This race is put on by Premier Racing Institute and you can do it alone or as a series. The series starts with a 5K in August, then is a 10K in September, 15K in October and a Half marathon in November. Each race offers a 5K along with the longer distance as well. So, it’s great to bring friends and family looking to join in on the fun but not have to do a longer distance. I would highly recommend any of the races in the series as well as the series itself to anyone new or not to running. The races are reasonably priced, well organized, offer great swag, and American Running Company in Dunedin usually offers some good deals during packet pickup. Also, the races are fairly small so you have a better chance of placing in your age group and you don’t feel as intimidated since so many of the people there are participating for the experience and not so much for cut-throat competition.
I did this race 3 years ago as my first 15K and a prep for my first half marathon, The Women’s Half Marathon, in St. Petersburg, FL. It’s nice to have a comparison race on the same course to see any improvements you’ve made. I have certainly improved. When I did this race three years ago, then known as the Ace of Hearts, my race time was 1:25:37. My race time today was 1:11:01. My pace dropped from 9:11 to 7:37. I would be lying if I didn’t admit that this is a huge ego boost for me.
I went into the race just wanting to run it at a feel good pace. I was able to keep this until about mile 3. This is not a flat course. There is one trail overpass that you cross 4 times and there are a few quick “hills”. They are not hills by any means. But, for people in Florida they are. The overpass is like a mountain to us and inclines and declines taking longer than 5 seconds to get up and down are “hills”. If you’re Floridian or have lived in Florida for a while, you’re laughing with us. If you’re not, you’re laughing at us. That’s ok. We know.
Between mile 4 and 6 were pretty flat so I was able to pick up some time during this period. After mile 6, I told myself to just keep going because I only had 3 miles left. I did slow down a bit, but more to a tempo pace.
This race did have good support. They held off the start of the race for 10 minutes so that everyone could get through the bathroom line, they put an extra 12 pack of Cottonelle toilet paper outside of the port-o-lets, there was a bathroom stop at mile 1.5 and 7.5 and there were water stops just about every mile. The longest break between stops was 1.75 miles. They had chipped timing, nice shirts and functional awards. I’ve mentioned this before. But, I love races that give unconventional awards. Functional awards are the best kinds though. This is a smaller race, so only overall and age group winners received an award. But, they had a raffle for giveaways and they have a program that you can demo Newton Running shoes.
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