Wings for Life brings together over 70,000 runners, in 35 locations (in 33 different countries), on 6 continents across the globe, all starting at the same time and simultaneously running together for those who can't.
In my typical "early bird" fashion I got to the run at an insane hour...
...and took advantage of the 3 hour wait until the start by attempting to take a nap...
There were several police officers patrolling the parking area so I felt comfortable resting in the car before I had to head to the start
The morning air was cool and temps were in the low 70s which set the stage for amazing running weather...
And even though the humidity level was being reported as 55% I barely felt any moisture in the air...
At 5:45am I headed to the main event area to start my pre-race prep and I saw my friend Leanna...
And took a few other pics while I waited for the "ok" to line up in the runners staging area...
Quite a few runners decided to do race day packet pick-up (which might explain why there wasn't a huge crowd at packet pick-up yesterday)...
The Runners Staging Area...
A closeup of the start...
At around 6:30am they started calling runners to the staging area (I was already there) and then I put my phone away and waited for the 7:00am start. I stayed close to the front of the group because I wanted to maximize the amount of time I spent running before the Catcher Car started. I don't have a very fast pace so all those seconds/minutes it takes to cross the starting line from the back of the pack make a big difference ;)
Since I didn't run with my phone in my hand (or easily accessible) I don't have many on-the-route pictures, but I found myself on the video clip of the start (it's a bit blurry)...
There were several things that made today's run incredible:
1. The weather was the best it has been in weeks. Apart from a few times when we were running towards the sun, the heat was bearable.
2. Everyone on the route was nice and friendly and the volunteers at each hydration station were awesome!
3. I loved the fact that they had cool/cold water & Gatorade available for most of the stations (it sucks drinking ambient temperature liquids during a run).
4. The course was accurately marked and each Km marker was easily visible.
5. Local traffic was kept at a safe distance or stopped while we ran past.
6. The medal is nicer this year (picture below), and based on the one for the Sunrise location it seems as though each race location got unique finisher medals.
7. I saw several of my friends at the event (which is great because last year I didn't know many people who were running).
My distance goal was a 10K and I was able to accomplish that! Based on the nature of the race it didn't make sense to stop so I just kept on going until the Catcher Car passed me just before I reached 7 miles...
We were told to keep walking until we got to a shuttle bus so that's what I did. Well I kept running, but by the time I got to 8 miles my feet were hurting (blisters), as was my back, so I stopped my Garmin at the 8 mile mark...
...continued walking toward the shuttle bus (or rather, walking until one picked me up)...
... and took a few more pictures
Sadly, the bus never came. Well, to be fair, two buses passed me but they were already full so they didn't stop. I ended up walking another two miles (approximately) back to the start/finish area where I collected my medal and took post-race pics with Louie...
And Debi & Andy...
There was a lot of activity in the post-race party area as people enjoyed the recovery festivities and watched the leaders running in different countries all over the world..
When standing around got to be too unbearable I limped my way to the car and headed home. My feet were (and still are) throbbing thanks to very bad blisters, and despite my use of Vaseline this morning. I would share the picture of my blisters with you but my younger sister advised me that only people who were "legally obligated" would love me after seeing them. She's very gentle with my feelings as you can tell. Anyway, they look as painful as they feel so I will spare you the picture this time :)
My splits for today's 8 mile run...
The route...
The Medal...
New Garmin 10K PR...
I can't wait for next year's event! I'm trying to decide if I should run in Sunrise again or if I should travel to a different location to run. There is something comforting about running a route that I'm familiar with. I wasn't nervous at all this morning and I know some of that is because I knew what to expect with this event. 2016 is probably not going to be a busy race year, but it might be an expensive race year (with all the travel costs associated with the Athens Marathon). I'll decide soon enough where I'll run, but pre-registration for 2016 is open so today I confirmed that I will run next year. Right now I need to focus on booking my travel for my October trip to Chicago :)
How was your Sunday?
Did anyone one else do the Wings for Life World Run today?
What's the earliest race start time you've ever done? What's the latest?
Congrats on a new 10k PR!!!!!! That sounds like such a cool race and I love the medal! I think the earliest race start I've run would be the Miami half. We had to get a shuttle at 4:30a.m.! :0 I think the race began at 6? or 6:30?
ReplyDeleteThanks! It really was an awesome race! I remember Miami was really early. I was up at 3am getting ready to head to the start :)
DeleteThanks for stopping by my blog! That is quite the early morning wake up call. Congrats on your new 10k PR! Can't to see how you do in Chicago!
ReplyDeleteThanks Meghan! I both nervous and excited about Chicago! I know a couple of people running it so that's going to make it better :)
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