Look out! There's an old lady on the campus!!!

Next weekend is the Gainesville Fisher House 5k.  I’ve read that it’s a smart thing to practice a race route before you run it on race day. I sure wish I knew that back in April with Susie’s Run! I Googled around and got a good idea of what the route will be for this 5k and headed out to try it.

I parked by the Bat House, across from Lake Alice. I was nervous because 1) I’m an old lady, compared to all of these college students, and I’m on their turf and 2) there was a home game the night before, so there were lots of alumni still on campus roaming around (really, it’s a lake with alligators in it, what’s to oooh and aaah about?)

Lake Alice and the Baughman Center

I stuck in my headphones, popped a piece of gum, turned on the Garmin and headed out.  About 5 minutes later, I realized two things: I had to pee and I forgot my water bottle.  I knew that if I went back to the car, I’d get IN the car and leave, so I pressed on, thinking that eventually I would come across a water fountain and/or a restroom.

I found neither, FYI.

The route, when I mapped it out on Map My Run, seemed like a basic box, so I didn't think about paying attention to the map. I guess I should have, because by the time I got back to my car, I'd only done 2.5 miles!  

When I got home and compared my route to the Map my Run route, I realized that I took a road too early, which cut off a half-mile of the route.....Oh well. 

The route was pretty boring and I didn’t really enjoy this run, but I am happy to say that I was able to do three things; 1) Run 2.5 miles without water, 2) Run 2.5 miles while having to pee, 3) I finally got under a 16-minute mile!

Would I run this route again?  Yes, but ONLY for the Fisher House race. Would I run it as a practice route? No.  I was not happy here.