As you may remember, this race took place during my annual non-running tennis vacation in Naples, Florida. I play tennis every morning and then spend the afternoon on the beach.  Each evening I go out for drinks, dinner and dessert with my tennis friends. Eight days of pure relaxation and enjoyment… (every May since 2005)

I love it.  It’s usually my only vacation that doesn’t include a race.  You have to admit that racing during a vacation does add an element of stress.

Well, in 2017. we changed our dates and I happened upon a 5k race that took place on the Sunday during our stay. One of my friends offered to get up at the crack of dawn and drop me off and another offered to pick me up.

Despite the loops and warm temps, I had a blast and did fairly well.

I also unexpectedly bumped into a tennis friend, Rebecca, who had moved to Naples.

As a result, I signed up for the same 5k in 2018 and 2019. I won an age group award each time and met up with Rebecca.

Our vacation was cancelled due to COVID in 2020 and the race in 2021 did not occur during our time in Naples.

So I was pretty excited to run this race again in 2022.  The downside was that Rebecca died suddenly in 2021 and I knew that the race would remind me of her sadly.

I decided to run the race anyway and each year, if I was able, in Rebecca’s honor.

However since I was still recovering from a broken foot, I decided to skip the race in 2023 but last year, I put it back on my racing schedule.

After I signed up for this race, I got an email saying that they had to change the course.  I could have gotten a refund.  But what the hell. A new race!

Pre-Race Activities and Preparations:

The night before the race, we went out to an awesome dinner at a Peruvian Restaurant.  No pizza or pasta on the menu so I had to skip the obligatory carb loading before a race.

Here is the NEW course map:

Apparently, it is the same course as the Baker Park 5k held in March every year.

Rather than being near the Beaches of the Gulf, it is along the Gordon River.

Of course, I checked out last year’s results:

Race Day:

Sunday morning, I groggily ate my usual race breakfast at 5:30 am.  As she did in previous years, my friend Catalina agreed to drop me off at the race start.  I wasn’t familiar with the race location so I needed to arrive earlier than normal.

There was no packet pick up before the race.  So I got my bib on race day. The swag was a shirt. And I had to hide it under a tree since I did have a bag or a car.

Since I was early, I walked around…. this was a really beautiful park… very conducive to running, walking, biking…

This was not a big race.  There were about 275 runners – all ages and very friendly.

It was pretty cloudy when I got there and rain was forecast.  At times, the sun did peak out. It was starting to get warm. I checked the weather app on my phone. Holy humidity!

I wore my usual race attire minus the compression socks:

As you can see from the map, the course winds the park and loops back toward the start.

I had no plan for the race – just finish and get back to my friends so we could continue with our plans for the day. (Gone are the days when I finished this race in 27:xx!!)

I also haven’t raced in weather this warm since last August. This made me a little nervous. Can I run well in the heat/humidity? Will I die? LOL

I had no idea what the course looked like until after the race but I did take some photos before the race on what turned out to be part of the race course:

Mile 1: 

From the get go, my legs felt like lead but my biggest problem was that I had a hard time breathing and I felt dizzy. Was it the heat?  Most likely it was not being acclimated to the humidity. I couldn’t wait to get to the water stop…

Actually I could not wait to walk…

Mile 2: 

It seemed like forever but I think it was during mile 2.  I stopped for water and walked for a while (longer than the first walk).

I continued my running which was painful and seemed to be like a slog…

As I mentioned above, the course ran through the park and it was very pretty. It was a mixture of flat paths and wooden bridges over the river..

I walked whenever I felt I had to… I really didn’t care about my time as long as I finished.

Mile 3 – 3.1: 

I actually felt worse after walking so I ran and tried to just get to the finish line without puking.

Eventually the arch appeared and I gave it my all.

I was shocked when I crossed at 31:xx. I felt so much slower.

Post Race Activities:

I grabbed some water but skipped the refreshments which were only bars, bananas and navel oranges.

I quickly checked the results to see if I won an award. And I did!!

My friend Pat came to pick me up.  She walked around the park while I waited for the award ceremony.

I was happy that they started with the oldest age groups first.

Additional Race Reflections:

Definitely a tough one and again one of my slower 5ks but hey, I did it.

And I will do it again!

Racing for me is always enjoyable (at least afterward.)

Positives:

• flatish course
• well organized
• ample parking
• nice shirt (gender-specific)
• Instant results emailed/texted to runners
• creative age group award (picture frame)
• important charity (scholarships to HS students)
• Nice park
• River views
• Real rest rooms

Negatives:

• Rebecca was no longer there. 😦
• Warm temps and humidity
• Not near the ocean

Would I recommend this race?

Yes! There was a lot of enthusiasm and runners of all ages.

Final Stats: