Coral Gables

The course for this race was familiar to me, as I had just ran the MS 5k back in April. Right around the golf course in beautiful Coral Gables, starting and finishing by city hall. I was pretty excited as the last time I had ran this course I had placed 3rd in my age group. Earlier that week I had convinced my friend Romney to run this race, this being his first timed 5k race.

With Romney & MJ

Even though the start time was at 7:30am the day was already very humid and hot. The usual Miami weather, but unlike the race the weekend before there was not a cloud in the sky, blazing hot sun. Luckily the beginning of the race was under the large shade trees but heading back towards the finish line the sun was directly in everyone’s eyes. Not the best finish to a race but sprinting to the finish helped me pass quite a few people apparently. Not only did I set a new 5k PR but I also finished the race an entire minute faster than the ZooRun 5k from the previous weekend. Once I finished I grabbed some water and a banana and went back to the finish line to cheer on others while I waited for Romney & MJ to cross. Earning a medal for a 5k is definitely cool and this race proceeds helped out Miami Children’s Hospital. I can remember when my sister was sent to that hospital when she broke her leg and had to be put in a body cast, but that’s a story another time.

Cute medal

This post is 5 months late, read the previous post to see why. (Now it’s 10 months late. Oops!)

I decided to get to the race an hour early, I’m usually early but not quite that early usually. I arrived in Coral Gables just as they were setting up their booths to hand out the race bibs. So I picked up my race bib and walked around a bit. A guy was walking around trying to get people to take a survey and they would get a neat bag that is good for cycling so I decided to take the survey. It took about 5 minutes and it was about an MS medication, I had just met someone a few months before that actually has MS so I learned a little about the disease that morning. I put all my stuff back in my car and prepared for the 8am start time. A late start in my opinion, I’m used to 7-7:30am start times since the weather here is so hot & humid by 8am. I lined up and was a little bit nervous since I had never run this course, but had biked a part of it a few years before.

Starting line.

Starting out it felt like every other 5k I’ve done, I started out really quickly, but this time I didn’t stop to walk at all. Finally I was running like I have been doing in my training runs for awhile now. Passing so many people really gave me a confidence boost, but what was better was the mile timers that showed me I was really going fast! The course led around a golf course and then through a neighborhood. First part of the race was done in the shade of all the lovely Coral Gables trees but the second half was sun glaring in the eyes to the finish line. When I ran through the finish I knew I had PR’ed but what I did not realize was that I had won an age group award! Never did I think that I would win any medals besides finisher medals. But after I walked around a bit, drinking water I decided to go look at the stats they were posting on the wall of the nearby City Hall. I was shocked and overwhelmed when I realized that I had placed 3rd in my age group!!! Best running moment ever. Only thing that sucked was that I couldn’t share the moment with any friends or family. I’m hoping that one day my family shows up to see what joy running truly gives me.

Coral Gables City Hall

My super dorky finish!

Picture of my 3rd place medal.

Organic girl's Blog

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