photo via
When someone offers me a free bib to a race that starts and ends a couple of blocks from my apartment, it’s hard for me to say no. That’s what brought me to The Giant Race 10k. Starting and ending at the baseball stadium in Mission Bay, it seemed too convenient to pass up. I hadn’t planned on running but a free race, sure why not!
Everything about this race was pretty breezy, from the expo to the finish line. The race expo was held in the concession area of the stadium, was well-run with no wait times and had a bunch of vendors giving out tasty samples. MM, Ollie and I made our way through. Bonus points for this race having a really cute v-neck tech t-shirt free with registration. Oh and having free range of the park made for some good race pics.
The Giant Race: Race Day
Sunday morning I got to the race start about 10 minutes before the kick off. I’ve learned to relax with my race lineup. Unless it’s a big crowded race that I’ve been training months for, I’ll limit the amount of time I need to stand around at the race start. 
At 7am sharp, the race began. We started at AT&T park and for the 10k, it was 3 miles out and back along the Embarcadero. For SF peeps looking for a PR-worthy course, this one might be it. The road is completely flat and because it’s not a huge race, there wasn’t much weaving; you really could go as fast as your legs could take you. I will note that after the turn around, things got a little murky. There didn’t seem to be many people working the race to keep people in their lanes, so while I was running towards the finish, the half marathoners making their way out totally took over the return lane. It wasn’t such a big deal, everyone on their way back ran on the sidewalk instead of the street, but this could have been better managed.
After about 6 miles, we entered into AT&T park to do the final stretch in the stadium. Even though I’m not a Giant’s fan, it was still cool to complete the race on the field. Upon finishing, there were medals, water and snacks for racers. I only hung out long enough to snap a few pictures than walked home, all before 8am!
I haven’t done too many 10k races recently, but it was fun to do the shorter distance and get the opportunity to challenge myself with speed. Looking back, this may have actually been my fastest 10k ever with a finish time of 49:55 (8:02 pace). I haven’t been running a ton outside, but speed and strength classes at Orangetheory seem to be paying off.
Would I do this race again? Sure! It has a friendly and welcoming atmosphere and is the perfect opportunity to challenge your pace whether you’re doing the 10k or half marathon (maybe I’ll try that next time, because hey check out that view below).
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Since moving to SF I’ve done this race and The San Francisco Half Marathon. To my readers familiar with SF racing, what else should I look into? I love local races and hope to get another on my agenda soon!
