Watermelon 5k

I volunteered to be a walking guide for the American Council of the Blind at the Watermelon 5k. This was an incredible experience! The ACB is having their national conference in Orlando and a bunch of the members wanted to run the race. We each got assigned a partner and led them through the race.

The course was very crowded, over 3300 people, which made running a bit of a luxury. It took us 6 minutes just to cross the starting line! I was expecting to be walking the whole time but Donna, my partner, wanted to run. It took us about a mile just to get a clear enough to get some run time in.

The first mile and a half was a little shaky, mostly because of the crowds and just us getting acquainted to each others' leading and following style. Fortunately for me, she was a very good follower and was able to react quickly to changes. It was a following style that made you be a good leader. It reminded me a lot of leading and following in swing dancing and I told her she must be a good dancer. :)

We were able to do a 9:30 pace at times! I can't imagine trying to run that pace with someone leading me.

This was an incredible learning experience! There were just so many things you had to be conscious of in order to lead another person, especially at such a fast pace. Things you normally take for granted like small dips in the road and bumps. She couldn't see those and relied a lot on my cues, but held her own very well.

I had a great time and will definitely be volunteering to do this again. I just hope the next time, the race is a bit less crowded. It would've made this much more enjoyable.

Firefighter Challenge

About a month ago, Kitzzy told me about this event called the Firefighter Challenge. I've done a bunch of foot races and this sounded fun and different. I also thought it'd be kinda cool to see what my dad and grandpa did for a living. I went ahead and signed up.

The event consisted of five parts and participants went two at a time. The first part was a labyrinth that you crawl through. It was a covered tube with a bunch of obstacles and low-hanging tops. Even crawling really low, my back hit the top of the box and scraped it up pretty good.

We then had to run around a cone, grab a charged firehose, and drag it about 100 feet. Those firehoses are surprisingly heavy when filled with water, but the nozzle is pretty awesome and they move some serious water! Once we got the hose to the end, we had to knock over two cones.

Next we had to drag a firesled about 100 feet. This simulates dragging a person out of a building. A firesled is a sled loaded with weight, about 100lbs, with two straps to hold on to. It also has this rubber-band device that simulates knocking out the roof from a building. We dragged the sled backwards, which really does a number on your calves, and had to use the roof-knocker 5 times. This was surprisingly difficult.

Finally, we had to put on a firefighter airpack and run up 14 flights of stairs to the top of the Rosen Hotel on International Drive. This was crazy. I felt very dizzy at one point going up and could not catch my breath for nearly a half hour afterwards. I don't know why running up stairs is so incredibly difficult, but this was harder than just about any run I've done.

This entire event only last 5:53 for me, but it felt much, much longer. There were some firefighters that did this in full gear, and a few people that did it twice! I have a newfound respect for firefighters and am glad I got to experience this. I *might* do it again if I can train a LOT more before the next one.