Sunday, January 14, 2018

Key West Virtual Half {"race" recap}

To kick off 2018's running calendar I decided to sign up for the Key West virtual Half Marathon...
Normally I wouldn't register for a race before the Miami Half Marathon race weekend (which is usually the weekend that starts my running calendar); but once I saw the medal I really had no choice but to register...
(The. Lighthouse. Lights. Up!)

I'm a real sucker for cool race medals. I won't even pretend to deny it. The first thing I think about when I'm considering registering for a race is "what does the medal look like?" Well actually, the first thing is probably do I get a medal? and then I determine if it's pretty enough to justify the race entry fee :)

Anyway, since my heart felt obligated to run for the lighthouse, I signed up for the virtual option and ran it this morning...

I ran with Jani for the first 6+ miles and then Mimi and I ran the last 7+ miles. During the first 6 Jani and I encountered a guy who was wearing less than ideal clothing for the 50 degree weather we were having and utilizing the sidewalk as his personal urinal. Not cool. We ran on the road to avoid having to run by him on the sidewalk (especially since he also appeared drunk/high on something). We also dealt with a pretty strong headwind for the first 3 miles, but other than that the first half of my virtual half was great.

When Jani and I got back to our cars, Mimi and I headed out for the second half of my half. We decided to add a change to our normal running route and included a highway overpass as part of an out and back section. Garmin claims that I started at high elevation for this run but I can guarantee you the route was pretty flat apart from those last two "hills" when we ran over the overpass and back...

Fortunately Mimi and I didn't encounter any unsavory characters on our route and we finished faster than I anticipated with a negative split (i.e. second half of the race was faster than the first half)...

Now I just have to patiently wait for my lighthouse medal to come in the mail! And start getting ready for the Tropical 5K and Miami Half Marathon coming up in two weeks!!!

Do you run virtual races?

What was your favorite virtual race (and why?)

What's your biggest motivator for registering for a race?

4 comments:

  1. I've never run a virtual race before, but I'm curious. I normally sign up for races to compete against others and work toward a personal best. So, I'm not sure a virtual race would work for me since I'd just be competing against myself. I'm open to the idea though! :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Amanda!
      There are a lot to choose from! Sometimes I do them when I wanted to go to the race but there are scheduling conflicts or financial conflicts (all that travel adds up) etc. And sometimes I use it as extra motivation on a training run In have to do anyway. So for my marathon training I tend to do virtuals if I need extra motivation for my long runs over 13 miles :)

      Delete
  2. Congrats! I've never run a virtual race... Two of my friends flew down to Key West (from Virginia) for the Key West Half yesterday. They had a great time!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Deb! I know a few people that went down also and they said it was great as well! You should definitely check out a virtual race one day... especially if the medal is nice :)

      Delete

Thanks for your comment!