This weekend I had the opportunity to run the Dora Double Challenge at the Mount Dora Half Marathon Weekend in Mount Dora, Florida! Mount Dora is a cute little historical city in Central Florida, just north west of Orlando. ince I'm in the area for the Christmas holiday anyway, I thought it would be fun to check out this race as part of the BibRave Pro Ambassador Team. This was a fun, festive race that made me feel safe and so comfortable to make a return to in-person racing. I'm excited to tell y'all about my experience!

The Dora Double Challenge consists of two races -- the Mount Dora 5K on Saturday, and the Mount Dora Half Marathon on Sunday. I'm a big fan of race challenges, so I knew I had to sign up for both races. Because we drove down from New England and didn't arrive into the area until late Friday afternoon, I opted to wait until the morning of the 5K to pick up my race weekend packet. I still wanted to lay out my race morning outfit before bed, though. Flat runners are a pre-race must!

Luckily, it was super easy to navigate everything on race morning, and was able to pick up my packet with no issue. The packet pick up was located in the pavillion near the 5k start line, and everything went very smoothly. I first picked up my bib, which came with a tote bag and two really awesome magnets - one for each race. I thought these were such cool swag items, and I definitely hadn't gotten anything like these items at other races I've done! I then picked up my race shirts and was given a red shirt for the 5K and a black shirt for the half. They also had green shirts for the half marathon, which I believe were in men's sizes. It was so exciting to get a piece of swag for each one of the races I was completing.

After a quick stop at the car to drop my newly acquired packet and slap my race bib on my leg, I headed up to the start line which was SUPER festive! There was soap snow, stilt walkers dressed as elves and toy soldiers, and (of course) a GIANT inflatable Santa.

I was able to meet up with my fellow BibRave Pro Samantha, who was also doing the Double, and chat with her before we took off for the 5K! Due to COVID, I haven't had the chance to meet any BRPs in person during my first year as a Pro. It was so great to change that on Sunday and actually meet someone that I've been talking to for over a year! I hope 2021 brings more opportunities to meet my fellow Pros. Fingers crossed for more in-person races!

The race kicked off at 7:45am and the race organizers made it clear for runners to arrange themselves by pace, and only enter the corral once their pace group was called, to promote social distancing. Whether or not runners actually followed this directive is... questionable... BUT I will say that participants were really great about wearing masks in the corral, which was a relief. The race organizers were also great about reminding folks to continue to wear their masks in the start and finish areas of the race. I was off and running around 7:50am!

I didn't take any photos during the race because I was actually feeling really good and wanted to see how hard I could push myself. I was CRUISING for this entire race and ended up going sub-27! It was great to really push myself hard through this race just to see what my body could do. (I also think I was just really excited to be running a race, so that could have added to the pep in my step 😂) According to chip timing, I ran 3.1 in 26:53.54, an 8:40 pace!

The finish area still had a VERY festive vibe, and there was plenty of space to social distance, which folks were pretty good about. I'd say participants weren't as great at wearing their masks at the finish as they were at the start, but at the very least everyone was spread out well. One thing I liked about the post-race experience is that instead of having tables of bananas, waters, etc. that runners could grab, they put everything in one large gallon baggie and let runners take a bag as they were exiting the finishing chute. They also included your medal in this bag, so as to reduce contact of passing the medal from volunteer to runner. I thought that was a great idea to promote safety!

Before heading out I had to do a lil selfie photo shoot with my medal. Of course I needed to take a selfie with the giant Santa, and once I had walked away from the finish area and made sure no one was around me, I took another photo with my ~smiling face~ 😂 I headed home after getting my snaps in, and got prepared for Day 2 - the half marathon!

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