Running With The World For The 4th Time...{Wings for Life 2017 race recap}

This was the first year that I didn't have a set distance goal for Wings for Life. Normally I'm focused on getting as far as possible. But this year the goal was to finish without feeling exhausted (since I had to head to Swim Miami for my 1 mile open water swim immediately after). I knew that I had to run at least a mile (for my daily run), and figured that I wouldn't get much benefit from running farther than a 5K, so my plan was to run at least a mile and then just "see how I felt" after.

As usual I got to the race venue early...

Once I got my packet I went back to my car to get more rest until the less insane runners started to arrive...

Amidst the crowd of runners I was able to find some of my running peeps and we hung out for a bit until it was time to head to the start...

This race is a guaranteed on time start event (one of the reasons why I love it) because regardless of the location you're running in, every participant in the world runs together at the same time...

While I was waiting around with the rest of the Florida delegate (and the rest of of the world) I saw a few runners with these awesome running shirts...

"yet" 😊

Then it was time for the run to start and we were off...

I ended up running with Suzanne from my running group. We ran the first mile non-stop, then we walked for 30 seconds and then started another non-stop running segment (which got broken up by our stop at the water station). We tried to stick to a 1 mile run: 30 second walk as much as we could, and before we knew it we were at the 5K point...

Just beyond the 5K marker was another hydration station and a line of shuttle buses. So I stayed with the buses and cheered on runners while I waited for the catcher car...

Once the catcher cars passed I got on the shuttle bus and we made our way back to the start...

I didn't stay for the post-race party because #SwimMiami was waiting for me. So I grabbed my medal and took a quick "medal selfie"...

It was (as always) a really great race for a really great cause. I actually enjoyed not having a firm distance goal this year. That might be my plan for the 2018 race (which I've already registered for 😉)...