It was a cold, cold morning in Ocala, and it got colder with every mile I drove closer to the start line. The one saving grace was that there was a stillness in the air; had there been a buffeting windchill it would have been really brutal. As it was, I was chilled throughout the run, once again never unzipping my Road to 50 jacket.
So this is how 2016’s marathon schedule ended.
It was a smaller contingent of runners out and about — some had gone home, some had gone off to other New Year’s Eve/Day running events. We had two newbies, one who opted for the 5 AM start and one who was pretty fleet of foot who ran with me in the first loop. As is often the case when running with someone else, neither one of us wanted to be responsible for holding the other back so I think we both kept pushing on the first lap. When we looped, he said he was going to slow down to make sure he’d finish. I wish he’d told me that half a loop sooner as I was seriously huffing and puffing on that first loop, far earlier than I normal huff and puff.
All of the volunteers and the runners have been supportive and just a great group of folks to spend a few hours with each day as we literally run down the clock on 2016. My thanks to them all, and frankly everyone who’s spent some time on the road, read this blog, or wished me well in this crazy little Run Kevin Run Dot Com project.
But back to the race at hand: I finally snapped a proper photo of the far aid station crew on my fifth loop of the day (that’s loop 30 for those keeping cumulative scores at home).
Rounding the final turn and sprinting past the park’s 5K loop checkered flag marking and onto the Savage Seven coned finish, I clocked in at 3:16:59.
Here’s a shot of the volunteers working the tables today:
I grabbed a couple of Oreos and snapped a few celebratory finish pics in the parking lot.
I think the ribbon is purple for today — which is only a partial shame as I was hoping for indigo (ROYGBI and all… with V for violet on day 7).
I’ll be back to Ocala one more time tomorrow, this time joining the 5 AM start… which means my alarm is set for 2:30 AM. Maybe I should just watch the ball drop at midnight and get in my car then. Nah. I’ve always kinda hated New Years. It’s probably bottom three holidays for me.
In any case, 2016 is in the books. Click here for the final post of 2016: it is an admittedly far from exhaustive list of personal MILEstones.