East Orange County Kiwanis Run for the Kids Race Recap

This weekend, I ran the 5^th Annual East Orange County Kiwanis Run for the Kids, Distance Dare Event. I participated in their 5k event back in 2011 and when I saw they were offering a Distance Dare event WITH medals, I decided I’d sign up again. I knew it would be a rather small event based on the location, which I prefer to larger races, but wasn’t expecting it to be THIS small. I think based on the results, there were only about 100 people participating between the 2 races. Regardless though, they did put on a decent event.  

The races were out and back on the Cady Way Trail. Since I was doing both the 5k and 10k, I went out and back twice. When I was in college, I live in the apartments that backed up to this trail, and had been on it a few times back then when I used to roller blade for exercise. It was nice to kind of reminisce a little about my time when I lived over on that side of town. My only complaint with Distance Dare events is you have to wait in between each race. This has been the case with all Distance Dare events I have ran as they give other runner/walkers a chance to finish before starting the next leg of the race but also gives my muscles time to tighten back up. I really wish they could make it possible to just continue on to the next race as soon as you finish the first. They had one water stop which you could hit twice for the 5k and then two water stops for the 10k which means four total stops for the 10k which was the perfect amount. (although I didn’t need any until the last stop when my water bottle ran out)

I ran this race with my friend Kelsey. She just started running in January and this was going to be the furthest she had ever ran in one day (she signed up for both the 5k and 10k as well) so I went into the race without really trying for any special times, just was kind of running and making sure she was doing ok. Well she completely impressed me and at times I felt like I was holding her back, she was such a champ! Towards the end of the 10k I told her to go ahead and finish strong as I was struggling a little bit towards the end and she finished about 30 seconds ahead of me. I’m so proud of her and her accomplishment in such a short period of time! I definitely see her with some fast running potential!

Kelsey and I ran the 5k together and then another girl joined us during the 10k. I always say this, but it really is nice to run with others. Having someone to talk to make the time go by so much faster and then it also helps keep up the momentum as you are less likely to take an extra walking interval when you are with others.

I struggled towards the end of the 10k, probably because I’ve been really strict about my diet this past week knowing I had a DietBet weigh in on Saturday morning. I’m proud to say I hit my goal for round 4, but because I didn’t “carb up” the night before the race, I think it played a factor onto my fatigue Saturday morning. Regardless though, I’m happy with my times. I even kind of, sort of, PR’d the 10k. I’m hesitant to “count it” because the course was short. The turnaround point on the 10k just wasn’t out far enough and I was using both my Garmin and Runkeeper and they both measured really short. The Garmin said only 5.92 miles and Runkeeper said 6.05 which is pretty dang short for a 6.2 mile race. That could have been up to another 2ish minutes on my time, hence why I’m hesitant to really call it a PR. A lot of the other runners said their tracking devices came up short as well. My Garmin had low batteries so I’m thinking Runkeeper was probably a little more accurate as it was in line with most of the other people’s measurements. Although, since I did do so well with a light diet the night before and a 5k before, it makes me feel like I can probably try for a PR at my 10k this weekend, so that’s what I’m going to try for! Ironically, my 5k PR was also from the Kiwanis race 4 years ago, and I’m pretty sure that course was a little short too. For chipped races, that’s kind of discouraging though, I feel like they should try to be a little more accurate, especially with an easy out and back course, it’s not THAT hard to make sure you have it measured correctly.

Anyways, the weather was perfect. For a “late” starting race, 8am, you always worry about it getting too warm. (yes, even in February – it’s Florida). Started in the high 40’s/low 50’s and after the 5k was over, I took off my long sleeve shirt and just wore my short sleeve shirt for the  10k and never once felt too cold or too warm.

My Stats:

5k

Official Chip Time: 33:09 (overall pace of 10:40)

Place: 32 of 85 finishers

Place: 14 of 50 Women Finishers

Place: 14 of 30 Distance Dare Finishers

They didn’t break it down by age division

My RunKeeper stats (which accounts for the zigzagging, although there  really wasn’t any in this race since it was so small):

3.14 miles in 32:21 (overall pace of 10:38)

Splits:

Mile 1: 10:26

Mile 2: 10:53

Mile 3: 10:44

.14 Mile: 9.31 

10k

Official Chip Time: 1:06:56 (overall pace of 10:46) <- which would have been awesome if the distance was really 6.2 miles!

Place: 28 of 52 finishers

Place: 14 of 32 Women Finishers

Place: 14 of 30 Distance Dare Finishers

They didn’t break it down by age division

My RunKeeper stats:

6.05 miles in 1:07:09 (overall pace of 11:09)

Fastest Mile #1: 10:22

Slowest Mile #6: 11:22