February 28, 2025
We toed the line for the Lake Wales Mardi Gras 5K in the soothing 75-degree air of an early Friday evening. Part of the 42nd annual Lake Wales Mardi Gras celebration, which also included a New Orleans style Mardi Gras parade and a festival with live music and food vendors, the race skimmed the shores of Lake Wailes in Lake Wales, Florida. (Yes. The town name is spelled differently than the lake name.)
Traversing half the circumference of Lake Wailes, the event unfolded on an asphalt recreational path. The out and back and out and back course began with a half a mile in the counterclockwise direction of the lake circumference, doubled back, passed through the start/finish area to the sounds of a cheering crowd, continued for another mile in the clockwise direction, then doubled back toward the finish line. The double double-back enabled us to high five twice during the race, which was nice.
The overall winner came in at 19:45 and was the only runner to break twenty minutes. The top female runner finished in at 23:44 and was 10th overall. Julie finished 48th of 224 overall, 15th of 156 females, and 2nd of 9 in her age group. Ryan finished 8th of 224 overall, 8th of 68 males, and 1st of five in his age group.
Detailed Race Report for Running Nerds
The good news is – coming into our Florida race, we both felt in tune with our bodies and had a sense of what kind of race lay ahead of us. And we were both right.
For Ryan, that resulted in a solid and strong race, not as fast as the prior few, but feeling strong and finishing with a respectable 23:08. For Julie, that resulted in a gentle hellfest of heaviness, heat and a heart-rate that wouldn’t quit. She managed to bring it in under 30 minutes with a 29:29, but missed her 27:30 pace she had started the race thinking she might land.
Let’s dig deeper.
It wasn’t long into our time in Florida where it dawned on Julie that whatever race we ended up doing in the Sunshine State was not going to be as breezy as the cool winds on the beaches. Was it a stressful state? Definitely not. There was a tremendous amount of relaxing going on. Well, except for race day, which was our most jam-packed day of our Florida stay, including a lovely three hour morning kayak followed by a 5 hour drive – neither of which do much to get your legs in gear for a good 3.1 miles of stretching out. But, no, that wasn’t what did Julie in at all. And she knew it during each short mid-week run she did. And she didn’t care. No, there is one word that can describe Julie’s heavy, sluggish, mildly nauseous Florida 5K. Food! Glorious food. Once we stepped into Florida, Julie started to see all of her favorite treats pop up in gluten free and dairy free fashion and she had no intention of holding back.
Well, there was the candy popcorn and of course the gluten free Nutella crepe in St. Augustine. Yum. Then there was the, oh, what would we say, approximately 20 pounds of paella in Little Havana that Julie spent the next few days pounding to get through without letting any of that delicious seafood go to waste. This particular paella was extra heavy on the rice. Once Julie found a bakery in Key West that had plenty of gluten free and dairy free treats, including a heavenly mini Key Lime pie tart, well, you can guess how little Julie cared to think of any future 5K. Though this whole trip has not been one that Julie has marked with any kind of culinary restraint, there was no place that was more evident than here in Florida. Well, that’s not entirely true. After buying popcorn and a crepe, Julie considered an açaí bowl and a boba tea in the same evening, and decided to cut it off at just the popcorn and crepe. So, very restrained.
All that plus the fact that, when Julie was heading over to the race start is when she realized that, after 3 hours in the sun on kayaks that morning, she had forgot to put on sun block and also neglected to rehydrate afterwards. So she started the race thirsty and with a couple 2-3 pounds of paella somewhere still moving through her digestive system. Can you believe, before the race even began, Julie felt like she couldn’t give a tortoise a run for its money. Somewhere around mile 2.5, those pounds of paella popped into Julie’s head and, all of a sudden, she found herself with a mild gag reflex. The smells of carnival food that would usually intoxicate and lure Julie with strength to the end, now seemed to be making Julie’s well fed stomach turn.
When Julie started the race, she decided, despite her original thought that she’d try to leverage her months of recovery races to start racing again, which she had made good on in South Carolina and Georgia just before, that it might be time for another recovery run. She decided to run a little faster than recovery, but not with enough strength to actually think of it as racing. Rather than go for negative splits, her goal was to hit and hold an average pace of 9:30. She finished the race with a time of 29:29 that gave her an average pace of 9:31, so, on that front, she was content that she was able to deliver on that. However, the execution was flawed, at best. Her first mile she erred on the low end, clocking in at a 9:21 and, by the last mile, she was barely holding on to what should have been an easy, forever pace. That paella fought her the whole way. In mile 3, thanks to heat, humidity and a slight feeling of dehydration, Julie noticed her heart rate creeping up to 180. She took 2 teeny stops to try to bring it down, but, while finishing the race with a final push, that heart rate was having none of it and sailed up to 186. She felt the fitness there to have run a whole lot faster, but not the general lightness and hydration. After 5K and plenty of stomach turning, you may be asking if Julie was feeling any regret for her gustatory indulgences. What do you think?
As for Ryan, was this an issue? If you know Ryan, you know the answer. He loves a good cookie or pastry – but Ryan has never used the word “portion control” in his life. He is walking, breathing portion control. He has no excessive bone in his body.
He started out, going in, just doing his usual, wanting to keep it under 8 minute miles. He gave into the adrenaline of the race a bit at the beginning, going a little faster than preferred. After a quarter of a mile, he managed to slow himself down and settled into a 7:35 pace. Once he got past the first half mile and his legs warmed up into the race, he pretty much had the same level of perceived level of effort for the duration. As he loosened up, that same effort delivered faster times. He felt good, solid and strong. He ran a pace where, by the end, he was feeling it and ready for it to be over, but not killing himself. He knew, if he wanted to do the best he could do, he could push harder, but it would have really hurt.
He had a couple of those moments where someone keys in on you and starts working to beat you. The female that ultimately took first place for females worked hard to hang with him, but he could tell by how hard she was breathing, she wasn’t likely to keep it for the duration and she eventually fell away. There were a few others that he caught up to that tried to hang with him before he passed. Then there was one more, in the last half mile. He passed this one guy that was huffing and puffing. Ryan didn’t think he would see him again as he ran past the guy based on the way he was breathing. But, that guy decided to really gut it out and surged past Ryan in the end. He was working for it and he clearly wanted it more than Ryan did. After the race, they fist bumped. The guy was happy for having really gave it his all. It’s a good feeling when you finish a race and you know you actually delivered on running the best race you could, even when it hurt.
Ryan ran steady and was working at a level where he had to work to stay steady. He came out of the race feeling like he was regaining some fitness after a mid-trip plateau. The best part for him in this race and the last couple of races was the feeling of strength. You can run two races with the same pace, but they can be totally different races depending on whether you feel that strength. It’s a hard sensation to describe. It doesn’t make the running feel less hard, but it just feels more solid in some way. Even though Julie struggled in this race and felt a heart rate out of control, dehydration and a heavy stomach all weighing her down, she felt it too. Underneath all of that, there was this strength. A strength that makes it so that, in some moments of the race, you might even find your mind wandering away from thinking about how much you have left to run, even if you are otherwise uncomfortable. It’s a feeling like your legs are really underneath you and you can just run.
So, things are looking strong for us coming into our last handful of races. Next stop Mardi Gras and Louisiana. We’re sure Julie will show all sorts of restraint there.
R and J in the USA 
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