Florida Hospital Lady Track Shack 5k Race Recap

This past Saturday, I ran the Florida Hospital Lady Track Shack 5k. This was my first time running this race and normally I really like Track Shack races so figured I’d sign up. This was a women’s only race and came with a finisher’s medal (and a tutu!) I’m a sucker for race bling, so figured it’d be a good short race to do a week after my half marathon. This was the first time I’ve done a women’s only race (the Disney Princess is MOSTLY women, but men are allowed to run it where as this one, men weren’t allowed to sing up).

I drove over to the race with two of my neighbors and ran the 1^st mile with one of them and then continued on my way the rest of the race. My other neighbor does “race-walking” so she did her own thing. The race was held in Winter Park, which I do love running through BUT it also means parts of the race are on brick roads. It’s not that I hate brick roads, because in some areas they are fine, but this particular course has a lot of UNEVEN bricks, with dips and I just felt like it made for a little tougher of a run because you have to really pay attention to where you are stepping so you don’t get injured. The course was also VERY crowded with runners/walkers grouped together. It’s a breast cancer race, so lots of groups of women and moms with kids out there. It was hard to weave in and out of the large conjugated groups throughout the whole course. Usually you can break away from the pacts a little easier in races. Maybe I started too far back, who knows, but I wasn’t a fan of the groups, although happy to see so many women (and kids!) out there running. I can’t wait until Emily is older and we can do 5ks together! There was also SO.MUCH.PINK! I loved it!! So many ladies were wearing the race pink tutu’s and pink race t-shirts so it was like a sea of pink!

The weather was just like last week’s Celebration Half. Started off in the high 40’s but was absolutely perfect for the run, probably ended in the mid to high 50s. I took my gloves off around mile 1 and even rolled my sleeves up at one point. I think the 50’s is perfect running weather! I wanted to wear the tutu (over my pants) they gave out in our race bags, but they didn’t ask for sizes (I guess they based them off the shirt sizes) and mine was a little too snug to wear comfortably but I’m hoping I lose a few more pounds over the next few weeks and it fits better for the Princess Half.

My time wasn’t the greatest because I ran the first mile with my neighbor and she’s slower than I am, but I didn’t mind too much as it was nice to have someone to run with for a little while and I’m glad she’s getting into running! She said she wants to sign up for another, so I’m sure we’ll be running together again soon!

My Stats:

Official Chip Time: 38:43 (overall pace of 12:27)

Place: 1268 of 2743 finishers (and Women Finishers since there obviously wasn’t any men)

Place: 135 of the 244 in my Women’s Age Division (25-29)

My RunKeeper stats (which accounts for the zigzagging):

3.16 miles in 38:45 (overall pace of 12:15)

Splits:

Mile 1: 14:38

Mile 2: 11:37

Mile 3: 11:04

.16 Mile: 8:45  <- I always sprint at the end