Race Recap: Hurricane Run 5K

Hello! I’ve got a race recap to share this evening.

This morning Jessica and I ran the Hurricane Run 5K on Dauphin Island. This is one of the races in the Port City Pacers Grand Prix. I’m hoping to run all of the Grand Prix races this year.

When we were making plans this week (what time to leave, where to meet, etc.), I was thinking that it was a bummer that we were going to have to drive all the way around the bay to get Dauphin Island. It’s 50 miles by car, but as the crow flies (i.e., straight across the bay), it’s only 20 miles!

My wheels started turning and I asked my dad if he would want to go on an early morning boat adventure. Of course he did! Jessica loved the idea too. She is a self-proclaimed “ride or die” girl and she was all in. We got started just after 6 a.m. and headed to Dauphin Island.

It was a little dark at first and the bay was a tad bit choppy, but it turned out to be a great ride. We got to see the sunrise over the water and it was beautiful out. There was even a nice cool breeze while we were riding. It’s too bad that breeze didn’t stick around once we got to the race!

We rode right by Middle Bay Light, the lighthouse in the middle of Mobile Bay. It has a really cool history (click on the link if you are into that sort of thing). We also saw lots of pelicans and several container ships.

It took us just about an hour to get there. We thought it would be closer to 45 minutes, but we weren’t able to go quite as fast since the bay was choppy. We got to Dauphin Island just after 7 for an 8 o’clock race start.

I had only run this race one time before (in 2010! … that seems like forever and a half ago). I remember that Daniel and I had some logistical issues getting to the race that day and ended up having to literally run from our car to get our bib and then straight to the start line because we were so late. That was not a great pre-race experience and I definitely didn’t want to repeat that this year.

Thankfully we had plenty of time today to get our bibs, go to the bathroom (twice) and get a 2 mile warm up with some striders in. We weren’t rushed at all, which definitely makes for a better overall race experience.

It was in the low 80s and super humid at the start. That’s pretty much just par for the course in lower Alabama (for at least 10 months of the year). My plan was to use this race to gauge where my fitness was (after a short break from workouts) and focus on getting more comfortable with the intensity of shorter races. I just wanted to give a strong, solid effort. I didn’t have a super specific time goal, but I was hoping for sub-19.

I settled into my pace fairly quickly and actually ended up passing all of the runners in front of me within the first mile. I came through mile 1 in 5:54.

I basically led the race from a half a mile in through the finish, which was a new experience! I was hoping to have someone to run with (I run my best when I have someone to pace and work with), but that didn’t really work out. It was fun to lead the race, but it was also hard to stay focused and not let up on the pace.

The second and third miles were 5:58 and 6:10 … so a nice little positive split, but I can live with it. I finished in 18:51, which is right where I wanted to be.

Here’s some random pace and heart rate data (in case you like that sort of thing).

Jessica finished in 21:20 as the third overall female! Woo hoo!

We got a short cool down in after the race and got our awards (medals).

We had to wait out a little storm that blew through before we could venture back across the bay. The rain cooled it off a good bit and we were even a little chilly on the ride home. The cool air was a great reminder that fall is coming! I just like to keep telling myself that anyway.

We had a great day. It was really neat to go to the race by boat (that was a first!) and we decided that we want to make this an annual tradition.