The Anaheim Hills Annual Firecracker 5k is a race I've always thought about doing, but never did. So, I signed up a few days before the race to try my first 5k. This race literally goes 200 yards from the front door of my house.
Like any other race, I looked at the previous results and tried to figure out where I 'could' finish against others in my age group. Based on last year, I had a chance of top 5. The race is basically an out and back along Santa Ana Canyon Road, with the 5k race turnaround spot about a mile past my house, and hopefully my cheering family.
So, the race started and I went out at a quick pace, all of that nervous energy was keeping me faster than a 7:00/mile pace. As I ran past where my family was, it was great to see my wife and kids there. It was an early morning for them, just to see me run by twice. By the way, I really need to teach my daughters how to cheer, maybe I'll give them a cow bell or something next time.
So this recap isn't longer than the race, I'll wrap it up. I ended up with an official time of 22:07. This put me in 2nd out of 25 in my age group, and only 18 seconds behind the fastest in my AG.
An added bonus is that my daughters said they want to do the race next year.
