Then I saw an ad for the race during a UCF football game a couple weeks ago. A new course that goes through the stadium (getting interested), a "free" ticket to a game we needed an extra ticket for (getting more interested), and a medal (sold). I am sucker for bling, especially if it is tied to one of my almamaters. Now that it is over, I am so glad I signed up because this race was a huge win for me.
The two weeks leading up to the race were crazy. We had the whole house painted, new carpet put in our hallway and 3 of our 4 bedrooms and new furniture delivered. I got my runs in, but the only cross training I was doing was moving furniture around in circles so the various contractors could do what they needed to do.
Sunday morning was race day. My alarm went off at 5:35 a.m. I hit snooze once and then rolled out of bed. I wasn't out of bed long when I heard "Dayyeee, Moyyeee" coming from E's room. (At least I didn't have to wake her up...then again, that is not usually our issue. Someday she will sleep through the night again.)
We were out the door by 6:30 a.m. It was a short drive to campus and a quick walk to OIA plaza. E kept asking if we were going to see feetball (yeah, it is as cute as it sounds). She was excited when we told her she was going to get a chance to run.
We got to the race nice and early. I hit up the bathroom and my husband registered E for the kids races. Then we hung out and watched the start of the 2 miler. E loved the band, but was scared of the tuba.
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| It was a beautiful day for a run |
The gun went of and the heard of us moved forward. I was toward the back, so it always takes a bit to get to the start line. Once we hit the line, the crowds thinned out a bit so you could run pretty comfortably. We headed out and around the stadium. Watching the sunrise over the stadium was pretty cool.
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| Good morning Brighthouse Stadium |
The first mile felt pretty good. When I hit the mile marker, I realized I was going faster than I intended and faster than I had been in training. I made a mental note to take things down a notch so that I didn't die after 3 miles. Mile 2 took us through some of the older parts of campus. Mile 2 was a little slower (but still faster than I intended), but I was feeling good, so I didn't change anything.
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| So pretty |
Mile 5 was the march to the stadiums and I was still feeling good (score). We headed back toward the athletic fields. First it was a lap around the warning track of the baseball stadium. Then across the plaza and into the football stadium where Nitro was cheering us on. A quick lap around the field and it was out of the stadium with a tenth of a mile to the finish. I really picked it up here and actually passed someone (that never happens).
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My final time was 61:51 (12:22/mile). I am super happy with that. I was only 2 minutes slower than last year's 4.5 mile course and I shaved 4 minutes of my 2012 time. The biggest bonus is that it was faster than anything I have run during training.
We hung out for the kids run. E did amazing and loved that she got a ribbon. Now that I have a little one, the kids races are a huge bonus to Track Shack events.
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| Enjoying the sweetness of a great race |
