Monday was Memorial Day, which means it was time to honor the fallen at the annual Florida Striders Memorial Day 5K. As you know, this was the first official race I ever ran (14 years ago), and it’s a longstanding favorite. I consider it a priviege to get to run on such an important day, and I was looking forward to the day, especially because J was joining me.
Race Morning + Packet Pickup
I didn’t have a chance to head to one of the advance packet pickups, so I told J we would head to the race venue nice and early to get parking and grab our bibs and shirts. One thing about me is I don’t mess with parking, and it’s limited for this particular race. We slid into a spot at about 6:45, with chocolate chip banana muffins in hand and took a few moments to get ourselves together before we walked over to packet pickup.
She has never been to this particular course, so she really loved the Orange Park Town Hall park, with all its oak trees and gazebos. And she was also deceived by the shade, which makes you think it’s cooler than it actually is. As a long-time runner of this race, I know better.
We got our things (gender-specific red shirts this year!), and went back to sit in the a/c in the car for a bit. Then we did the restroom and got some photos!
At The Start Line
After all our photos and bathroom breaks, we moved to the start line. This race is odd in that the actual start is on the far side of the finish arch, so runners have to navigate the tracking strips so as to not activate them and screw up their times. We found a good spot, and settled in for the next few minutes.
We had a beautiful, live rendition of the National Anthem (sung by one of the Jax Run women), and a moment of silence for our fallen heroes. And just like that, the horn sounded and we were off.
Mile 1
The first mile of this race is twisty and crowded. There were maybe 800 or so runners, and look how packed it appears.
Once you cross the start, runners have to navigate more than a few corners before the road straightens out and the crowd spreads out. I knew almost immediately that this was going to be a hard fought day. J and I have been so good about running without intervals, but all good things must come to an end.
Mile 2
After we passed our first water stop, I suggested (recommended) we run each mile, and then take a two minute walk break to cool down, get some air, and bring down our heart rates. She agreed, and at Mile 2, we began the countdown. It was perfect. This course wraps around and rejoins itself. so some of the frontrunners passed us on their way back to the finish line. Jealous? You know it. But onward we went.
The course is mostly shaded, but there are also little rolling hills through the neighborhood we were in. It wasn’t terrible, but the humidity just amplified all the unpleasantness. Yuck.
Mile 3 (+.1)
Finally, we passed the water stop again (J got a cup and I kept going) and we knew we were almost finished. All we had to do was hold it together until the finish.
And finish we did! This was not a PR race, but I knew that going in. As I reassured J, fall (and winter) PR’s are formed in the summer. Now is the time to focus on consistency, strength, and other things.
Post Race
We got our medals, and met up with J’s husband who had come to cheer us on. Yay!
To cool down, we walked around for a few, and even got some blueberry donut iced coffee samples from Dunkin.
Of course, with all that done, we were hungry, and decided to head over to our favorite coffee shop for some biscuit sandwiches and iced coffee. It was the perfect reward.
Final Thoughts
I still love this race. It was a bummer that the heat was a factor, but that’s ok. I got up and got out, and brought J with me (this is her first race back in over a year and I am so freaking proud of her).
From here, I move on to the CommUNITY Rainbow Run, a 4.9K in Orlando in honor of the victims of the Pulse Nightclub shooting in a couple of weeks. In July, I’ll be doing a very exciting 5K (TBA), and in August, it’s looking like J and I might try for the Summer Beach Run 5K. We shall see how it all works out.
Did you race for Memorial Day? Do you ease up when the weather conditions start getting dangerous?
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Congrats to you both! Sounds like it was a good plan to add in some intervals. The heat really makes it so tough for racing!
It does look crowded for a small race! That heat is so challenging. Congrats to both of you love the smiles
It’s just such a tight start on a tight street. It was fun all the same.
It sounds like a late start for a hot Florida race! You parked at 6:45- was the race at 8? That’s already HOT. But, for races like this, you just have to drop all thoughts of a PR and just enjoy it- and it sounds like that’s what you did. Congratulations!
Oh, yeah. It started at 8. personally, I think these races should start at 6:30, but I’m not in charge.
Well done Jenn! So nice that J could join you, too!
That is odd with the starting line and it takes good communication that the runners don’t step over the tracking strip. But it seems to have worked out well!
Maybe they turned it off until everyone crossed? But they also made a few announcements to be mindful of it as runners were taking photos so who knows.
Congratulations! What a fun day. And how cool that it was your first race ever. 800 runners is a lot in a local 5k, it looks crowded!
Well done!