Pride 5K Run and Walk

Its great when you can take a shuttle to the start of your run and back to your car.
This was our first Pride 5K and it seemed pretty seamless. We were able to pick up our bibs and swag bag the day before at Road Runner Sports. If you couldn’t make it, you could also check in on site. It was pretty lowkey run, 700 participants but everyone in high happy spirits.
The run takes place right before the Pride Parade and it starts much later than most runs I’ve been too. They had some great vendors there giving out free stuff, soaps, energy bars and OMG that coconut water was delicious. The person there was handing them out left and right… practically if I wanted to take a 6 pack he would’ve let me. It actually made a great recovery hydrating drink too since it was so humid that day. (Luckily after we finished the run that’s when the torrential downpour came)
The run was a «simple» 3.1 miles, pretty flat and what was nice about it was that it actually was on the parade route. So while walking/​running/​struggling to get to the next personal marker, you had folks setting up for the parade as well as a crowd cheering and supporting you as you hobbled your way down the street.
The only thing about the run is that they were very strict on the time limit…55 mins to complete the course… run or walking. If you didn’t finish in time, they would escort you to the side of the sidewalk to finish the race. It didn’t help to see at the end of the line 4 – 5 cops on bikes slowly hearding the tail end of the walkers/​runners.
Overall its a fun run, we got a nice running shirt with it (other than the typical cotton shirts) so I will def be wearing this one again for my runs and a great way to start Pride weekend.

This run takes place right before the parade, so if you can’t complete the 3.1 miles in an hour, you shouldn’t participate. But, really? That’s not too terribly hard. Because of that, it started a bit later than a normal 5k (10am) which made it hot so remember to hydrate! I did like that the lady handing me water apologized that it wasn’t a tequila shot. That made me smile.
I really had a good time with this and it was fun to run with a crowd around (they were there for the parade, but whatever) a few of the people even cheered for us, which was nice, though most just kind of sat there and stared. The costumes were super fun and the course is pretty easy, all things considered.
They did have a bit of a snafu with the shirts this year, they got stuck in customs, but the organizers couldn’t really help that. The Front Runners and Walkers seem like a pretty great group for the LGBT community (and their friends/​families.)