Neptune 8K Race

Last weekend while I was visiting friends in Virginia Beach, I also ran an 8k race. It is part of the Neptune Festival where there are pretty amazing sand sculptures to see. 





I never ran this race so I didn't really know what to expect, except I knew it was going to be a flat course because we were running at the oceanfront.

My friend that I was running with is a realtor and he happened to have a house for sale fairly close so we were able to park there and walk to the start.

We planned to run our own race and meet at the finish line and that is exactly what we did. As soon as the gun went off, so were we. 

I tried so hard not to go out too fast from the beginning.  I thought I was doing a pretty good job but when my first mile clocked in at 6:52 I knew I had to slow down a bit. I finally found my groove and I was cruising along the next few miles around 7:15 pace. I didn't see too many females ahead of me but then again I didn't know how far up I was from the front.

We finally made it onto the boardwalk where I always feel is my fastest part of the race but when a man pushing a stroller passed me, I'm not gonna lie, I felt a bit irritated. Luckily we didn't run too long on the boardwalk and I ended up passing him once we turned off. 

Before we started I asked my friend how far an 8k was. He told me around 4.2 miles. Well my Garmin beeped at mile 4 and the finish line was no where in site, I knew he was wrong. I still continued to push and I ended up passing two men ahead of me but no women, so I didn't know where I placed at the time.


 I remember crossing the finish line and heard the announcer say finishing with a smile on her face. And that's all I heard. It wasn't until I met up with my friend that he told me I placed 3rd female overall. I asked him, how do you know? He said, because they announced it. How did I miss that part? 


So of course we had to stay for the awards ceremony.  I received another nice medal but also they said my award would be mailed. You would think they would just give it to you there and save on the shipping? I'm curious to find out what it is.



All finishers received a medal and the post race goodies were chick- fil-a chicken biscuits along with several beers. It was a perfect day for a race and I would definitely run it again.  -L









17 comments:

  1. Great job! HA ha...yes, an 8K is just under a 5-mile distance ;-) I'm glad you kept going and finished strong!

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    1. Yes. I wish I would have known that when I first started!

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  2. You're killing it! Nice job. You should come to Chicago in March and run the Shamrock Shuffle. It's an 8k and finishes on the Chicago Marathon finish line! It's sooooo much fun.

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    1. In March I usually go to Virginia Beach again. They have a big marathon weekend with a full, half, and 8k as well. I will be in Chicago next week though:)

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  3. Awesome job, Lacey! That is so weird that they don't just give you your award.

    I am so often passed by people pushing strollers -- man, those people are STRONG!

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  4. Great job! Um. 5K is 3.1 and 10K is 6.2 so... 7.5K would be more than 4.5 miles. ;) We have a big 8K here, so I know it's 4.97. Don't forget to tell us what the award is!

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    1. Yea my friend nor myself are not very good in math...haha.

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  5. Awesome. You are killing it.

    Sounds like a really fun race. Wish I lived there.

    See you soon!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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  6. Awesome job! When I did an 8K I also had to the figure out the mileage in my head, lol

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  7. Wow Lacey that's a nice speedy race for you! Congrats you have been crushing it lately!

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  8. I've never been in the position to size up women running ahead of me in a race in order to try and get an AG award over them, LOLOLOLOLOL, so it's always interesting to me to hear when really fast runners, like you, do this - but hey, when you're gonna come in first, that's what needs to be done. Big congrats on that award!!

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