Global Energy Race--Free Entry!

This Sunday, September 25th,  Orlando will host the Global Energy Race, which benefits in part the Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida. 

37 cities around the world, in 22 countries, will be participating in this race.  Bimbo Bakeries USA, is the US host with 4 cities in America.  Runners will be working to "stomp out hunger" as they run.  For each kilometer run by each participant, Bimbo Bakeries USA will donate two slices of bread to a Feeding America food bank, or a loaf of bread per 10k.

The race, which has a 10k race and a 3k race,  will also be a Guiness World Records attempt for the most number of cities participating in the same race on the same day.  First place male and female runners of the 10k will receive an all expenses paid trip to ANY 2017 Global Energy Race participating city (side note, when I registered, it said that to win the trip, you must be wearing the race shirt at the race. So if you're speedy, make sure you consider that.)  Awards will be given to the top three male and female runners in each city.  10k runners will receive medals and 3k runners will receive pins.  Starting this year, both the t-shirts and medals will be part of a series, with this year being from Beijing.

Interested in running for free??  Yes, I just signed up and there was no cost!!  Go here to register and use code BIMBOBLOGGIVEAWAY.  I'll see you on Sunday--lets "stomp out hunger"!!

Race #100- Walt Disney World 10k

Wow!  I can't believe I've done 100 races!  The 100th was originally going to be the Disney Marathon, but I forgot about the race over the summer and then I added another winter one.  I can't help myself!

Dopey Challenge Part 2--diiiiidn't start out so great.  Faith and I drove separately since we would be pushing time to shower and get to work.  And as soon as we parked at Epcot, I knew I had screwed up.  I looked at her and mouthed that I had forgotten my bib.  Yup--left it sitting on my bathroom counter.

I was freaking out as I flew home--Faith, however was calm.  Luckily I live right behind the Magic Kingdom AND we always get to races early.  By the time we got back, we still had 45 minutes until the race.  I've never been so mad at myself though!

We decided to dress as Goofy since we'd be doing his challenge too.

We took this one a little easier and did intervals.  It's hard to believe that 11 months ago I could run a 10k straight through.  I really need to work on endurance and speed.

During the race we decided we need to do this 10k next year and not go to work after since there were several characters we wish we could have stopped for including Rescue Rangers and characters from Ratatouille.

We finished in 1:10:34.  I placed 3683 out of 11,004 overall( so just a little out of top third), 1374 out of 6282 for women (top quarter) and 252 in my division.

Race #55- Celebration Rotary Club Pancake 10k

I signed up for the Celebration Rotary Club Pancake 10k online a few days before the race.  I wanted a better 10k time than I had so I could use them to submit for Disney races.

I showed up at the start of my race to get my packet and the only shirts they had were unisex Larges.  I hate when races don't have your correct shirt size--especially if you register online and not day of.  But honestly, the shirts were pretty ugly so I didn't argue.

It was a pretty small race.  We lined up.

Soon it was time to go!

It was a nice race.  Pretty quiet and there were just enough runners that you didn't feel alone but it definitely wasn't crowded at all.

I felt really good for most of the race.  My pace hadn't gotten down to what I wanted it to yet after my injury.  I was hoping for a 10 min pace, coming in at 1:02 but I knew that a 10:15 pace, a little under 1:04 was more realistic.

When I'm running, I'm constantly looking at my watch and doing math in my head.  Halfway through I realized that my time was going way better than I thought!  I knew that I could reach my original goal.

Then it dawned on me that I *might possibly* get a sub 1 hour.  What????  That hadn't even been on my radar!!   Running in and seeing my time, I knew it would be close!! (don't look at the clock in the picture...I think it was the 5k)

Not the best picture of me finishing in the background but it was free!

I finished very happy!

I went over to the fire station and enjoyed the nice pancake breakfast that they had.

  I knew I had to hurry though because I had to get home to shower and change to head out of town for a race the next day.

I went to check my results and guess what?  There were NO RESULTS!!!!!  I was NOT a happy camper!!!

I went over to the timing people and explained that I needed this time to use as Disney proof of time and that's the only reason I ran the race.  The guy told me it was because I registered last minute (um no, I had done online registration, not day-of registration) and assured me that he would get it and would update the time online that night.

So I was still left hoping for that PR.

And the result didn't come up when they should have.  And when they did come up, guess what?  I wasn't on there!!!  I emailed the race director and received this email

The race contractor- epic sports marketing, mis-categorized your results. Please refer to the 55-59 age group on the list. 

You did not place in your correct age group but still ran a good race-nice job!

Seriously?  Do I look 55 to you????  Still, no word of fixing it for me.  So I emailed them back and explained that I needed to be in the right age group so that if Disney did in fact verify the race, I would be in the correct place.  They finally fixed it but what a hassle!

My official time was 59:48!  I had gotten a sub 1 hr!  I was blown away! It was also an 8 min 38 sec PR!!  I placed 4th in my age group (wahoo!), 27 in my gender and 61st overall (out of 190ish if I did my math right) so not too bad!

I'm honestly not sure that I'd do this race again.  I loved that it was small and the course was really flat.  But I was not happy with how it was organized.  So we'll see about next year.

Race # 45- Enchanted 10k

Cori and I woke up early Saturday morning and headed to Epcot for the Enchanted 10k.  It was my first 10k at WDW and I was excited to try out the new course.  We met up with Kristin (A Mom on the Run) and Cori ran into one of her friends from back home. 

We chatted for a while and then started to head to our corral since they had announced it was time a few minutes before.  Kristin and Cori's friend headed to the A corral and we headed to the B.  Right before we went in, Cori headed to the bathroom--which stressed me out (remember from earlier how I don't like being late) but I took the opportunity to snap another pic.

  Well just as it was her turn, our corral started walking so I wasn't too happy about that and about being in the back of the corral.  Oh well.

This corral start was interesting.  I'm not sure how to describe it but it started different than normal.  The A corral went off at 5:30.  I thought that the 10k would be like the half with only 2-3 minutes in between but it seemed like it was forever until we started.  My Runkeeper app said 5:41 so 11 minutes between starts.  Too long in my opinion.  Anyways, like always, I love the fireworks start!

Soon we were off.  I was nervous again for this race because I didn't know how I would feel.  I hadn't run at all in 6 weeks, and I wasn't supposed to be running this race (or for another 6 weeks after).  Luckily, I was never in any pain!

Towards the beginning of the run, we saw Elsa up on one of the overpasses and it was "snowing".  Pretty cool!

And that was pretty much all of the entertainment for the first half of the race (or longer).  It was honestly pretty boring for a Disney run.  Even the 5ks are more entertaining.  There is plenty of spaces for there to be more entertainment.  I decided I prefer half marathons over 10k at WDW and 10ks over half marathons at DL.   Hopefully runDisney will step up their 10ks at WDW! 

It was definitely a gross morning.  Very foggy and hot.  We don't normally stop at water stations during 10ks but it was so humid, we knew we needed to.  But at the first stop, there was no Gatorade (and I don't drink water).  Nor was there any at the next one, or the one after that.  When I asked runDisney about it afterwards, the guy said they only have Gatorade for half marathons or longer.  Ugh.  Not cool for those of us who don't like water and it was hot enough that I'm sure there were plenty of people who needed electrolytes!

Anyways, we came into Epcot and started our run through the park.

 

 

Then we ran out and through the Boardwalk and Yacht and Beach area.

Back through Epcot

Yes I'm a big dork but I love this picture

 Before we knew it, we were done!

Definitely not my favorite runDisney race, but I'll try to do it for as long as I can so I can get Legacy! 

 

 

Our official time was 1:16:29.  Definitely not our best time but it was hot and we hadn't run in a while.  I was 2613th out of 8969 so top third.  For gender, I was 2178 out of 7979 so top third again and 377 for age and gender (not sure out of how many.)

After the race, we got our medals engraved and headed out to Cori's car.  Which wouldn't start.  We had to get the nice security guards to help us.  They couldn't figure out what was wrong so they called the car help place that's over by MK and the guy pretty much got it started right away!

Poor Cori felt bad but I didn't mind.  It made for a good story!!

Race #35- Disneyland 10k

We got up bright and early (well it was dark so not so bright).  But luckily we didn't have to get up as early as we do for WDW races since the starting line was right outside of our hotel.  So nice! 

What wasn't so nice was the craziness that we encountered.  The 5k was just before the 10k.  Therefore, there was no getting into the corrals until about 15 minutes before the race started.  So you had tons of 10k runners just standing around wondering what was happening.  I wasn't such a fan of that.  But we did run into Justin (Always Running Forward) and his wife!  I used to work with Justin at the Great Movie Ride and only saw he briefly before one other race.  Otherwise it's been years!  We chatted for a little before the race started.

We got so many compliments on our outfits!  Our shirts were from Chic by Amber, the headband was from Sweet Sweat Bands, and the skirt was from Rock City Skirts.

We were ready to go!  We were in corral D.  They announced the start for corral C and they took off.  So we walked up to where the start is....and kept going.  That's right--they never stopped D so we went with C!  So many people weren't ready.  Luckily, I already had my watch and app set but that could have been an issue!

The race was great fun!  I love seeing all of the signs that spectators make.  Here's my favorite one.

The 10k was great because it was mostly through the parks.  It was so fun to run through a new park and check out the sites.  We were taking it easy, stopping for several pictures.  We didn't want to push it too much since we had the Half Marathon the next day.

 

We were all set for a great shot of the three of us when this lady zooms over right in front of us.  You can see me yelling "hey!"

 

We saw the Toy Story characters and knew we had to stop for a picture!  Woody was so cute.  He picked me up in a huge bear hug! (We needed Buzz!)

Not us, but I wanted a picture of the Monsters Inc. characters but we didn't want to wait in the line.

And here we were confused.  We weren't sure why there were animals in Disneyland but we named it Mini Animal Kingdom.

Cori loves the Chipmunks so I took this picture on the fly.

One of my favorite parts of the Disney races--running through the castle!!!

 

 Chip and Dale!!

And we finished! (Oh look, another picture of me stopping my watch.  I really need to learn to wait just a few seconds!!)

Our time was 1:20:15.  Definitely our longest 10k ever but so worth it.  We knew that we were saving our legs for the next day and we got lots of fun out of the race!!