What a great day for a race! I woke up this morning right around 4:30 feeling pretty energized after only about 5 hours of sleep. I had laid out my clothes and everything I needed for the race the night before so it was okay I was in a half daze as I got ready this morning. I was out the door by 5:00 and headed for Animal Kingdom. It was probably in the mid 60s when I met up with the running group at about 5:30. We headed for the start line and the race started right on time at 6:15 this morning.
I had told myself that I wasn't going to run for time, but just to get a good work out in. The race was a 15k (9.3 miles) and the farthest I've run since the 1/2 marathon in Jacksonville in February was 8 miles. I started the race with Pam and at the first mile we saw that we were at a 10:20 and we both decided that just wasn't gonna work for us (granted, the first mile is usually the slowest because of all the people, but still...). So of course, my competitive streak came out real fast and I picked up pace and took off. I was much happier to find that the rest of my splits were either 9 mins or less. Annnnd, (drumroll please), I finished in 1:23:08 setting a 15k PR for myself by more than 3 minutes! (My previous 15k time was from September. I ran a 1:26:34). I was really excited! I remember feeling utterly and completely exhausted in September after the 15k and today I felt sooo much better. I can tell my endurance has definitely improved throughout the year.
I have been having some problems with my right knee and left hip although they weren't too bad throughout the race. I think my knee is out of place again (I know, doesn't that sound fun?), but luckily I go to the chiropracter first thing tomorrow morning so he can fix that. My hip/butt/thigh/etc. all hurt, but I'm not really sure what the cause of it is. I'm sure if I quit running it'd get better, but seriously, let's be honest, quit running? I don't think so.
Everyone in the group did really well today. I think we all ran PRs, so it was a good day all around. The course is similar to part of the marathon course. We started out at Animal Kingdom, headed down Osceola to the entrance to the sports complex, did a uturn and headed back down Osceola, up the ramp to World drive (?), took another ramp to the back entrance of the Studios and then ran through the Studios, past Yacht & Beach, and through Epcot to the finish (confused yet?). It's a fast flat course so it's pretty easy to PR.
Anyhow, I'd recommend this race, but unfortunately it's the last year for it.
Happy Running :)
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