Florida’s Fastest 5k FloDash event 2022

Last edit: 1-23-2022: content, grammar, and structure. – Here is my social media posting.

Works for me 😃 🏆 5k – 3rd in my age group – 21st all runners @flodashevents (Facebook) I held a six-minute pace for three fricking miles, Hell yeah! #oldguysrule

Personal best coming in was 22:04 safe to safe that one got hammered out the door today! The (left) race time may change once all results are in will check again later. Not sure why it does that, but it happened at the last event also. I trust my app’s numbers since they have been pretty consistent over the past year. The Strava numbers (right side) match my Samsung health numbers. So I’m going with that for my personal log.

@adventhealth @krogerco sponsored event 1-22-2022 Lake Lousia State Park Clermont Florida

Notice the time on the left side of the image, which was results about 5 minutes after I completed my run. Below is a screenshot of it later in the day. I don’t do these a lot so have no idea what it’s about. email them about it.

I got up at 330am and had no luck going back to sleep. Got everything ready and made some coffee before heading out. Eating a small bowl of oats for energy. I always keep it light before a run and knowing we would not be running until 7:30 am. I drove in but did stop to make sure to use the bathroom. If you’re a runner then you already know why this is important. I got to the park as the gates opened at 5 and made my way down to the general parking area. I know how long it takes me to walk a mile, so took some time to relax before walking back up the starting line. (2.9 miles up to starting line)

This would give me a chance to warm up but made sure to walk only and not force the pace. Made it back up without any issue and got some practice warm-up sprints in. Saw some people doing it last event and it does indeed help warm up the legs. The goal is to warm up the muscles and not stretch cold ones because that is where people get hurt. They had a good turnout and their results page is showing 188 participants.

The race would start promptly at 7:30 delayed slightly only by the playing of our national anthem, as it always should be. I activated my Samsung health and Strava apps. Now normally during my weekly sessions I run with a headset but for events, find it’s too distracting. At 1km I reached up and turn the sound all the way down. Running with this many people is still really weird because I normally run alone.

It’s very odd but treat it like my cycling, using look back glance and if need be I will give a warning via a hand signal if I’m stopping, slowly, or moving left or right. When cycling even though I ride alone, always act like someone is there just in case someone is. I have had cyclists run up on me without warning and don’t need it happening running.

My focus at the start of a run is always is the worst part for me. There is always a fight inside the old melon and even thoughts of stopping creep up, but I don’t listen to it and always brush it off. I find a point ahead of me, FOCUS, and run for it. This self-doubt passes and then I get to work, this is what I call settling into my session. I would settle in once the slower racers fell away and the faster runners pulled away. This is when I get with my program, but I’m new at doing events and will get used to these additional distractions.

By distractions, I don’t mean hot women in workout clothes because I have children older than most of these people. On race day it is a very busy environment because when you spend your sessions running alone, in a very controlled and patterned way, this busy environment affects you. The biggest surprise to me was how much it did affect me during my first event and I was just focused on getting it done and not caring what the times would be. There is a lot of extra stuff going on around you that normally just is not there. Running in events WILL help you find what you need to work on. If you pay attention to the other more experienced runners we can learn from them. At the end of the day you’re doing this for yourself, not anyone else, so just do better than you did last time, and even if it is just one second better CELEBRATE IT!

Walking the course the day before was helpful and there were two hill sections I would need to dig in on. This did work out very well as my first mile would be deep in the six-minute window. I would end up with a personal-best 1 mile (6:13) #strava and that alone make this guy a very happy running camper.

I would maintain good pacing and had some company for a bit, I could hear her breathing and she seemed to be struggling a bit. She stayed slightly behind me to right and left sides as we alternated positions for some turns. After about 3km I heard her get control of her breath and pacing then she dug in and would pull ahead of me along with another male runner. We had now cleared the last of the hills and this is when my pacing got away from me for a bit.

I remember what a racer told me at the last event. Keith Moberly a veteran runner that finished slightly ahead of me at my last event on January 2nd, 2022. I was 21st he was 20th for that event and Keith told me to get behind a faster runner and when I get my pacing back and see the finish line, start pushing the pace again. I took that advice and stayed on the male runner that passed me. He had pacing I could maintain because the girl had a stronger pace that I would not be able to keep up with. Being young is nice and do wish I’d started running years ago.

I would push to maintain my pace and knew it was going well. After crossing the line and doing a brief cool-down walk I made my way to the awards area with my cool-looking event medal.

By the time the awards were done, it got even colder, and as we finished up and headed out the rain came. So we got it done!

I checked my results and did very well (shown above) but for some odd reason the event website gave me two times updates, so I’m not sure what that is about. I would check them again at home and it changed yet again, at the time of this original posting 1-22-22 at 7:29 pm and yes a 3rd time. The last event (different organizer) was also a chipped timed event and is updated only once but not by such a large margin. It is still a personal best at last check. #confused

* I DO Expect the chip times to be different than my apps and would expect them to be more accurate. I did get a reply when questioning it: “It’s possible someone else’s time was off and so it adjusts all the places accordingly. The timer will find errors and fix them.”

For the record, I’m not mad about it, just want to understand the process.