This weekend we took our normal road running... well, off road. Sort of. A few months ago we happened upon a 5k that had a minimal, $15 registration. We immediately jumped on that. Not only because it is one more race, but also because you can't beat that price. Plus, it was supposed to have a shirt AND a medal. For $15!! The catch to this race? It was at the Clermont Clay 10 Mile Loop. This is a loop "road" that runs for 10 miles in Clermont.... as if you coudn't figure that one out based on the name. Neither Steven nor I have ever run it before, but we knew about it. We have a few people that we know that run it periodically. Here's what we knew about it.... 1. Clay (better on the knees and joints) and 2. Hills (Serious, serious hills). I also know that periodically there are runners that come from all over the world to train there. I've seen videos. They make it look easy. It's insane. Want to see some glorious running? Check out the Clermont Clay 10 Mile Loop Facebook page and find the videos of the people training there. It's insane. I digress though. We were pretty excited to tackle this new venture since it was far different for either of us. We went into it with an open mind because neither of us knew really what to expect as far a race goes.
The 5k race was set to start at 7:40. There was also a 15k option but we aren't ready for that... and I don't know if we will ever do that. The 15k was set to start at 7:30 and would be a loop (almost the entire 10 miles, I gather) and the 5k was an "out and back". However, I read somewhere that based on the direction the 5k went, it encompassed the "bigger hills." Wonderful... Here is the elevation of the run. I have to say, I saw that graph and immediately told Steven that I was planning to do a lot of walking. Haha!!
I was super excited to see some of the views from the clay loop. I have seen pictures and heard first hand that it is beautiful out there. Maybe one day I will be up to walking/running the full loop... for fun. Because I'm a crazy person. (Spoiler alert: It would be A LOT of walking.)
Our weekend of running started on Friday when I took the kids to my parents' house for the weekend. They were super excited to stay with Nana and Papa and it is so nice for us to be able to drop them off for a fun weekend and have time to ourselves and to do things like run. Some people ask grandparents to watch the kids so they can have a date night. We race. Haha! I stayed with my parents Friday night, as well. Then, I drove back early on Saturday because we had a big day. We had the carpet cleaners coming to do our living room carpet because having 2 kids (1 of which is still potty training) and a large dog means having carpets cleaned frequently. We ended up being able to go to lunch together (and alone) which was super nice. It was a beautiful day so we decided to go eat on the patio at the new Tijuana Flats. It was great.
Then, we had to go to Clermont for the race packet pick-up. We ended up driving over to the loop road after picking up packets because we wanted to get the lay of the land. We knew there was some construction on the road leading to it and we could only enter one way so we wanted to try that out. We found it fairly easily and ended up driving the route we would run. We realized quickly that it was not going to be easy. It was a super rough drive on the clay. It has been so dry lately, that many places were NOT packed at all and it was super sandy. We were also pretty unsure about the hills. Those things were monsters.
Later in the evening, we had a small group Thanksgiving dinner for our church. We were super excited to be able to go sans kids because that meant more time to actually spend with our friends from church and not having to worry about chasing two little ones around. We had a great time and were able to stay a lot longer than we usually are. It was fun. The food was awesome! I ate way too much. I ate so much that I ended up feeling sick to my stomach later in the night. Oops. I told a couple of people that asked about the 5k the next morning that usually my goal is to finish in a faster time than some of my others. My goal this time was going to be to finish without throwing up on someone. The food was so good (and worth it) though. Haha!
On Sunday morning we got up bright and early (yet "late" by the standards set by some of other races.) We were out of the house by 6:30 like we planned. We got out to the loop road pretty quickly but we encountered our first issue shortly after getting on the clay road when we realized that there were too many people in too small a space. The traffic to get in was terrible. Once we got there, they had sort of run out of parking so we had to be moved around some but figured it out. Then... we had to get out of the car. And it was COLD! About 48 degrees to be exact. I need to stop and preface this to anyone not from Florida... 48 degrees not only feels super cold to us because it's not as common but our level of humidity make 48 degrees feel way worse than 48 degrees in a lot of other places. You walk outside and it takes your breath away. Chills you to the bone. So... it was cold. So. Very. Cold.
Due to the difficulties with parking, the race ended up starting a bit later than planned. This wouldn't have been a problem if it wasn't so cold but everyone was just ready to go so we would be warmer. This run was mostly a "fun run" for the 5k. That meant it wasn't chip timed (which we knew) and only used a running clock. Steven and I use other devices to track our distance and time though so we weren't worried. As we were waiting to begin, the announcer advised us that the 5k encompassed the "best part of the trail" meaning that our portion of the trail included the largest hills on the loop. We were looking up a hill at the start line and he informed us that it was the easiest hill we would see. Wonderful.
Eventually, we were off. Steven said, "See you at the finish" and was quickly out of my sight. My goal in a race is usually to run the first mile or so. At the very least, I wanted to try to run my 4:1 interval I have been doing more of lately. Neither of those panned out for me. It was tough. I made it the first half mile and had to walk. The clay was not packed at all. At times it was like running on the beach. While it was easier on my joints overall, it was far harder than expected because my ankles kept rolling around. I also found that I developed some serious shin pain pretty quickly because my stride was hindered a bit in the sandy areas. I ended up trying to walk quickly up every hill I encountered and then running down them. I knew that since we turned around and went back, I would see Steven at some point so I was keeping an eye out and managed to get a picture of him. He was walking because he was coming up a hill. I never get a picture of him at the finish line so this is the next best thing. He was about 4/10 or so of a mile ahead of me. The worst part of the course though was probably the turn around. It was on one of the biggest hills and instead of getting to run all the way down it, we went half way and then turned around and immediately went back up. It was tough. When I was at about 2 miles, the first 15k runner blew by me like I was standing still (he finished in 50 minutes... they started before us... and I am crazy impressed). I stuck with a girl most of the race but at the turn around, I lost her and never saw her again. She never passed me again. We were switching places but I guess she walked more after the halfway point. I continued my run down hills (and on straightaways if I could muster it) and walking up hills through the rest of the course. The other hard thing was that although I was warm at this point, my throat was hurting from the cold and breathing heavy. I ended up finishing in 41:30 on the running clock. Unfortunately, I forgot to stop my watch until about 42 minutes so my pace on that is off slightly. My watch also only clocked 3.09 miles but I did the entire course so it is what it is. This is my worst time in a race so far but I'm still okay with it. I went into this race not sure what to expect and for all the difficulty it provided, I think I did okay. I'm still pretty proud.
Steven fared better than me. He wore 3 shirts so he wasn't as cold waiting for the race to start as I was... but was still chilly. He ran over a half mile and he thinks closer to a mile before he started walking. That means he actually ran up a few of the smaller hills at the beginning. Ha! "Smaller." When he stopped running, he used a similar method to me and he walked up and ran down. He said that towards the end of the course, he was having more trouble running down even. Those hills really take it out of you. He also had some issues with the sandy nature of the course. He used to get this pain in the side of his legs that has since stopped occurring during his normal runs, but it acted up during the run. The plus is that it is gone now just a few hours after the race whereas it used to hang around for days afterwards. Steven actually crossed the finish line just before that first 15k runner. He finished in a smidge over 35 minutes or so. Like me, he forgot to stop his tracking so his time looks a bit skewed as well. This was actually his second fastest average pace ever for a 2-4 mile distance so he did great!
After the race we didn't hang around long. It was a small race so there wasn't really anything going on afterwards. They had some bagels and bananas but we elected to head out and grab some breakfast. We had plans to go over to our friends' house to meet their new baby anyway so we had to get moving.
Overall, I think this race wasn't exactly our cup of tea. I think we have decided at this point to keep our running on the road. Trail running is no joke. We might periodically head out to the trails, but it isn't our preference. We thought the race was good as far as being something new and different for us. It definitely pushed us to new limits that aren't the same in road races. It was a really small race so as far as how it was set up, it left a little to be desired but we know that can be common with small races. The money raised from the race goes to help maintain the clay roads so trail runners can continue to enjoy them so we are good with participating in that. We may not use them, but we know a lot of people love it. I'm glad we did it. It was a new experience.
In the next few days we have to make a decision on a couple of races. We have two options for the beginning of the year and we are working on figuring out what to do. Our first option is a Pro Bowl themed 5k. The plus is that it is a race through Epcot so that will be nice and it isn't technically a RunDisney race so it isn't nearly as expensive of the normal races there. The downfall is that it isn't exactly cheap. Our other option is the Run 4 Love 4 Mile just before Valentine's Day in downtown Winter Park. The plus to that is that it is a Track Shack race so we know it will be well run. It is also slightly less expensive and a longer distance. We are going to continue to think on it for a few days and will make a decision this week. Either would be fun and so it's not an easy choice. Steven is also considering running the Reindeer Run through SeaWorld in a few weeks. It isn't sold out yet but it is late notice so I won't run it this year if he does it. Next year, we both want to run it so we will see about that.
It's crazy to think that I am about to hit a year since I started running. I think I started in February of this year. Steven has gone over 6 months now and both of us have run a few races. We were just remarking earlier today that we think we are probably in some of the best physical shape of our adult lives thus far right now. This running thing has done us good. =)
Comments
Post a Comment