Watermelon 5K Race Report!

July 4th race day report!! How exciting my first ever run outside of Houston, TX! After looking and looking for a 5k to run in Florida we decided on the Hunter Vision Watermelon 5K, there were lots of 5k's to choose from in the Orlando area and I am super happy we settled on this one. There were six of us who ran the 5k and one of the runners was Lety, when we first brought up the idea that we should run this race she didn't feel like she could run the three miles yet but as the date got closer Lety trained more and more and decided to go for it! I was really happy about her determination to do it! Actually in the first couple of days of being in Florida we all met the challenge of keeping up with our runs, being on the road all day or at the beach all day left us a little bit in super chillax mode, but Saturday night Lety set out on her run and came back after running her first 3 miles!!

So in the end, it was my dad, my little bro Vince, Lety, Christian, Jose and me, a pretty good team for being from out of town ;)

Before Picture!

The race started at 7am and we were about 35minutes from where the race started and we in order to be there early to pickup our packets we all woke up at 5:15am and zombied about got ready grabbed our pre-race snack and headed out. Let me tell you after being in Florida for seven days using the GPS on my phone to track our our every destination point was getting a little crazy. Thankfully the night before I looked up the address to our race on my iPad and had a pretty good idea of where we were headed, in the morning I type in the address to my phone and realized it was sending in a completely different direction!! I started to think that we could end up missing the race altogether! I opened up my email and looked up my race confirmation, I click on the address on the email and it sent me to the location I had looked up the night before! I was so relived when we got close to the park and I saw the traffic of runners trying to get to the race :) we quickly got the hint that it wasn't going to be easy to find a parking spot so we parked a block or two away and headed over to pick up our packets.

This race start location was at a park in Park Avenue, Winter Park Fl, which was really nice if I had to compare it to somewhere in Houston it probably would be a cross of Rice Village area and Heights area. All week long we were around touristy places this was a sobering change of scenery for us, it sorta made you feel like Orlando was normal after all.

Big Crowd

My bib number was 626 and Lety's number was 3742! It was a big race! Lots of runners dressed in red, white and blue, in all my vacation planning I didn't get a chance to put together a running outfit for the 4th of July... I will have to plan it out next time though. I finally think of my self as a runner and I feel like everyone is connected when we run a 5k somehow, I mean it doesn't matter if you have run a marathon before or if its your first official 5k, it doesn't matter if you've been running for years and years or if you have been learning the running ropes for the past few months when we are there ~ WE ~are runners and you mostly feel like everyone there understands what it means to be there and what it takes to be there...hard work and dedication. I took a couple of snap shots of how packed it was, the second picture is from our place in the starting line, lots and lots of people!! Once the start bell rang we still walked a good way before actually being able to try to run, in the first 6 blocks we had four turns before we got a good straight away and it was hard to break away from the congestion. I still wonder if my times would have been just a tiny bit better if it hadn't been for those first few blocks?? My time was good though I was happy with it, I had an average pace of 12:16 per mile, my last race I had an average pace of 12:30 per mile! With each race I've been happy with seeing a slight improvement :)

At the Start Line!

The rest of the race was great, I have only done four 5K's since I started so I don't have much to compare it too, but so far it's been the nicest trail yet! Parts of the trail were paved in brick and it was covered in trees and in Florida trees are normally covered in moss that drapes down...it was a beautiful running trail. There were people from the neighborhood cheering you on too and signs put up by Hunter Vision along the way one read "it's just as easy as putting one foot in front of the other" and one read "feeling blisters on your feet? 3D LASIK can't help you now!" They were cute and funny :) oh and they had the local college marching band playing near mile one and again close to mile three! It was encouraging and helped make the run feel like a true fun run.

All in all the best part of the race was having everyone there with me, we had four first time official 5K runners with us!! My hubby,my dad,Lety and my little bro all completed their first race - awesome!!! On the way back to our vacay "home" I looked over at Lety and asked her if she had liked it and she answered by nodding with a great big grin on her face! Woohoo!!

As a side note I also found my self thinking things through out my vacation that I never thought I would be thinking! Like how in a 7 hour drive the thought "I should be running right now..." Kept crossing my mind or when we were driving the coast and I saw someone out for a run "I wish I could be running right now..." Or when I saw a long stretch of sidewalk along the coast "that would make a great running trail" or "hum I wonder how many miles that trail is..." Also missing my runs made me feel antsy, like we needed to hurry up and get back so I could squeeze my run in at some point. Just like right now, we are driving back home and I keep thinking "today is a running day for me and I'm missing it..."

Possibilities are endless!

      I don’t think it’s too much of a stretch to tell you the running has taught me A LOT! First and foremost running teaches you that you CAN do something you never thought possible. I’ve said this before and again that I was never a runner, I have clear memories of going to a beach and daydreaming of running on the beach early in the morning – very dreamy but I was never been able to do that or anything remotely close to that. This past week of running has been a learning week for sure, I am starting to get the idea that it will be this way for quite a while – the added perk I can apply these lessons to real life too...

     Tuesday – was one of the best running days I’ve had in long time! I did my interval runs with my hubby and it was a good run, pace was on faster than it’s been in a while and I felt great afterwards too! Before I went out for my run I realized that my socks were in the washer and it’s not like I have one pair, no this was the OMG I hate washing wash and it was a large load of whites were all of my white running socks were happily getting their bath time on– so I grabbed whatever socks I could find. BAD IDEA. About a mile in I could feel the rub on my ankle and by the time we stopped to fix the problem (AKA pull my sock up as far as I could) there was a little spot on my ankle that was bleeding OUCH. Either way we kept going and it turned out to be really awesome so – no pain no gain right? No biggy but now that little spot itches like crazy!!

     Thursday- was a group run day!! Woo-hoo I like these runs, no one really runs at my pace (because I’m not as fast) but it’s good to meet up with friends and just go! Someone watches the kids while one group heads out and as we get back the next batch goes out. Sometimes I run by self and sometimes my hubby will run with me either way you’re not alone. So far we have met up at Sugar Land Memorial and I really like that park, this week we decided to meet up at Oyster Creek Park and try it out. I’ve been there many times before but never for running reasons – Pictures – Playground – Soccer Games. I was so excited and then I.almost.died. If you have ever been to this park to run – you know what I’m about to tell you. It has a lot of ups and downs. LOTS. The first mile was good but I quickly learned that a nice downward slope was the enemy, it looked great “ohhh yes easy run” but you know what? You have to come back up that slope!! Mile two – I was like hold on let us stop just for a second… Mile three I’m calling out to my husband ‘WHY WHY WHY is this so hard???”  oh yea and “I’m done. I’m done no more!!” Thank goodness for my hubby who would call out to me “It’s just really freaking hot!!” okay that wasn’t encouraging… then he would say “Comon you got this!!” much better right? And “Come on you’re almost done!!” So I did and it was over.  I think I will try this park again :)

     Saturday (long run??) – Ok, I have been trying to push myself to run 5 miles. Last weekend I was able to go 4.8 miles but the last .8 was more of a walk/run. Saturday as I got ready to head out I realized that what I needed was exactly what I would advise someone else to do. I needed to slow down. Yes twice a week I am trying to get myself to fun faster, after those runs I am spent. Why would I think that pushing myself just as hard for two more miles would be easy? Back at the end of February I wanted to prove to myself that I could run three miles, I had the COLOR ME RAD coming at the end of March, so as a birthday gift to me I went to Memorial park and very slowly ran my first three miles. Afterwards the rest of the month I would just tell myself that I could run 3 miles so there was no excuse. I bettered my pace and grew stronger and I was CONFIDENT that whatever happened at the race I would run 3 miles because I had been there and done that.  Saturday I slowed way down, at one point to a pace I haven’t run in the past two months. BUT instead of trying to play catch up to my pace (and wearing myself out) I just started all over the next mile, and the next and the next and the next and the next. In the end 5 miles done. Now let me just make that five miles look better :)

     My goal is to run a 10K in October, that is 6.1 miles, I am closer to this goal and I feel confident that I will be able to rock those 6.1 miles by then… The real kicker?? Next Monday I will find out if I am picked out of the lottery for the Aramco Half-Marathon!! That will be hummmm… 13.1 miles!! Yes I know it’s crazy but if I get picked out of a lottery???? Well then I’m not the only ONE who thinks that it can be done ;)

 

     We are gearing up for our vacation in Florida and I am dreaming of the beach and change of scenery!!  As of today there is a 10 day count down eeeeeeek!!  So very very soon I will be here...

A little bit about me on the road...

We are on our second road trip in less than a week, literally the suitcase was still sitting in the foyer waiting for me to drag it in the closet. I wasn’t feelin’ this trip when my hubbs first brought it up, now just sitting here relaxing here as the passenger seat driver, I’m feelin’ this trip very much. I just happen to love road trips, so many memories flood back to me every time. My road trip and mini vacation to Austin last week (Austin will always be one of my favorite road trips), my trip some 15 years ago to Denver, my trip to Angel Fire New Mexico (good times ladies good times!), Destin Florida, and of course my absolute favorite of all time Maui Hawaii (haha no I didn’t drive there duh! But my hubby and I spent 8 hours one the road there exploring)!!


Sometimes the terrain is flat and boring and sometimes it’s curvy and winding, either way I’m in love! I love exploring with my eyes what lies beyond the paved road. I’m one of those sappy fools who sits there wondering who lives in the dilapidated house, and if they haven’t lived there for years what was it like when they did? What did the house look like 20-30 years ago? What did they possibly do way out here for fun? Even more so who lives one that massive 20 acre ranch? And what do they do way out here?

I still get excited like a little kid every time we pass a bridge with a sign creek or river! I’m sitting up and trying my best to look over the side ooooooh water! The 360 bridge in Austin or the swamps in Louisiana, the trip to Destin lovely with the coast along side! Yup any way you look at it me likie the road…

The original plan was to fly here, in a plane from the company my hubbs works for, because that’s why we’re here – he is working – blah. In the end we decided to drive it and now here we are cursing in the big blue instead. Yes the plane would have been uber-cool especially for the kids but I secretly love the road trip. This trip was very unplanned and if you know me, you know that I like to plan. I hate not having a clue of where we are going and what we are going to do when we get there…at some point this morning I threw caution to the wind packed light and said we’ll figure it out when we get there! Wish us luck after all if all else fails we have the River Walk to go check out… again!