Red Carpet Run

The Red Carpet Run is a movie-themed race based in Cocoa Village, Florida. It offered three distances this year: 5K, 10K, and half marathon. Many months ago, I signed up for the 10K race. I have been training for this race since completing my last race in May; the Running Zone 17’th Anniversary Virtual 5K.

To help train for this race, I used one of the coaches on my Garmin account. The training was basically the same, week after week. Wednesday and Friday workouts were simple drills and Sunday workouts were an increasingly longer run, with the longest being 7 miles.

Today started early – around 4:00 AM – to get to the starting line by 6:30. I got up, showered, and ate breakfast. Susan joined me for the drive to Cocoa Village. We parked in the dark and walked down to the City Park. There were already hundreds of people there; some hanging out with friends, some stretching, and some jogging around.

Around 5:30, the event staff got on the PA and welcomed us. The staff was set up on the stage of the amphitheater. After telling us the schedule of events, they started playing movie music, starting with the “Imperial March” from Star Wars. Nothing gets me revved up like Darth Vader music playing loudly in the park.

At 6:15, the staff broke in again and announced the details of the start. The plan was for all runners in all three races to join at the starting line, with masks on. Jonathon Howse (a home school parent and avid marathon runner) sang the national anthem, then the runners walked up the hill to the staring line. A few moments later, the race was under way. I hit the start button on my Garmin watch as I crossed the starting line, tucked my mask into my shirt, and wondered to myself, “Will the rain hold off?” and “Will I make it to the turn-around point without walking?”.

Up to this point, my fitness goal has been to run 5K without stopping to walk, and ideally do it in less than 30 minutes. I thought maybe today, I could achieve part of that goal.

As we headed North out of town along Indian River Drive, the crowd slowly started to spread out. I found a nice, comfortable pace and tried to stay out of everyone’s way and not run into anyone. There were people of all ages walking and running – kids, elderly, people with handicaps. It was here that I was passed by a young mother pushing a stroller with a child. It was still dark and the street lights were on as I passed one beautiful house after another. In some places, there were puddles on the road from recent rain and sprinkler run-off and some runners purposelessly ran through them. It was very humid, but the temperature wasn’t bad – around 75 degrees.

The first kilometer went by in about 7 and a half minutes. The second split time was similar. As we approached the 5K turn-around point, the race staff started pushing the runners to the right side of the road so the 5K runners could turn left and return to the finish. I was amazed at how thin the crowd got after that point. From this point on, only serious runners remained. I passed 3K and 4K without walking. I was feeling pretty good about it, too. And then something happened. I got confused. I looked at my watch, but it was still too dark to read it clearly. I started to think that I had passed the 5K point, but that didn’t make sense – I hadn’t reached the 10K turn-around point yet. Actually, I couldn’t even see the turn-around point ahead. Then I started thinking that maybe I passed it already, but that would have been impossible. I concluded that I had met my 5K without walking goal and started walking.

And then I saw the 10K turn-around point. I rounded the point and started heading toward the finish line. It was here that I realized that I had started walking at 4.25K, not 5.25K. Regardless, that was still the farthest I’ve ever ran without stopping, so I’m proud of the achievement.

At the 6K point, my feet started burning. Soon afterwards, I could feel blisters starting to develop behind my big toe on both feet. I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to run at all. Unlike most of Florida, this route has some elevation changes, so I ran on each down grade and walked everywhere else.

By now the sun was starting to rise in the Southeast sky. I could see the 520 bridge that marked the finish line area. It was still pretty far away. There were a few other runners near me, so I tried to keep pace with them. Since I was mostly walking, that was not working out too well. At the 9K point, I passed an event worker and told him that this should have been a 9K. He said, “Yeah, then you’d be finished right now”.

I entered town and turned East on the sidewalk along 520. I passed the one half mile remaining sign as another runner blew past me. I think he was the leader of the half marathon runners - amazing. I continued walking under the bridge and into the park. One quarter mile remaining. Then 200 meters remaining. I could see the finish line and the red carpet. I decided to finish strong and ran to the finish line.

Crossing the finish line of the Red Carpet Run 10K

I finished with an official time of 1:18:39. I was 112’th; 52’nd in the males and 5’th in my age group. That means that 60 women crossed the line before me. Women are amazingly strong distance runners. I just wonder if any of them were pushing strollers.