Abbott Dash to the Finish Line 5K Race Recap

Well it’s Tuesday night and I don’t want to watch hours of election coverage, so I figured I would write up my Abbott Dash to the Finish Line 5K Race Recap!

I’m linking up with Marcia from Marcia’s Healthy Slice, Erika from MCM Mama Runs and Patty from My No-Guilt Life for Tuesdays on the Run.

I’m also linking up with Annmarie from The Fit Foodie Mama, Jen from Pretty Little Grub, Michelle at Fruition Fitness and Nicole from Nicole from FitFul Focus for Wild Workout Wednesday.

On Saturday I was lucky enough to run the Abbott Dash to the Finish Line 5K. This is an awesome race because it takes place the day before the marathon and the finish line is the same finish line that is used for the marathon!

Due to a very late train from CT to NY, my mom and I arrived to the race a few minutes before it was supposed to start. Not the best way to start a race but it’s was okay since the weather was awesome and I was planning on running the race at a “sexy pace” to save my legs for the marathon the following day.

The race had over 10,000 runners at at times it felt crowded. I kind of felt like a sardine in the corrals, but luckily the race thinned out once we crossed the start line.

You start the race near the United Nations. You then run along 42nd street and turn left onto Sixth Avenue.

This is the best part of the race for me because you get to run by Radio City Music Hall. You also get to see a ton of cool office buildings as well. It’s definitely a rare opportunity to be able to run down this avenue so I always make sure to take in all the sights.

At mile 2 you enter Central Park and get to run by the Zoo, Wollman Rink and finish by Tavern on the Green.

Pros

Finish Line – What could be cooler than running through the same finish line as the marathon!

Food Bags – We received clear and mesh drawstring bags with all our post-race goodies – water, Powerbar, pretzels and fruit. It was nice to not have to hold all the items in my hands on the way back to my hotel. I really liked this idea and it seemed to keep everyone moving along quickly after the race.

The course – You really see some awesome things when you are running this race such as Grand Central Station, Radio City Music Hall and Central Park. It’s a nice 3 mile mini-tour of NYC!

Cons

Hard to PR – A lot of the people running the marathon use this race as a nice shakeout run. Because of this, runners are going at a slower pace so it might be hard to get into a groove. In addition, a lot of runners tend to want to stop and take photos of all the sights on the course. Like they will literally just stop in the middle of the course – I almost ran right into a guy that did this. Basically unless you’re right in the front of the race, you may be zig zagging through people.

Water Station – I don’t really drink water during a 5k, but I noticed that there was one station after mile 2. While this didn’t affect me personally, I do think the water station should have been sooner since the race is almost over at that point…

Race Shirts – We received a white long sleeve tech shirt for the race. While I love long sleeve shirts, I am so sick of plain white shirts. They always seem to look dingy after a few washes anyway.

Overall I like this race but I do wish that runners would pull over to the right if they want to stop and take photos. It’s definitely a little annoying, but I can understand the need to capture all the cool landmarks and building on camera or film. I love that this race ends in Central Park because I feel like everyone should experience running in Central Park at least once in their life! Here are a few more photos from the race.

Do you have a must do 5K race that you run every year?