Recently, a few people asked via e-mail, "Hey Robin, how was the Turtle Trot 5K?"
Hubs and I had a great time in the quaint Florida community known for its 'old Florida' sensibilities, beautiful beaches, and friendly people. We were not disappointed!
A turtle trot, sponsored by the Amelia Island Runners Club to support the conservation of sea critters whose journey is as slow and purposeful as this turtle runner herself was all the excuse we needed to hit the road for a weekend getaway (that and an awesome, custom-painted race t-shirt by a local artist).
We arrived Friday evening, got settled in, and were up bright and early for Saturday's run. The morning was noticeably cool when we stepped out of our hotel... what a pleasant surprise after the brutal summer in Orlando! At 72 degrees, and under the cover of darkness, the morning was perfect for a little run. We hopped in the car to drive the 2 1/2 miles to the community rec center where the race would start. Arriving the customary hour before the race start time, we pulled into the tiny parking lot to find about six other cars. Was this the right place? Turns out it was, and the race was as tiny as the town itself....
I headed in to claim my race packet. The lines looked like this...
Okay... regroup, Rob. No anxiety needed. Small town. Small race. Apparently. In fact, many folks arrived that morning to sign up to run.
And in a town with lots of retirees, there are (apparently) also lots of seasoned runners, such as these young chaps:
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| You know... this shoulder keeps bothering me... |
who were doing a little pre-race chatting. As you can see, they looked pretty relaxed.
And if that wasn't enough, we found this guy doing his pre-race warm-up activity as well...
He and the guy beside him were looking at this ...
No doubt thinking about the swim they'd take after the race.
While they considered their swim, I wanted to check out my new race t-shirt, the main reason for driving four hours north to begin with. I think it's pretty awesome.. what do you think??
But no time for modeling... before we knew it, it was time to 'prepare' for the Big Race. Yep ~ 'prepare.' Led by the announcer, we did some of this ...
And finally headed out to line up ~ just as the sun was beginning to peek over the horizon...
....all 400 of us (5K and 10K runners, combined) ... a fact not lost on Hubs, who's used to attending race events with me and watching 1,000s of runners cruise by the starting line.
Here's his take on it.....
Um, okay, Where do we start our watches? Anyone see a starting line?? (I took a guess at 'about' where I thought it was.)
Within the first 100 yards, we began our first incline (dare I call it a 'hill'??).... Oops! Hadn't thought about hills .... and yet there were plenty.
We trotted along ... up hills and down hills... I was wishing I had carried my phone to take pictures... country roads that rolled through neighborhoods. It was beautiful.
I used Galloway intervals, and soon the finish line was in sight, which was a good thing, because now that the sun was up, it was getting hot and gee, it seemed we had been running a while....
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| Notice the time.... that's pretty slow, even for this turtle runner! |
Turns out, the mile markers had fallen and the 5K runners actually ran farther than the 3.1 miles.... What?? Hmmm.... so much for being a qualifying race....
Hubs and I drove the course afterward (you can do that when there are only 211 people on your course and you're a back-of-the-pack runner!) and found that I really ran 3.6 miles. At about 1 min 15 seconds per 10th of a mile, that would have put me back in my 'normal' turtle pace of about 12:30 - 12:45 per mile. Whew! Lots of angry people that day, but hey, things happen.
We were just glad to get to hang out in a beautiful town, and spent the rest of our trip doing this....
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| Holy swollen face, Batman! |
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| Coffee and a little sand between your toes... does it get any better?? |
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| Florida sunrise... Arrive early, be patient, and a beautiful show will be your reward! |
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| Aaaawwww....... |
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| The local food was wonderful!! |
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| This is Vincent, co-owner of the brand new Current Running Specialty Store. Be sure to stop in and say "hi!" if you're lucky enough to be in Amelia Island/Fernandina Beach, Florida. |
A BIG thank you to all the wonderful folks in Amelia Island and Fernandina Beach. We had a very nice visit, enjoyed the race that was as "community" as you could ever hope for, and look forward to a return weekend trip.
Happy running, friends....
Robin
Own your journey. One run at a time.
17 comments:
that looks like it was fun & beautiful!!
What a great recap, although for a minute I read it as "Turkey Trot" and wondered where you found a Thanksgiving race in September, lol!
Good that you kept your sense of humor about the small time race events, from the "where's the starting line?" to the additional distance you ran...things happen! Looks like a fun weekend!
What fun! 400 is still a decent turnout for a race!
I like the relaxed atmosphere.
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Hope you didn't get any sand in that coffee...
Great job chica! That looks like the most relaxing post-race ever!!! :) Hugs to you and the hubs.
Looks like so much fun. Love the t-shirt too!!
Congrats on your 3.6 mile race :)
Small races are great...there were 98 of us when I ran my first 10K :)
Congrats on the 5K+ race! Sounds like a fun morning.
Congrats on the race! Shame the mile markers fell and made it a longer race, I bet the people with garmins were starting to wonder where on earth the finish line was!
I love all the pics esp. the sand ones. I want my feet there right now!
Looks like a nice weekend getaway and a nice race to top it all off!
Thanks for sharing, great race report and great pictures,
GREAT pictures Robin! The sunrise was my hands down favorite! I laughed at your "only 400 participants" comment. You should come to SW Nebraska. My first 5k only had about 40 people and most of them were on the local cross country teams! It's a totally different experience than the 1000's that you speak of! LOL
What a great story. Fortunately or unfortunately depending on how you look at it, I have yet to run with over 500. My first run with about 1,000 or more will be in St. Augustine on 10/2.
Thanks, guys! We had a wonderful weekend... quality time is always good, isn't it?
Shelley, yep ~ traded in the turkeys for the turtles this time. LOL
Lori, there might have been a little sand in the java... *sorry*!
I'm LOL about the size of the race & your comments. Seems I've been 'jaded' by the size of races in Orlando! I REALLY liked the small #s.... made it so much more personable. We weren't 'just a bib number.'
*hugs* to everybody!
I traveled 5 hours to run my first 5K with a friend in Tulsa and it was HUGE. . . then ran a race in my hometown with 93 of us running. LOL! Both were fun in their own way. I even medaled in the small one with a speed of 32:12. There were only four of us in my age group and they gave out four medals. hahahaha!
I love the shirt! Oh, and the video of the start was hilarious. That poor person who "jumped the gun."
Good race report, the pictures are great and look like that the race is tough. Thanks for sharing us detailed report race report like this.
zbsports
hanks for the complimentary words about my art work on your T-Shirt and the good words about our town. The Runner's Club people were as distressed as you about the sign falling down. I do turtle patrol also besides being an artist so the Sea Turtles are very important to me and I want to thank you for your support of that race because the money goes to help in that work. Sandra Baker-Hinton, Turtle Lady and artist.
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