Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Swagtastic Virtual 10K Recap

I really enjoy virtual races. They're fun for all sorts of reasons as I mentioned when I talked about my first experience in 2009. Since then I have done a few more including the recent Swagtastic Virtual 10K.

This race is organized completely online and race bibs are emailed to registered participants prior to the five-day race window. Participants run the registered distance and self-report their results online.



I normally do long runs on the weekends. Since most of my "long" runs have been under 7 miles recently, it made perfect sense to run 6.2 miles on Saturday. To make it even better, we would be in Newport for the holiday weekend, so the route was going to be gorgeous.


The goal was to get out the door as early as possible: 1) to beat the heat and 2) we had a sailboat to launch at 11AM. So, a little after 7AM we laced up our shoes, grabbed our Simple Hydration water bottles filled with Cytomax and stepped out into the SOUP!

We made our way off the base and along the waterfront into town. Along the way, we passed numerous other runners, walkers, and bikers all out getting their workout done early. The sun was shining, the water was glistening, and the wind was...well, light. With little shade except through a section along America's Cup Ave, we pretty much felt like we were melting.


With each passing mile, the run got harder. At King's Park, our turn around point, we took a little break, used the port-a-potties, and took some pictures. It was difficult to get going again after that. On the way back, we walked and hydrated at each mile.

Mile 4: The Wave

This was a very tough, sweaty run. During the last mile, we saw a dog owner throwing a toy into the water for his dog to retrieve and I was ready to join the dog! I remember saying to mr. C, I just want this run to be over!



So we might not have made the smartest run decision on Saturday: it was warm, it was humid, it was sunny, and we were sunburned. We did it though. Fortunately receiving the swag from this race has nothing to do with how well you do.



What's your favorite virtual race? 



7 comments:

  1. Wow! That totally is swagtastic.


    P.S. I'll be hosting a virtual race next month. It's my first, and I'm super excited about it!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wow! That is swagtastick! Newport is absolutely a runners paradise. Nice choice!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I wish I lived there and could run along the waterfront all the time!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi Amy,

    Just wanted to let you know that I posted details this morning about my virtual race. You can check out the details here: http://www.enjoyingthecourse.com/2013/08/factors-of-36-virtual-race.html

    ReplyDelete

I love comments!

*