I ran the 10k virtually in Central Florida. Went out with three of my runner girls early to get in the miles. It was quite humid here, and I remember thinking it was probably cooler weather in Kansas City for the actual race! :)

Spotted a local peacock and heard more of them up in nearby trees. A lot of my running routes in Winter Park have peacocks, and after years of running here, I never tire of seeing the beautiful birds.

On the nice side of things, it may have been hot, but I ran my 10k averaging a pace of 13:52 which is good for me in the heat. Not a 10k PR, but a great pace nonetheless.

Really liked the swag the race sent out. The shirt is a nice soft tee, which I can wear whenever (not a tech shirt), and the medal is really nice. The tee is one of my favorite shirts from a virtual race this year.

This was a really fun virtual race experience. I love Wonder Woman, so the theme got me interested right away.

I have run the Wonder Woman virtual before, but this year's event had an awesome 1/4 zip pullover instead of a tech shirt. Talk about great swag! Not to mention, two wristbands and the beautiful Wonder Woman medal.

The day I ran my 10k virtual, the temps were a bit cooler for Florida, which made for great running conditions. I felt so good that I ran another 4 miles after!

I really enjoyed how the folks that put on the race encourage everyone to use the hashtag, #IAMWONDERWOMAN during training and when posting their race experience. Loved looking through all the neat photos from runners all over.

This race is truly one to run if you love Wonder Woman and/or superheroes. Be great to run it in person in one of the race cities next year. The great thing is, the race management offers both in-person and virtual options for this race every year.

Check out my swag unboxing video:
https://youtu.be/llD4im5vyYE

And, blog review:
http://girlsgotsole.com/blog/race-recap-virtual-dc-wonder-woman-10k/

This was my 3rd time running the Mount Dora Half Marathon, and it's become a favorite way to end my racing each year. The race is about 40 minutes away from me, so it's pretty easy drive to Mount Dora.

I picked up my packet the day before, Saturday and it was super easy and fast. The race had a few vendors there, and I checked them out as well. The highlight was they had Olympian Bill Rodgers on hand to sign his books and take photos with runners. He is a really nice guy, met him a few years ago when I first ran the Mount Dora 5k.

Race morning, it was raining. The forecast was nothing but rain, rain and more rain. Despite my wishes that it go away, I made the best of it and ended up having a great time. It did rain the entire 13.1 miles, though there were a couple of times when it was barely noticeable.

Because of the rainy conditions, I didn't get to fully enjoy the scenery that I typically do at the race. I told my friend who I ran with that she had to do this race again next year, because while it was okay running in the rain, it's harder to appreciate the beauty of Mount Dora that way.

I didn't finish in the greatest time, but I felt that the race support was awesome throughout the course. Volunteers took very good care of keeping runners hydrated and cheered us on. Love the volunteers!

After finishing, I love being able to take Christmas-themed photos with the big inflatable Santa and other fun backdrops and themed portions of the start/finish line. I think the fun holiday theme makes this race unique and I love that. And, the medal is fun too, love it!

I look forward to going back to run the race again in 2020, such a great way to end the year.

This was my second year running the Mount Dora Half Marathon, and this year, I ran it as a BibRavePro this year.

I enjoyed the race a lot this year, it didn't feel as hard as last year to me. Ha! I think that having run in Atlanta back in October had my legs a bit more used to hills. Don't get me wrong, Mount Dora has some good hills (yes, there are hills in FL), but if you train for them, it's not too bad.

The race itself is very scenic, I love the big old trees that line a lot of the route, and I especially enjoy the last few miles along the water. It's a highlight of running in the town of Mount Dora.

On race morning, I found parking pretty easily, as there are a few public parking garages near the race start/finish area. If you get there by 6am, it's not an issue at all. Once you walk over to the starting area, there were port-o-lets and pre-race water and coffee. While there were more port-o-lets than last year, I do think they need to add more next year as the lines grew for the maybe 9 or 10 that they had.

Race start went smoothly, and since it's not a huge race, about 1600 runners, it's easy to get moving right off the bat. I easily got into a groove with my pace because of this, so that was definitely nice!

Through the miles, I enjoyed the scenery like I said prior, and that really makes Mount Dora special. It's a small town, and the race gives you that experience.

Support throughout the route was great, the volunteers did a great job with water and Gatorade, I never saw any issues with anything running low, and I'm a slower runner.

The only issue I saw out on the route was that while it was supposed to be a closed course, cars seemed to somehow get out on the road during the back miles. It was a little nerving as they got a bit too close in my opinion a couple of times.

The finish is very cool, I love how it's Christmas themed, and there's a big inflatable Santa! Plenty of neat photo opps for everyone for the season. And, the medal was cute, a candy cane spinner.

In prior years, the race shirt featured the iconic logo with the antlers, and this year it was totally different. It feels more like a summer shirt rather than a fun Christmasy one. I hope they bring back the holiday themed shirt in future years.

This year, the race seemed a bit less organized to me, and it was the 7th year for it. They changed the 5k from Sunday (same day as the half marathon), to Saturday, so that they could add on a two-race challenge. That's great, but this change was made sometime over the summer months, and communication on that was not as good as it should have been with folks running the 5k. Hopefully, since this was the first year for the two-race Dora Challenge, the organization on that will be better in 2019. A multi-race challenge is always fun, but needs to be planned well for runners and everyone to feel well prepared.

I would go back and run this race again, as it's a local one for me. It's about a 40 minute drive, and I do enjoy running through Mount Dora. If you get the chance to run this one, especially the half marathon, I do recommend it!

You can check out my more personal review of the race on my blog:
http://girlsgotsole.com/blog/race-recap-2018-mount-dora-half-marathon/

The OUC Orlando Half Marathon is my hometown half. It's THE half marathon to run if you live in the Orlando area. And, if you are able to visit this time of year, you should run it!

The race is put on by Track Shack, which always does an amazing job on their race events. The OUC Orlando Half Marathon is in it's 42nd year and draws 5,000 runners each year to run it.

In 2018, the race course was changed from previous years, removing about a mile of brick roads. The course contained approximately 1.6 miles of brick all in the first 5 miles. As someone who has run OUC four other years, this was definitely a plus!

The race takes you through five downtown neighborhoods, and has live entertainment throughout. Support is scattered at about every 1 1/2 miles, with nine stops total. The volunteers manning the stops are awesome, some even dress up with themed costumes.

The weather on race day this year was pretty good, we had temps in the low to mid 60s which was great considering this one can vary. You just never know in Florida this time of the year!

The medal, as usual was awesome this year. I love how it's always so well themed to Orlando and Lake Eola which is so prominent.

Post-race, there's great live music, beer and massages! You can also get some awesome photos with Lake Eola as the backdrop, as well as the beautiful swans. If you are a Central Florida local, you owe it to yourself to run this race!

You can check out my personal race recap on my blog:
http://girlsgotsole.com/blog/race-recap-2018-ouc-orlando-half-marathon/