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| Such a cool logo this year! |
For some reason, I woke up at 4am, which ended up being way too early! I drank a small bottle of White Cherry Gatorade (the worst flavor in existence) to pre-game against dehydration. I woke up hubby about a half-hour later, and we were on the road by 5am. We picked up some convenience store breakfast for him on the way, I drank some OJ during the drive, and got to Oglethorpe Park by 6:20am (again, way too early). We got what we thought was a great parking spot, facing the oncoming course (so he'd be able to see me coming though the front windshield, not the back window). I headed over to use the potties but I was so early, the potties weren't even set up yet! The guys from Honorable Discharge - yes, that's the name of the Veteran-Owned porta-pottie company! - told me to wait until they filled up the holding tank with water and the blue stuff (turns out, that blue stuff is comprised of several ingredients that help keep potties functional despite accumulating numerous... gross materials... over time. There's Biocide, which helps to block the growth of odor-inducing bacteria. There's dye, which helps hide the gross materials. Finally, there's fragrance, to cover up the putrescence of other people's funk). However, this did mean that I got to be the first person to potty there, so it was definitely clean for my delicate female tushy, lol.
Back at the car, I geared up with all my stuff, left my frozen Gatorade out so it can thaw and be ready for me, and we headed across the Bridge of Lions to the start area. I got my bib and my shirt (I love this shirt!) then sat around and people-watched for 15 minutes (I can't stress enough how "too early" we really were...)
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| The shirt is just as cool, and really soft, too |
With about 5 minutes to go, I shuffled to middle-back of the hordes of people (I'm not kidding either... there were over 1,000 finishers this year!) As I stood there, there were two older folks (maybe 60s?) who seemed very confused about what was happening, and it turns out they were early-morning tourists who saw the crowds and decided to check it out! They were standing next to a rack full of Veo e-Scooter Bikes and they asked if I knew how to rent them. I showed them the QR Code on the bike and told them that they'd need the app to rent the bike, and how to return it, and they said that they'd probably end up renting them after breakfast (I saw them later tooling along near the park, so good for them!)
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| Obligatory Start Line Skirt Shot |
As is now tradition, we all sang the National Anthem right before it was time to go, but before the Race Director could say Go, he had to stop... The drawbridge on the Bridge of Lions was in the middle of being raised! Despite the race having a permit to close the bridge and roads. As you could imagine, the Race Director was extremely salty about this, and as the sailboat passed under and sailed through the other side, he encouraged us to Boooo the boat! Poor captain probably had no idea what was happening (assuming, of course, he could hear us at all...).
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| Boo this Sailboat Captain, Boo Him! |
It only added a few extra minutes, though, before we could finally take off. I met up with Hubby on the other side of the start line and we walked the first half-mile, along Avenida Menendez (aka A1A), parting ways at the Davis Shores Lions. I put in my earbuds and sped up my walk, ending up walking about 99% of this race, because it was just too dang hot (yes, I say this every single year, and yes, I know that it's hot in July... in Florida, and yes, I know that that won't change, no matter how much I complain).
Anyway, nothing of any importance happened in the first two miles. I swapped out my water for my Gatorade at Mile 2(ish) when I got to the car. I ran a little of the final mile, and it felt good, but with no shade, the heat was terrific, and I just went back to walking. My official time was 58:58 (pace 18:59). I was 972 out of 1033 total finishers, and 80/83 in my age group.
As I changed out of my sneakers and put on my flip-flops, Hubby told me that the car in front of us had been sideswiped by someone as they drove down the street. The hit-and-runner totally crushed her side mirror and did damage to the side of her car. It also damaged an SUV a few spots behind us as well. Thankfully, our car was perfectly fine! I unpacked my pockets while the AC chilled the car down, and then we stuck around a bit, just in case the police officer wanted a statement from Hubby (he saw the entire thing). There ended up being no need to wait, so we left and headed over to the St. Augustine Beach Pier for a little cooling off. I was not prepared for the absolute gymnastics of taking off sopping wet running clothes and then trying to put on a tighter-than-I-remember bathing suit! I should have just left my running clothes on! We spent an hour at the beach, jumping over massive waves and generally acting way too young for our ages, and it was glorious! I took a few photos then we headed over to the showers to clean off our feet and flipflops. I ran water through my hair, too, to get out some of the salt and sand.
Back in street clothes, we drove over to Schooner's for lunch. We got there right when they opened, so there was a line snaking out the front door, but we were seated quickly at a booth in the bar area. Hubby got a burger, and I got my favorite fried shrimp, with fries and mac & cheese. Unfortunately, the mac was very grainy and very unpleasant to eat, so I focused my attentions on the shrimp, which where as delicious as they always are. The fries, while fresh and crispy, were too much for me, because I got full too quickly!
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| Fried Mayport Shrimp, Mac, and Fries |
From Schooners, we hit one more stop... Buc-ee's. Thanks to an awesome little-known bit of info from Happily Ever Hanks on YouTube, we each got a case (yes, a case) of our favorite chips, as well as fountain drinks, Icees, and other goodies. (If you're in to travel, RV life, or bad dad jokes, HEH has you covered!)
Unfortunately, the heat and dehydration reared its ugly head, and I worked up a crappy headache on the way home. By the time I got home, I was feeling pretty bad, and I didn't want to cook, didn't want to go pick something up, and frankly, didn't even want to order pizza... I ended up making scrambled eggs and toast, and eating dinner in bed. I watched a little bit of TV but found myself asleep by 9pm!
Since hubby took today off, I slept in, and it was glorious! I took some Aleve when I got up, and I've been drinking water all day, so I'm feeling a bit better. My plan for today is to do some laundry and just relax for the rest of the afternoon.
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| Click the photo to register for next year's Bridge of Lions 5k |
