17/21
12 minutes late(and gasping for air .. again!) – that was my reaction when I saw the 21k timer at the starting line. I was hoping that I arrived just in time but the queue in the parking area was so long. At that point I was already contemplating on running the 15k race instead.
Fortunately, Ian Alacar (the race director) was very supportive in giving me directions for the 21k race route and off I went to run the 21k race alone.
This was the first time that I ran alone in order to catch up with runners who started way ahead of me. The thing is, I have already sprinted (without any warm up) to the starting line from the parking area ; and here I am again literally sprinting to catch up with the runners.
I was already walking before I reached the first KM. Who was I fooling ? I couldn’t reach them no matter what – or so I thought, after about an hour and after the fast 15k runners went past me, I was able to catch up with the last 20 percent of the 21k runners. It was only at this point that I felt good about myself 
This was a well-organized race, I mean if it weren’t for the road signs and the helpful men in uniform, I wouldn’t have been able to catch up with the runners from my race.
The only thing is, I thought that we were still going to run another loop as we returned to the McKinley area – so you could imagine my surprise when we were told that there were only 400 meters left before the finish line.
This would have been a close to perfect race, were it not for the short distance
