HOT HOT HOT Watermelon Aug 2023:
It’s getting HOT… like record setting heat HOT… like I’ve skipped out on training runs or have forced myself to go to the gym and run the treadmill HOT and today is no exception with a feels like of 86 upon arrival at coral, 85 minutes before starting and 88 as I was heading back to the car.
Like always bib pick up was a quick in and out from the golf club though this time since I was running the series I got a shirt
I think if the shirt were a lighter wicking material and I wasn’t theming my outfits I might of considered wearing it but since it was on the heavy side and I was theming my OOTD was my green livi skort, pink mayfair 2023 tank and my watermelon bondi band…
I arrived at the parking area on race day earlier than past events this series at 6:25 and got in my coral at 6:37. I was in coral 10/10 again like in July (with my expected finish submitted as my pre pandemic 5k PR of 42 mins) and the bugs didn’t care about the repellent wrist band I was wearing.
To beat the heat I carried a 1 liter bottle of water frozen overnight and slowly defrosting as well as a frozen cooling cloth in my pocket and a frozen 20oz water bottle in a belt bag tucked under my shirt against my back.
At 6:56 I could barely hear the anthem from how far down the road I was staged and at 7:06 I was off!!!
About a quarter mile in I got to the finish mat the first pass and it felt like forever until I finally hit mile marker one though it was roughly in 17 mins which is my current average for the year
Two minutes later we merged to the lake jogging path from the road.
Since the sun was glaring in my eyes and the course ahead was stacked with runners I decided to slow up a bit pocketing my phone for a moment to remove my towel from my pocket and cool my neck and back with it before pulling it apart so it was able to tie on my wrist.
I spent about 8 mins doing this all the while I kept moving forward.
By then the sun as out of my eyes and soon, 4 minutes later was the water tables. The first table was such a tease and I barely got a sip out of the cup… the cup at the second table was slightly a bit more. I definitely feel bad for those runners who were unprepared and didn’t bring their own hydration especially with the heat.
Just on the other side of the tables was the mile two marker which despite my slow down took me around 18 mins which was still keeping my overall 2023 pace though nowhere near where my peak used to be.
About another 8 mins later I was playing dodge the wash cloths on the ground as some good volunteer was handing them out unfortunately they didn’t hold any back for us slower participants who needed the extra cooldown.
About 10 min later I got to what would be sign ally however volunteers were already removing all the signs which was making me nervous. I didn’t see the pacers pass me and there still was a significant amount of people directly in my sight line ahead of me instead of just open road however I just thought of how they had an overwhelming amount of registered runners and how they ran out of medals in June. I knew that if they were to run out of medals the next event the club put on was the same weekend as Wine & Dine so I would be unable to claim anything.
Steps later was the merge and I really felt compelled to just finish fast and strong that last quarter mile HOWEVER once merging back onto the street the road was opened on BOTH lanes to traffic and only the bike lane was open to runners and so it was pretty much a single file line. The good news is I was behind two gentleman who were directly in front of me since the corals that I unintentionally was pacing the entire race.
I hit mile marker three about 19 mins after marker two which was a tad slower than average but with the heat and being in said single file lane I’d take it.
Two minutes later I was able to make it cross the finish …
I was only 44 seconds slower overall than July (42 from June) so I was overall fairly consistent over this series though still significantly slower from last years times and definitely not anything near my 2019 PR
There were plenty of medals to be had and upon crossing I finished my liter water and than dumped half of the post race water bottle I was given over my head while nursing the rest on the way to the car. I than took the mostly defrosted water from my belt to mix with electrolytes for heat recovery .
My 15k/Series time was 2:46:22 which was actually about a minute or so give or take less than Gasparilla and two minutes or so less than my unofficial 15k split during the Toy Story 10 miler so there is that (though still a big 27 mins longer than my overall 15K PR)
Music wise I got through 15/32 songs in my shuffled 15k playlist…
Will I do this event in 2024 we will just have to wait and see… I definitely have a love/hate relationship with Runners Club events especially as a slower runner though it’s a cheaper motivator to get out and run during the summer months than the virtual short series so..
In the meantime my upcoming schedule is
Nov 3rd wine and dine 5k
Nov 4th wine and dine 10k
Dec 10th Hot Chocolate 10k
Feb 24th Gasparilla 15k
Feb 25th Gasparilla 8k
As of posting this I’m still on the fence about if I’m going to try to register for a 2024 Springtime Surprise event ...as while I'd love to do the Stitch's Ohana challenge I may "Just" Do the Neverland 5K as Disney races are a pretty penny and I'm trying to save money at the moment...
Run The Year
1261.37/2023 miles moved.. I really need to step it up if I want to reach my goals
PRs
1M {15:26} 3K {30:59} 5K {42:46} 8K {1:13:59} 10K {1:42:52} 15K {2:19:09} 10M {3:01:51} HALF {3:54:55} FULL {7:08:15*} *virtual full run in increments
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