Red Carpet Run 10k Race Recap

My first road race of the season was the Red Carpet Run 10k. Last year, this race was my very first 10k so I was very excited to run it again and see how much progress I had made. This year, they relocated the entire race to a different town so the course was brand new to me. Will and my friend Melissa ran this race with me although they both opted for the 15k distance. September is definitely still summer in Florida and I was glad to opt for the shorter distance!

The course started in a cute historic downtown area although I couldn't see much of it at the race start since it was still dark out. This year, the race organizers decided to start the 15k, 10k and 5k all at the same time which meant the first 1.5 miles or so were quite crowded! The course was an out and back with three turn arounds, one for each distance. After the 5k turn around, there was plenty of space to run even while doing my intervals.

There were pacers for the 15k so I decided to try and keep up with the 12:00 min/mi pacer until the 10k turn around where I would be on my own. It had been a long time since I have run at that pace since I really slowed down my training run pace for the summer. I know that I had been doing a good job keeping up my fitness over the summer but there's always that niggling doubt that you've some how lost it! While I was definitely pushing myself, I was able to keep up with or ahead of the pacer for the first half of the race.

The course itself ran along the river in a mostly residential area. It made for a very pretty run as the sun was coming up. I was very happy that this course did not include running over a causeway but there were some baby Florida hills. The area where I do my training is super flat so I notice any little hill! All of the volunteers along the course were dressed in movie themed costumes and they had movie trivia along the route too.

I started out running a 45 45 interval which is what I have been using for my long runs all summer. But I started losing a bit of steam after mile four so I switched to a 30 30 interval. As I learned during the Star Wars Half Marathon, switching to a shorter interval is a great way to maintain pace while giving your body a break. Now I always keep a back up set of intervals programed into my phone in case I need them.

In the end, I still had enough energy to sprint to the finish for a final time of 1:14:01 which is over 5 minutes faster than my time from last year! And I came in at an 11:56 min/mi average pace. I was really happy with my performance.

After the finish line, I got to hang out with the other 5k and 10k racers while I waited for Will and Melissa to finish. They both also had great runs and it was fun to get to do a race together after such a long running break.

I love running in costume so I decided to wear the Cinderella running costume from WDW Marathon Weekend. The top and headband are by Crowned Athletics and the skirt is by Sparkle Athletic. There weren't a whole lot of other runners dressed up for this race but I did get some complements on my outfit!