And not too much later…female champion Katie Read broke the females winning ribbon in about 17:30 minutes.
The runners really started pouring in around 24 or 25 minutes and a steady stream of them continued to cross for until just about 10:00 AM. As they passed the finish line, all runners were handed a gift card to Champps and herded around to courtyard area where they were provided with water and powerade and directed to go inside Champps where it was warm and they could eat, drink and break it down.
The American wrestling team helped us break down and load up the barricades into the truck. Not too much later, the roads were re-opened, we put the leftover drinks away finished packing up the van and then we were done. It was a great day, a exciting new race, I met a lot of new and interesting people and look forward to the Four Courts 4 miler on March 13th. We will see you then.
