This was Lake Minneola half marathon located in Clermont FL.
(aka Lakes County) There are several small lakes in this part of Central Florida and I have quickly learned,
several local events including Triathlons (which I hope to one day accomplish).
This event was hosted by SommerSports.
I decided to save on the money and wake up Super early to
drive the 2 and half hours before race time. It really was an easy drive…..well,
it was a little scary when I hit really thick fog after I got off the
interstate on the back roads in the middle of nowhere, and then seeing the Bear
crossing signs! Whaaa?!
I arrived a little after 5am. I had made myself an egg Sammie (which
I never eat before a race) and ate it around 4am. I forced myself to eat the
banana when I arrived. The granola bar I brought as well, had to wait.
Parking was a breeze right at the start! Packet pick up was
set to start at 530a…..but we were quickly told it would be at least 30-45 more
minutes. Race time was set for 7am for the half marathon, and 730a for the 10k
and 5k.
Prior Communication
There seems to be very little activity with Sommer Sports in
the social media world. The websites that had the race information was very
minimal, and seemed there were a couple other sites advertising wrong info. I
was definitely feeling a little confused being an out of towner, and not getting pumped up the days leading up to the race.
Speaking of being an out of towner, everyone I told I just
drove in for the race thought I was Nuts! But I actually enjoyed myself. (and
driving 5hours just to run 13 miles! HA!)
Start
The positive of being at a recreation park, is there were
public bathrooms….Real toilets! And
there were a couple buildings, so really not much of a line.They had porta potties
as well if needed.
The race was combined with a city health event called
FitnessPalooza. All sorts of tables and trucks and canopies were being set up
in the dark. Not knowing the layout of the park, it was hard to figure out
where the Start actually was. I quickly found the Finish, and kept walking and
walking and walking, and finally stumbled on the Starting Line. It was 5 til 7a,
yet there were only about 10 of us!
Considering packet pick up was running late, the race seemed
destined to be late. But they actually did ok, we were only about 5 minutes off
schedule. (I don’t know if this affected anyone…if we started without them. But
then again, you should be on time).
The Course
The course basically loops around Lake Minneola. To make up
some distance, for the half marathon, we did about 7 miles off the lake, and
actually found some pretty steep hills. I like to call this the Florida
Mountains, since it is probably the largest hills I have seen in FL so far (and
Ive covered a lot!) It was about 2 or 3 hills…just enough of a challenge to
keep you entertained, since there were absolutely no spectators. All of this is
hilarious though, because the race description claims the course is Flat…..uummm….
WRONG.
It was a very peaceful course. We started and finished at the lake.
The first 6-7 mile were on some sort of ‘pavement trail’ which also kept it
shaded, which was Good! It was over 70
degrees, humid, and no wind at all!The roads we did run on, were closed on our
half so it was fine with the very minimal traffic. When we ran around the lake,
there were lots of trees for the first part to keep us cool. The second part,
the sun was at our back, which was better than running into it. Still, I did
see the ambulance drive by. And I also passed by someone laid out on the
ground. Florida races are just dangerous any time of year. (its only April
people, yet already 90degrees!)
Regardless of the heat, and hills, the course is beautiful. I
kept telling myself, ‘this beach girl could live at a lake!’
There were only about 400 half marathoners, so it was never
crowded.
The Plan
Considering I overdid it just a couple days before the race in
the weights room, leaving my left
hamstring feeling super tight, I decided
to just enjoy the race and not worry too much about time. I did afterall, wake
up at 2am for this race! I would be insane to think I could PR! Especially in
this heat! I did a 3x1 for the first 5 miles, a 2x1 for the next 4 miles, and a
1x1 for the last 4 miles. I actually felt pretty good at the end of the race,
except for the fact that my leg never really loosened up too much.
Hydration Station
Water and Gatorade was provided and was stocked well enough
for this small event. No gu or fuel was provided. The stations were about 1.5M
apart. I really wish hot weather events would realize they need to have
hydration at every mile. I was actually fine myself, for the most part. I ended
up dumping water on my head towards the end to stay cool.
The Finish
We were handed a medal and a water, and all I could see was an
Icy Station! Sweet! I walked over and realized they were selling it! Oh, so this
must be part of the FitnessPalooza. I walked around to the different vendors
and chatted with some. A lot of them were doing challenges to win prizes, which
I giggled because who wants to do a burpee challenge after running 13 miles in
the heat?
Then I quickly realized
I never saw the finish line food! It was basically hidden. I spotted the Muscle
Milk and watermelon (YES!) and bananas and tubs of Pasta. Awesome, I thought,
Im starving! Wrong! Absolutely nothing to eat it with! Oh how I almost just
stuck my hand in the pasta dish and walked away! Luckily some of the vendors
gave away some freebie samples that held me over.
To cool myself down some more, I walked over to the lake to
soak my legs. I almost wanted to jump completely in, but I refrained, basically
because no one else was!
I quickly learned the bathroom had a shower as well! Perfect! I
could clean up before my drive home. Oh, how little did I know it was only ice
cold water!
The Shirt
The shirt is the brightest neon yellow I have ever seen. It almost
hurts to look at it. But I guess it will come in hand for night training runs.
The Medal
The medal matches the shirt in design…but not yellow. Lol
Challenge
There is a challenge that includes this race and the Orange
Blossom Half, if you are interested in claiming some extra bling.
Overall Thoughts
I am super please with the race because it was pretty and simple. It was an easy drive from
Jacksonville. I love to support smaller events, but not have the proper food at
the finish line is just unacceptable. I really hate that it ended that way, because
I was super happy with everything else….well, they didn’t have beer either, but
you know, I had to drive home anyways. Lol
HM #37
13.1-2:26