… so after the Miami Half Marathon on Saturday morning… we went back to the room and woke up Jillian and Maisey… went for a great breakfast… and did what everyone wants to do after a good hard race… spent the rest of the day shopping (just shoot me)… but it was everyone’s vacation, so I sucked it up and went along.
The next morning though, dad got even… everyone had agreed to do a “fun race”… and the four of us did the “Down 2 Earth, Oleta Trail Run”. Essentially it was a trail race in a state park about 10k north of Miami where we had just done the half the day before, so it wasn’t even out of the way. I knew you could do the 5k, 10k or 21k races, as it was 5k loops but other than that, I didn’t really know much about it. I had just looked up on the internet to see if there was going to be any races on while we were in town… you may not know this about me, but I love racing!
My girls… well, they don’t love racing as much as me… but like me with the shopping, they sucked it up and went along. Maisey and Jill are great swimmers… runners, not so much. Jo was a little apprehensive about doing another race right after our second half marathon in 6 days… but they are unfortunate enough to have to travel with someone who isn’t smart enough to know better!
So the 3 girls decided to do the 5k trail race… I went with my motto “if it’s worth doing, it’s worth over-doing”… go for my 3rd half marathon in 7 days!
So trail races can be anything and I have to say this one was probably the most fun trail race I’ve ever done! It was single track, only one reasonable hill per 5k loop and the rest was the most technical trail race I’ve ever run! It was fantastic! All I kept thinking about was how much the running gang at home would love this race! It was through real jungle… trees only a couple feet apart the whole way, very hard to pass anyone, and up and down and left and right all the way… constant turning, jumping, roots, logs, ditches, dry river beds… I even did a nice face plant once, but I knew that was coming! Regardless, it was a lot of fun!
It was so unlike the race the day before, this race you never really “opened it up”, you just set a pace and ran through the jungle! There ended up being a girl running right behind me, she and I were running at a comfortable chatting speed for the whole race, we had a great time… funny thing is, I got to know all about her and she was only about 4 feet behind me for the whole race… but the trail was so narrow and technical, there was no point when she was beside me… so I never knew what she looked like! Just kinda strange to have this great chat and never see who you are talking too!
So coming into the end of second loop, I told my new friend that although I loved the race and was doing fine, I was feeling kind of guilty about making the girls wait while I did 3 more laps than them and if they were there I was going to bail out. Sure enough Maisey, Jill and Joanne were at the finish/turn around cheering me in! So I cut out… it was a very casual race and we got to know the race director very well, about the friendliest, most hyper-active Philipino guy you would ever want to meet… who was so proud of his race and genuinely enjoyed seeing everyone come out and have fun running through the jungle! The similarity between him and myself didn’t go unnoticed and he loved the fact that “a family that runs together, stays together”! Naturally, I told him all about LOST!
And the funny thing about Maisey, Jill and Joanne… they all LOVED the race! And they all did REALLY well! Maisey was the second female overall, Jill was 5th and Joanne was 6th! Jillian would have even finished higher, but she got lost! The best line of the day was when the three of them started out together and Jillian took off like a shot and Maisey turned to Joanne and said “can she even run 5k?”. Turns out she could. Good thing dad twisted their arms to get them all in the race! What a great day!
The race is run several times per year, and they even race mountain bikes on the course too, so if you are ever down in Miami, do look it up… it was awesome!
PS. I won’t bore you with the rest of the trip… but there was something for everyone… we drove from Miami to Naples to see Grandma and Grandpa Kent (that many of you know from the LOST Race!)… then we went to Orlando to Harry Potter Land in Universal Studios… the girls are HUGE Harry Potter fans! And a good time was had by all!
Cheers,
Rob