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I knew traffic would be bad so I parked around a half mile away at the SunRail station in Lake Mary. The morning was downright hot and super sticky humid. A lot of runners were wearing the red cotton race shirts, and they all looked like they were about to die in the heat. Lot of people were dressed in rainbow colors (I did the best I could with my SparkleSkirt) and there was one guy in a rainbow full body suit. The mood was festive, at least!
The route was nice- around a neighborhood area of Lake Mary I'd never been in before. The course was flat and shaded, and I managed to put it behind me in about 26 minutes. It had been a while since I'd tried to run that fast (summer heat and all), but the energy of the other runners helped and all I really wanted was to finish and take a shower!
Next...
Because I procrastinate and didn't get around to writing up about the Orlando United race, I'm adding on the Team RWB Eagle Charge.
Hey, the summer's been busy. We went to visit my folks in Louisiana, then went to my family reunion in Dallas, then to check out the new summer stuff at Disney a couple weekends, so...things got away from me.
The RWB Eagle Charge race could either be a 4 mile or 7 mile option. Of course, I figured if I was going to have to wake up at 4 am and drive to Daytona, I may as well do 7 miles. I'd never run on the beach before, so the idea was intriguing. I've done plenty of 4th of July 5Ks, and I did the RWB 10 Miler as a virtual race on the 4th a few years ago, but this was my first time actually participating in one of their events.
Apparently, they discontinued the 10 Miler because people were having heat stroke on the beach.
That should have been a clue on how my morning was going to go.
It was still dark when I got to Daytona on July 4th morning. The race started at 6:30am. I parked in the garage about 1/3 mile from the staging area. I had to hustle down the sidewalk, pick up my race packet and bib, take the packet back to my car, and get back to the starting line down underneath the Daytona Beach Pier. So, I pretty much ran a mile as a warm up before the race even started! It was humid, and the air was downright stagnant. The sunrise was beautiful though!
I had zero high hopes for this race. I was sweating already just standing by the pier waiting to start. I'd never run on the sand before. Yes, it was hard pack but it was still sand. The starting gun went off, and I followed the crowd down the beach.
The course was out and back- 3.5 miles south down the beach, past some high rise hotels and condos, a simple turn-around, and back. The thing about running 3.5 miles down the beach is that it's so flat you can SEE 3.5 miles ahead, and it looks like you're never going to get there! I moved along at a comfortable pace, running on the sand wasn't that unusual. I watched the sun come up, there were couples on vacation out on the beach doing the same thing. There were a few people fishing. It was a pretty quiet morning, save for the few hundred people running across the sand.
The water and gatorade stations were plentiful, and we'd hit them again on the way back. I slowed to a walk and drank at every stop, it was so hot! I couldn't understand how there was absolutely NO breeze on the beach. The air was still and totally saturated. It was like running through a wet sponge. Ugh.
I'd been following a woman in a sports bra with read "vsx" across the band for a few miles. She passed me in the beginning but I stayed about 20 yards behind her. I made it my mission to pass VSX at some point. I wasn't really watching my time, I was somewhere in the 9ish minute mile range. I didn't want to push myself and have issues with the heat or twist an ankle on some of the looser sand areas, so I just chugged along before I passed VSX around Mile 5.
That's when I had music problems.
My headset bluetooth kept disconnecting! I was so sweaty, and the pocket of my SparkleSkirt was so wet that my phone kept screwing up. I fumbled with it for a little while but, as gross as it sounds, my ears were even too sweaty to hold my headphones.
It was so awful.
So, the last miles, I was music-less. There were a few vacationers standing out on the beach cheering us on, but other than that it was quiet. No sound of wind, not even tide. Everything was just still and humid. And the sun was blinding.
I picked up some energy a little bit towards the end of the race, I'd taken it pretty easy the whole time so I crossed the finish at 1:04:39 with 7.1 miles logged on my watch.
I got my medal, a banana and some water and an icy cold wet towel. The towel felt great-all I needed was to wash off the sweat and dry off. The Publix tent in the staging area had chocolate milk so, yum. I wandered around for a bit waiting on the results to be posted. I found a shady spot to sit, thank goodness.
Results posted!
Holy shit.
I finished 2nd in my age group? With over a 9 minute mile? That's how hot and humid it was folks. Even the woman in first place only finished 20 seconds ahead of me. I was really surprised, I almost thought if only I pushed a little more I could have been first...
But I found out the placement awards were all the same no matter what so no big deal!
Fireworks SparkelSkirt seemed appropriate for today!
Hot hot hot
The winners all got metal drink cups. Okie dokie. I put it on the shelf at the house with my other age group awards. It's pretty cool I guess- different for sure!
My leg muscles were tore up the day after this race! I guess the slight unevenness of the sand really did a number on them. I hobbled around for a few days and spent quality time with my foam roller until the tightness finally went away. I think I'd try this race again next year- weather permitting, I might even try to come in first. HA.
