Clermont Waterfront parkrun (70)

· by · in USA. ·

Normally when planning a holiday to Florida, most people get excited about the same things; Disney, Universal Studios, shopping, etc, but life as a parkrun tourist changes things ever so slightly. I was more than happy to spend time in the parks but there was only two things I personally wanted to do while I was there – try to see a rocket launch at Kennedy Space Center and run a parkrun. And so, it was my only stipulation on the whole trip, I didn’t mind in what order we did things, I just wanted to be able to run on the Saturday morning so tried to steer everyone to that being one of the ‘rest days’.

The parkrun at Clermont is a lovely course but an early start (7:30am) which might catch out some UK tourists who know the ‘Always Saturday, Always 9am’ slogan and think it applies everywhere in the world. I was very grateful for the early start as it was really hot even by that time, probably the hottest day I have had while I have been here so far! The heat really affected my time too as I seemed to be on VERY good form. After the first 2km I was looking surprisingly possible for a sub 23:00 and a definite PB but the heat hit me like a ton of bricks at about 3-3.5km and by the time I got to approx 4km I could do nothing more than slow to a walk for 500m while I tried to regulate myself (another 500m running and I might have not made the finish line). Seems strange given how long I lived and ran in a country with similar heat, perhaps I am just not as conditioned to it at the moment. In the end though, my poor finish was probably a good thing because my watch seemed to be 8 seconds out from the official time, despite starting as we went (maybe only a couple of seconds after) and stopping directly as I crossed the line. As it happens it did not affect anything, but I would possibly have been a little frustrated myself had I been close to a PB.

Today was also a rare day in that the future Mrs parkrun50in50 also ran with me, taking her to 9 parkruns in 9 events in 4 different countries! She is not a runner by choice and wouldn’t normally come with me so early in the morning so it was nice that she decided to today.

COURSE DETAILS:

Clermont Waterfront parkrun (70)

After a number of UK-style parkruns with ingenius ways of winding 5km out of a small park area, making descriptions of the courses seem like a medieval tome, it is nice to be describing a traditional out-and-back course again! I am told that the course at Clermont changes fairly regularly due to other events in the area, but I was able to run their main course this morning so the description will be as I ran.

The start and finish line are in the same place, near to a small wooden veranda halfway up the western edge of Lake Minneola, on the South Lake Trail (also known as the Lake Apopka Trail). From the start you follow the trail south, keeping the lake on your left side. After approx 1.5km, the trail path moves slightly away from the edge of the lake behind the Rowing Club before returning with a sharp left and right turn just after the Lilly’s On The Lake restaurant. Once back on the lakeside, you run for another 500m before turning straight back on yourself and running back exactly along the same route as before.

RUN DETAILS:

  • Time: 25:00
  • Place: 36/127
  • Gender Place: 25
  • Age Category Place (SM30-34): 3
  • Age Graded Score: 52.00%
  • Most Events Global Position: 525

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