The Sunset Strip Half Marathon/5K boogaloo

Last Sunday I ran my fifth 5k of 2015 - the Sunset Strip Half Marathon / 5k. As you may have expected, I opted for the 5k. All in all, the race was great; the atmosphere was really good, people were excited to be running, and as it was the inaugural event, there was a ton of news coverage. Even the Mayor ran it along side the rest of us. A few critiques, while they're fresh in my mind:

• The course was brutally uphill right out the gate. I gassed out fast and hard. I managed to run uphill the entire time, but it was very draining. I felt my energy almost completely sapped out by the time I made it to the top of San Vincente, and I knew at that point I wouldn't be setting any personal bests.
  
• The water stations were oddly placed. Two within maybe 1/2 a mile from each other, then no others. Combine this with fact that I failed to sufficiently hydrate the night before and morning of the race, and I was definitely hurting. (Look, you can't put me that close to bars with great happy hours and not expect me to have a few beers the night before, okay?!)
  
• The course was slightly odd, as the Half-Marathon runners took off 15 minutes before the 5k runners, but then merged into the same space at them. This created a lot of traffic where people who were competing for personal bests ended up screaming through the packs of power walkers and stroller runners, yelling "WALKERS LEFT! WALKERS LEFT!" and damned-near tripping up everyone involved.
  
• There was a lack of clear signage; the 5k turnaround just said "TURNAROUND," meaning the half-marathon runners had to run past it - but because it wasn't marked "5K TURNAROUND" a number of runners were confused. A volunteer had to be posted there directing traffic. Same thing happened at the bottom of the hill about 200 feet from the finish line for 5k and mile 6(?) for the Half folks.

In closing, I thought for the first event ever, this was really well done. The medals were awesome, the run was great and gave a nice little tour of WeHo/Sunset, the beer was cold, and the people were happy. I'd love to run this again next year and see whats changed.