I started my 2019 running career off with a bang (sort of). My first race of the year was the Space Race 3k. I almost completely forgot when this race was happening and luckily the day of the race I had looked at my calendar. The really neat thing about this race is that it takes place at the Kennedy Space Center Visitors Complex which is home to a ton of NASA history and ROCKETS! Anyway, it was in the low 60s as the sun was setting. I initially thought the run was a 3-miler as previous years this race was a 4-miler. So, when I approached the finish line I thought I had done something wrong. I had been pacing myself too much and I could have gone faster. Anyway, I was proud of my 26:02 finish.
My second race of the year was less than 48 hours later and that was the Shark Bite 5k at New Smyrna Beach. It was in the low 60s again but extremely breezy which made it feel really cold. Before the sun came up I drove up to New Smyrna Beach with Will who was running the race with me. We found a parking spot a bit away from the event and just chilled as we had some time before the race. When we finally made our way to the event area I realized that I had left my race bib back in the car and so I jogged back to the car, retrieved my bib, and jogged back to the starting line just a minute or two before the start. I did alright in the race but I just ran out of gas about halfway through. I finished with a time of 42:33 which I am fine with. And of course I got a HUGE finishers medal and a pint glass.
