I had signed up for this race back in December 2019. This was my first race that converted all participants to virtual runners due to the pandemic.

The Riverside Dash is a popular local race. The main event is the 15K that runs along the shores of Lake Monroe. I had signed up for the 5K. This would have been my fourth year participating in the event, following the 2017 Riverside Dash 5K, the 2018 Riverside Dash 15K, and the 2019 Riverside Dash 5K.

Virtual Race Goal
I hoped to run a sub-37 minute 5K, which would beat my most recent best time of 37:03 (Fountain of Youth Virtual 5K).

Race Day: May 2, 2020
The physical race should have taken place in Sanford, Florida, on April 13, 2020. On my race day, it was 57°F with 83% humidity and clear skies. Really nice running weather.

Mile 1, 2, 3: 11:45, 11:54, 11:56
I felt okay. My Achilles and knees are creaky and achy, but once I get going they don't bother me too much. I was super happy to make my time goal.

Swag
The virtual race packet included a really comfortable cotton shirt, race bib (which I forgot to wear, oops), and finisher medal.

Garmin GPS elapsed time: 36:43

Cost: $33

Report written May 2, 2020

Since the novel coronavirus pandemic turned the world upside-down earlier this year and forced many of us to stay mostly at home, I've tried to continue running. Instead of running on the awesome and popular multi-use trail system close to my home, I've been hitting residential streets in my neighborhood to avoid crowds on the trails. 

There is a short trail segment very close to my house that I run or walk if the coast is clear (LOL).

Usually I keep to running against traffic on the adjacent road, but earlier last month I ventured onto the trail and had the absolute joy of seeing these beautiful and inspirational sentiments written with sidewalk chalk. 

I had to stop to photograph each one.

This text is inspired by the quote from Martin Luther King, Jr. quote from his "I've Been to the Mountaintop" speech:

But I know, somehow, that only when it is dark enough, can you see the stars.

This one is inspired by the poem "Dreams" by the American poet Langston Hughes: 

Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird 
That cannot fly.

Hold fast to dreams
For when dreams go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow.

This one is inspired by the quote from French fashion designer Coco Chanel

Beauty begins the moment you decide to be yourself.

This one is from a quote by the Chinese American author Maxine Hong Kingston

In a time of destruction, create something: a poem, a parade, a community, a school, a vow, a moral principle; one peaceful moment.

Along with the chalk art, I noticed signs put up by our community in order to encourage safe shared use of the trail system. I was glad to see these signs but as of now I am still uncomfortable passing people on the trail. I sweat so much and breathe so heavily I imagine that I am a walking cloud of droplets. I'm keeping myself to myself for the time being.

"Space Coast Runners and Power of Pizza Charities were heartbroken when the 34th Space Coast Classic 15K & 2 Mile was canceled. ... The physical race did not take place but a virtual one did in it's place. We designed a special 2020 Covid-19 Virus Edition race shirt for our virtual runners and walkers. ... We sold out on what would have been the actual race day, Sunday, April 19th."

I signed up for this race after it was converted to a virtual. I liked the shirt (my first Covid-19 race shirt) and medal. I was also happy to support the central Florida race club that put on the event and their charity partner.

Runners were encouraged to post their results on the Space Coast Classic Facebook page. Space Coast Runners compiled the photos and times on a special 2020 Virtual Results page.

Virtual Race Goal
Time goal: sub-25 minutes.

Race Day: April 27, 2020
The physical race would have taken place on April 19th. On my race day, it was 63°F with just 55% humidity and bright sunny skies. Perfect running weather.

Mile 1, 2: 12:23, 11:48
I felt pretty good starting out. The weather was great and I had a familiar route in my neighborhood. But almost from the start I was dodging unusual traffic. I had to walk through weedy grass a few times to avoid cars and I had to cross the street to avoid runners and walkers. It wasn't a big deal but I got frustrated. At the end there was a new construction project blocking the sidewalk and I had to run by idling construction trucks and equipment. I was glad I made my time goal, at least!

Swag
The virtual race packet included a tech shirt with a Covid-19 related design and a finisher medal. We also got a reusable bag, Space Coast Runners sticker, and pen.

Garmin GPS elapsed time: 24:13

Cost: $28

Report written April 27, 2020

Central Florida Legends is a new race event put on by my running club, West Volusia Runners. Races include the Skunk Ape Marathon, Mermaid Half Marathon, and Fountain of Youth 5K. Arthur and I volunteered for this inaugural event back on November 24, 2019. I was in a walking boot at the time. I signed up for the virtual 5K, mainly because virtual runners would be considered "legacy" participants going forward. I didn't realized that I already had that status from volunteering. I kept forgetting about needing to do this run, but since virtuals are all over my radar right now, I finally put the Fountain of Youth Virtual 5K on my schedule.

Virtual Race Goal
I was shooting for a sub-40 minute 5K with the plan to keep up my run:walk of 90:45.

Race Day: April 21, 2020
The physical race took place way back on November 24, 2019. On my race day in April, it was 66°F with 94% humidity and bright, clear skies.

Mile 1, 2, 3+: 12:00, 12:09, 11:55, 1:00
During the Covid-19 "safer at home" order, I continue to run the streets of my neighborhood out my front door. I used the RunGo app to plan my 3.1 mile route. Coming in at just over 37 minutes, I smashed my goal of running sub-40!

Swag
The virtual race packet included a really nice soft and comfortable cotton blend t-shirt and a medal with custom ribbon.

Recommendation
The physical race inaugural event was well attended and Arthur and I had fun volunteering. There was high praise from all the runners I encountered that day. The swag is nice and the host club is the best. If I'm not volunteering, I'll run this.

Garmin GPS elapsed time: 37:03
Cost: $29.00

Report written April 22, 2020

I recently purchased some slightly used Sparkle Athletic Headsweats visors from Poshmark. Poshmark is an online marketplace where users can buy and sell new and used goods, mostly clothing. 

I received the visors and they were as advertised, with a few sparkles missing and lightly soiled. So far, so good, but I had to clean them. 

I washed them in our dishwasher using some cap washing frames. I was very concerned about losing some of the sparkle bits.

I was only slightly worried about bleeding colors so I washed them separately but with similar colored items. 

Turns out, I shouldn't have been worried about the sparkles. The color, however, faded a lot -- on both hats!

Unfortunately, I made the mistake of not taking a "before" photo of the hats. I am pretty sure the pink one was already missing the few sparkles that you can see on the "after" photo above. The green hat doesn't seem to have lost any sparkles at all. But the color!

The color on both hats faded pretty badly. The green hat seems to have uniformly faded. The pink hat faded more in some spots than others. You can also see the pink hat bled onto the white sweat material on the inside of the hat.

The hats are otherwise in really good shape. The elastic is fine, and the structure of both hats is nearly perfect. They are in better shape than some of my older, more worn Headsweats visors.

The color issue might not be noticable when I wear them. I purchased these used running visors at a discounted price for future races, to add some bling and fun to my outfit. Sparkle Athletic Headsweats visors are especially popular at Disney races. Despite the loss of color, they still sparkle just fine!

Back in mid-February I signed Arthur and I up for this short race at the St. Augustine Alligator Farm. I had always wanted to visit the farm, mostly because the boardwalk is famous for hosting wading birds. Although the race would take place a bit early in the breeding season, I thought the race plus a visit to the farm and then spending some time in historic St. Augustine would make for a nice Saturday outing the following month. A big bonus: the Raptor Run 5K would benefit the Avian Research Conservation Institute, which studies Swallow-tailed Kites through satellite tracking, among other scientific research projects.

As the race date, March 15, approached, the novel coronavirus was continuing to spread, ramping up in the United States. Social distancing was just starting to be recognized as a necessity in order to stop the spread and many races were being cancelled. I had signed up for two races this weekend, and both ended up taking place, which I thought was unfortunate. I didn't attend either one in person. The Raptor Run 3K kindly agreed to send our packets to us in the mail, so we could complete the race virtually. I know they also offered refunds to some runners.

I haven't been a fan of virtual races but I've got some ideas to try to enjoy them more, since there are more than a few in my future.

Virtual Race Beneficiary
The Avian Research Conservation Institute

Virtual Race Goal
I'm so bad at making goals, but I thought maybe I could try to set goals for virtual races to make them more meaningful somehow. I decided to make a goal of sub 25 minutes for this short race of 3K or 1.87 miles. I aimed to run:walk 90:45 for the duration.

Race Day: April 11, 2020
The Raptor Run 3K was organized as a physical race that I opted to do virtually after the fact. The physical race took place on March 15, 2020. April 11 was a perfect cool morning for running, with a temperature of 63°F, 68% humidity and clear skies.

Mile 1 (1.6K): 12:21
I ran familiar streets of my neighborhood. I've been avoiding our popular trail system in favor of the more empty residential streets. It's easier to avoid running into people, I'm not getting surprised by passing bikes, and I'm always relatively close to home.

I know it's not good to pace-shame oneself but I've been quite bummed about being so slow lately. It felt good to push it a little bit this morning.

Mile .89 (1.43K): 10:26 (11:47 pace)
I finished in under 23 minutes, better than my sub-25 goal.

Swag
For this race I received an extremely comfortable cotton unisex t-shirt and a custom medal.

Recommendation
I was very grateful for the race director to offer to send our packets to us in the mail. I certainly hope to run this race on location in the future.

Garmin GPS elapsed time: 22:47

Cost: $26.50

Report written April 11, 2020

I participated in the third annual House Next Door Family 5K at Gemini Springs in DeBary. The race benefits The House Next Door charity.

Training & Goals
I'm still slowly (very slowly) easing back into running following a chronic Achilles issue that resulted in a loss of fitness and increase in weight over the last year or so. My knees have been hurting a lot lately so I probably am going to need some help with them. My Achilles still feels weak but it seems that doing the stretching and strengthening exercises keeps the lingering pain away.

I had pretty low expectations for this race. I planned to run/walk at :90/:45 which is what I'd been doing for the last couple of training runs. I've also been working on trying to midfoot to forefoot strike, which my knees like a lot. So I was hoping to do this for the entire race, too.

Race Day: March 7, 2020
I rode my bike over to Gemini Springs on race morning. I was so cold when I left the house that I turned around to fetch a hat and a jacket before setting off again. I got my packet, parked my bike, and then stood around in my hat and three top layers until about 5 minutes before race time. It was about 50°F with 54% humidity and bright sunny skies when the race began at 8AM.

Mile 1: 13:07
The course was a simple out-and-back on the Spring-to-spring trail, part of my local running route when I run from home. This race used the OK-Corral pavilion in the back of the dog park as the start/finish, so we were out on the trail right from the mats.

Mile 2: 12:50
There was one water stop at the turn-around. I felt like I was struggling some but I managed to keep up my intervals, with a slight adjustment for the water stop and turn-around.

Mile 3+: 12:32, 1:30
It was nice to see one of the park's Bald Eagles perched on a utility pole above the path on the way back to the finish line. I was able to keep up my intervals for the whole race. I had a good forefoot strike rhythm going for the first two miles but had to switch it up a bit for the last mile as my feet and calves started to feel tight. Pretty happy with the negative splits even though I'm still so slow.

After the Race
There was an ample spread of fruit and water at the finish line. A few vendors and sponsers were out with promo freebies. Before the award ceremony, a drum corps of youngsters performed for the crowd.

Recommendation
This was a really small race, with just 148 participants. Course support was pretty good, with volunteers spread out on the trail to cheer us on -- unexpected during a race with no need for course pointers. The one water stop was good and ready to serve the runners. I love running the beautiful Spring-to-spring trail. And it's a great local cause. Recommended especially for locals.

Chip time: 39:57 (been keeping it under 40 so far this year when I've tried)
Placement details: 12/23 in AG, 76/148 overall
Race Amenities: Cotton unisex t-shirt, pretty nice custom medal
Cost: $33.75

Report written March 8, 2020

This was the second time I participated in this local race that benefits Citrus Grove Elementary School in Deland, Florida. When I ran Groovin' at the Grove in 2016 it was free because it was on my birthday.

Training & Goals
I'm still slowly easing back into running following a chronic Achilles issue that resulted in a loss of fitness and increase in weight over the last year or so. My knees have been hurting a lot lately so I probably am going to need some help with them. My Achilles still feels weak but it seems that doing the stretching and strengthening exercises keeps the lingering pain away.

I haven't been feeling super motivated lately so weekday runs haven't been consistent. I had pretty low expectations for this race. I planned to run|walk at 1:30|:45 which is what I'd been doing for the last couple of training runs. The change from :45|:30 seems to be going alright.

Race Day: February 29, 2020
I left home at around 7AM, giving me plenty of time to get the car parked and pick up my packet and get back to the starting line for the 8AM start. It was about 46°F with 87% humidity and bright sunny skies for the start. Nice running weather.

Mile 1: 13:10
The first mile takes runners from the school grounds through nearby neighborhood streets. On several street corners, local families were out cheering with pom-poms, signs, and music.

Mile 2: 12:53
Most of this mile is a loop around more residential streets.

Mile 3+: 12:43, 1:03
The last mile completes the loop and then rejoins the first part of the course, heading back to the school for the finish line. I was super happy I was able to do my run|walk intervals for the entire race.

After Party
There were several tents set up around the start/finish line and it looked like a pretty good spread for such a small race. I didn't stay after finishing -- I went straight to my car to get home ASAP for other Saturday activities.

Recommendation
Good course with clear direction, fun hometown atmosphere and fine safety support. Recommended for locals looking for a fast and flat course supporting a good cause.

Chip time: 39:49
Placement details: 7/14 in Age Group, 143rd out of 274 finishers
Race Amenities: Unisex cotton t-shirt, goodie bag. No finisher medal.
Cost: $18.00

Report written March 1, 2020