Fast forward to about a month before the race, and I get some pre-race emails from The Donna Foundation, and they specifically said that there would be NO race day pickup, and that all racers MUST pick up their packets on Friday.
Yah, that won’t work… I live about 90 minutes away from the race location, and it makes no sense to drive there and back, or drive there and stay the night, for a simple 5k race. So I replied to that email on January 13th, asking if there would be any concessions for out of town people, or if I could swap to the Virtual Option (they were the same cost). I got no reply. About a week later, I reached out via The Donna Foundation’s website contact form, with the same questions. Still no response.
Now that we got that all sorted out, it was time to look forward to race day, and oh yeah… now there’s a crazy cold front on the way. I’m talking temps IN FLORIDA under freezing for race day. Oh, and some rain. I jut had to laugh… I fought so hard to get packet pickup, only to be rewarded with a cold as fuck rainy race? But at this point, I couldn’t not go!
When I went to bed Friday night, it was supposed to be about 55ยบ when I took off, but unfortunately, when I woke up on race day, I was looking at low 40s. Hubby took the day off, so I drove up extra early, to ensure that I could get a good parking spot (so I wouldn’t get lost) – parking was at a hotel 10 miles away. When I got there, I assumed that the shuttle bus would pick up near the hotel, so I parked there. I went inside to use their potties, then asked the front desk clerk where the bus picked up – turned out that the bus picked up at an outer lot about a quarter-mile away, so I moved my car over there and got a good spot right by the bus stop (easy to find when I get back!).
I stayed in the car (toasty and warm) for about 15 minutes, but once I saw the line begin to grow, I decided I should probably get in line. I dressed in a base layer and shirt when I left the house, then tossed on a beanie and running jacket and got in line. Within five minutes, though, I realized that I needed another layer, so hopped back over to my car to get my puffer jacket and a pair of gloves, then got on the shuttle. I’d rather be too warm than too cold.
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| So many people still behind me (waiting for the bus) |
I found the tent to get my packet, and shocker, I ran into my Race Shirt Nemesis – Blue Hair Carol. I gave her my bib number and said that she couldn’t find it. I told her that MM told me that she’d set it aside, and someone pointed to a bag on the chair behind them, which ended up being my bag. Without missing a beat, Blue Hair Carol told me that they didn’t have a shirt in my size, blah blah blah, but I could come back later and hopefully they’d have one in my size (remember, I paid $7 extra for this shirt that she says they don’t have). I opened my bag, and MM came through for me – my W3XL shirt was nicely folded inside. I may or may not have given Blue Hair Carol a smirk as I walked away. I found an empty table, folded up my bag and shirt as small as possible, and tucked them into my waist pack, just minutes before the race began.
The energy as we took off was amazing, such girl power! Lots of survivors and supporters… I almost felt like an imposter. I have no skin in this game, why was I here? But off I went at a fast walk, gaining energy from so many spectators waving and cheering all of us on.
I
didn’t warm up very much at all during the entire race, maybe unzipped my
exterior jacket by the end of the race. Coming in to the finish line, everyone
was so energetic and amped, but then the race announcer Fitz turned off the
music so she could relay something she was just told – a finisher told her that
she did this race every year, but she’d just gotten terrible news and expected
that she wouldn’t be here next year. Or any year after that. Fitz was in tears,
repeating fuck cancer, man. FUCK cancer. Someone next to me said
“There’s no quit ‘til you’re cold.” I took this to mean that you don’t quit
‘til you’re dead. And I completely agree. You absolutely never know when
something can change or improve.
Start Corrals on the left, Tents on the right, and past the corrals on the left
This
sounds selfish, I know that, but… this announcement sucked all of the energy
out of my own finish, but this woman (the one with the cancer) got SO
MUCH SUPPORT from everyone around here that I didn’t even care. I wish I knew
who she was, so I could check to see if she comes back in 2027.
Never give up; you never know what is in front of you
I finished under an hour, at 56:29, and was 1761/2262 total runners, and 118/149 in my age group. Anyway, I got my medal, and well… It kind of looks like a vagina with dick arms. It’s a pretty medal, like a suncatcher, all glistening and pink (but, um, aren’t all vaginas glistening and pink?)
I
wandered around the after party, but there wasn’t much there – there were some
places selling food or coffee, but not a lot of fun swag. I picked up a bottle
of Electrolit (tasty) and a few Strawberry Watermelon Bloom drinks (also
tasty). I headed back to the bus, riding in the cool kid single seat in the
back, back to the nearly empty parking lot (being slow makes it easy to find my
car!).
It's cold and getting colder!
I took
the car over to the hotel again so I could change clothes and visit the expo
(there’s a half and full marathon tomorrow). Then I went
to Shake Shack for lunch (not impressed), hit up Trader Joe’s and Dollar Tree, then grabbed a soda
and headed home.
Same seat I sat in when I was in high school
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| Shake Shack Bacon Cheeseburger, Fries, Coke Zero, Vanilla Milkshake - $25! |
ETA –
A few days later, I found out some cool stuff:
- There were participants from all 50 states, and 11 countries
- They raised a quarter-million dollars for The Donna Foundation
- Fitz (the race announcer) is from Gainesville (possibly still lives there?). Also, she beat cancer herself, which explains why she is so powerfully emotional about this race. Who doesn’t love a confident, healthy, hilarious, kick-ass, conservative woman? Instant follow on X!
After Party: Big, but mostly food trucks and concession tents ($$)
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