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| - Ran the 10k portion of the Pittsburgh Great Race and was absolutely shocked that I did not win...shocked I tell you. The Great Race boasts a 5k and 10k race. The 5k race started at 8:00am and the 10k started at 9:30am. From what was stated prior to the race, this was the largest 10k race in Pennsylvania, having more than 10,000 participants.
We parked downtown since this is where the race was ending. There were plenty of shuttles (PAT Busses) that took you over to Frick Park in Squirrel Hill, which is where the race started. You were asked to line-up in 'corrals' by your minutes/mile time. The race starts through the tight streets of Squirrel Hill. Since the start of the race was not spaced out well, there were bottle necks at first. You could easily tell that there were people who did not line-up in their correct corral as they were walking within the first mile, which also helped bottle neck things more. After you make your way through Squirrel Hill, you enter into Oakland. The wider streets of Oakland helped spread the field out a lot more, which made for a more relaxing run. After you make your way through Oakland, you turn onto the Boulevard of the Allies, which is a steady up-hill 1-mile leg of the race. After passing Duquesne University, the last 1.2 miles is all downhill and flat where you eventually end at the Point. The ending is also quite tight, not a lot of room coming through the finish line.
As with any race in Pittsburgh, you have to be cognizant of manhole covers, pot-holes and un-even pavement that seems to jump out at you often. When the race conditions are tight, you really have to pay attention or you can easily hurt yourself.
All along the way there were extremely great volunteers who were handing out water. At the end, there were plenty of apples, bananas, oranges and smiley cookies. A big thank you to them for donating their time!
Overall this is a pretty well organized event. No real issues with it and I would run it again.
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