After our freezing January race we decided that a month later why not run in humid, hot Florida weather. As I said we are always up for a challenge! We bought our Tutus, got fun socks and Mickey and Minnie and we set out to Florida bringing along our always needed Sherpa Mike!
We had to wake up SO early before 3AM to take a bus over to the runner area. It was pitch black and chilly at that point but they had music and there was quite a crowd as the run draws about 35,000 runners. There were some CRAZY costumes and everyone was pretty pumped for that early in the morning. We started off strong but got separated due to an unfortunate bathroom break a little before mile 3. This race ended up being a tough race for me as I had no music, no Jamie and no gu (she had the gu). About mile 6 I got in my own head and it was not a nice place to be as I was feeling pretty down on myself.
It started with a meltdown about what an awful runner I was and then spiraled to how much I sucked at training, how out of shape I was, how there was no possible way I would EVER be able to do a full 26 miles, how my life was out of control. Basically in the span of a mile, so probably about 11 minutes based off my normal pace I had a complete meltdown and self deprecating attitude. At that point I took off my hat to let out some heat and then I noticed someone being attended to for heat stroke. It hit me, wait you have been training in freeing weather and now it is hot and humid, of course you feel crappy and of course your body is confused. Just keep going and don't give up. Luckily I ran into some wonderful runners with extra GU and they shared with me. The running community is something that I love!
At the end I was only slightly slower than my original goal time of under 2:30. In retrospect this wasn't a great race to decide to PR on because it was crowded, they had picture taking stations throughout, I wasn't prepared for the weather and with so many inexperienced people running it was a lot of weaving about.
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