summer is here, and so is the humidity

Oh em gee, y'all.  I just about melted during the Zimmmerman Kiser Sutcliffe Winter Park Road Race this weekend!  100% humidity and not a breeze to be had!

I was teaching a test prep course at work all weekend so I didn't get home on Friday til around 10pm.  I somehow managed to get everything I needed for run and work the next morning packed and together, because Saturday started at 4:50 am.  I wanted to make sure I had time to park my car and get to the race area in Winter Park since this was my first time doing the WPRR.  Meagan, Kylie, and I had all signed up for the Distance Dare (2 miler followed by the 10K, to which Meagan and I were like "Is this really a dare?"  We both agreed that it would have made more sense to make it a 5K plus the 10K but we're not race directors so....) 

I got to Park Avenue an hour early and got the last parking spot in the new SunRail lot.  The tents weren't even all set up yet, there were a few people milling around in the darkness, but hey no lines for the bathrooms!  I like Winter Park- it's a fancy-pants area with expensive boutiques and restaurants.  It's fun to wander around and look so that's what I did for a little while- peeked into the darkened store windows of the shops that lined the finish area.  I met up with Meagan after a while and we saw Kylie just for a second as she was running back to her car to put her packet away.  

The 2 miles race started off of a side street and wound through the neighborhood.  It was so crowded with people shuffling along that I ran most of it off to the side up on the sidewalk.  The dark skies started to brighten to grey a little after the 7am start time, we finished the race in just under 20 minutes, and I went 2 blocks straight past the finish to get in line for the 10K.  

 

Can't even see the start line!

I wormed my way to the 8 min/mile pacers.  Figured I'd try my best on this one- maybe MAYBE get in under 51 minutes.  My previous 10K record was 53:56, but the 10K split I ran from the Best Damn Race Half Marathon a couple weeks before was 50:59 so I was going to try to beat that.  

The race course was really nice- I liked running around the neighborhoods filled with enormous houses (some for sale!) and past the lakes- the scenery was very pretty, I'll give them that for sure.  There was a bitchin' hill right about halfway through that I was not a fan of- this is Florida, why is this hill here???

I came upon one of my customers at around the 2 mile mark- Paul is working on finishing up his private pilot certificate.  I knew he'd be out here at the race but I didn't expect to run into him!  He's much taller than me and therefore has quite the advantage of long legs but I'm pretty zippy myself.  He passed me first, I was right behind him for a couple miles, then I passed him just before mile 5.  When we hit the home stretch, long legs won out as we sprinted toward the finish and he beat me by 10 agonizing seconds!  

BUT I recovered quicker and he looked about to die.

HA.  But good job, man.

I didn't immediately know my results but I knew I didn't make my goal.  Yes, I set a PR but I didn't get in under 51 minutes.  So close though!  It can still happen...

The post-race snacks were tasty- smoothies, fruit, rice krispie treats and granola bars.  Thank god for the yellow towels because I was dripping wet.  Not just sweat, mind you, but good lord is was sooooo humid!  The wind wasn't blowing, the post-race area was super crowded, and it was insanely stuffy.  I didn't see Meagan after the race- she had to finish and hustle back home to be with the kids- and I didn't stay super long after I nibbled on my snacks.  I met up for a few minutes with Paul and his girlfriend (who had finished a bit later than us) to chat for a minute, then I had to get back to the airport, shower, and get going on Day 2 of teaching my class.  

 Got my Distance Dare medal for running both races that morning

So pretty!  Sun catcher medal!

Results!  Pretty good: they organized the results a little weird so I had to do some math to figure out my overall placements

Distance Dare Results- 2 mile + 10K

2 mile time: 19:43

10K time: 51:22

Those times made me 17th/462 (top 3%) women finishers of the DISTANCE DARE

and 59th/671 (top 8%) total finishers, including men

10K ONLY ranking: 

51:22 time

302/3,013 total finishers (top 10%)

18/345 in my age group (top 5%)

87/2,007 women finishers (top 4%)