2020 Virtual Mother’s Day Four Miler Race Recap

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links…

Keeping the Virtual Mother’s Day Four Miler Fun

If I was going to wait 31 years to run another Mother’s Day race, why not wait until a global pandemic to make it more interesting? With all races switching to virtual to help slow the spread of the corona virus, I signed up for the Virtual Mother’s Day Four Miler. Since I was injured and had to walk my first race ever and without any shenanigan loving friends, I decided to keep my recap fun and lighthearted. I hope you’ll enjoy!

About the Race

PR Races’ Mother’s Day Four Miler has been on my radar for a couple of years, but our family plans have always made it impossible to run. This year, though, with the race switching to virtual and the window for running being anytime between May 8th and May 10th, it seemed like the perfect year to register. Adding in a cute women’s cut white race shirt was icing on the cake.

Proceeds from the race benefit Devotion to Children, an organization committed to providing access to affordable educational and childcare programs for economically disadvantaged children, making the decision to participate all the more gratifying.

Packet Pickup

Because of the need for social distancing during the corona virus pandemic, our race packets were mailed to us and arrived a couple of weeks prior to the race. The packets included this cute race shirt, a bib, safety pins, a finisher’s medal, and a sheet of photo props to cut out and use in our selfies.

The Course

The fun thing about virtual races is that they can be run pretty much wherever you choose. If it had been a nice day, I would have gone outside, but as luck would have it the wind chill was in the 30’s. I’ll run in almost any weather, but I’m a weeny when it comes to walking so with the cold wind howling, I chose to stay inside.

I’d describe the course I chose as flat and fast…

But quite boring without any change in scenery…

Getting Ready to Run

I arrived in my basement at 8:45 AM on Saturday morning and hit the rest room before making my way to my treadmill (affiliate link). I don’t normally wear my race shirt and my hair down for a race, but during a pandemic anything goes; especially when you’re injured and have to walk rather than run.

I sized up my competition, but they seemed much younger than me so perhaps today would be my day for an age group win even though I would be walking.

And I’m Off!

Promptly at 8:53 AM, I hit the start button on my treadmill and I was off and running walking!

The First Mile

With my treadmill speed set at 4.0, I hit my first mile at 15:00.

I saw a really cute race photographer as I finished my first mile and gave him a smile.

Moving on to Mile 2

I hit the second mile right on the money as well, but snapped my picture a second too late.

I looked up just in time to see the same photographer at mile two. I couldn’t tell for sure, but I thought I saw a shy smile coming from behind his camera.

Continuing Along Mile 3

With laser focus on my pace, I hit my third mile right on the money maintaining a steady 15:00 minute/mile overall pace.

During my final mile, I caught a movement out of my left eye and feared someone was closing in on me so I increased my speed to 4.2 (14:16 minute/mile pace).

When I realized it was nothing more than the wind whipping a fern and not someone passing me, I slowed my speed back to 4.0. 😉

The Finish Line

Miraculously, I ran my tangents perfectly and finished my 4-miler with my treadmill displaying exactly 4 miles. How amazing is that?! I finished my first ever walking race (not to be confused with race walking) with a time of 59:35 (14:54 pace).

And just as I crossed the finish line – there he was – that cute photographer snapped this picture of me without my usual pained finish-line grimace.

My splits were…

• Mile 1 – 15:00
• Mile 2 – 15:00
• Mile 3 – 15:00
• Mile 4 – 14:35

Shoutout to the Winners

Once I hit the stop button on my treadmill, I grabbed my medal to pose for a picture with my bling.  Just about that time the cute photographer walked over and offered to take the picture – I even got his number before he walked away!

And since no one passed me on my treadmill during the race, I’m declaring myself the winner!

Please don’t check out the race results to see the real outcome of this virtual race…

• • 1st – Keira D’Amato – Midlothian, VA – 20:05 (5:01 pace)
• • 2nd – Vinnie DeRocco – Leesburg, VA  – 22:12 (5:33 pace)
• • 3rd – Patrick DeRocco – Ashburn, VA 23:24 (5:51 pace)
• • 4th – Todd Bibb – Centreville, VA – 23:28 (5:52 pace)

Post-Race Fun

Immediately after my race, and I mean immediately, I FaceTimed a client for a virtual personal training session. There was no time for mayoring for this runner girl! Of course, there were no other runner friends to find and catch up with either… 😉

Medal Monday

Even a virtual race deserves to be celebrated on Medal Monday so I used my Mother’s Day roses and a beautiful blue sky as the backdrop for this pretty piece of hardware.

Questions:

• • Did you or have you ever run a Mother’s Day race?
• • Do you wear themed outfits for holiday races?
• • Have you run a virtual race?

Disclaimer:  This post contains affiliate links which means if you click on the blue product link and then make a purchase, I will receive a commission for referring you. You will pay no more or less for the product; however, Amazon will show their gratitude for my referral by paying me.