So at a birthday party at the end of last month I was talking to a friend that was just getting back into exercising and walking. Another friend mentioned the Run for the Trees 5k at the end of April. So I agreed that if he signed up for a 5k that I would do it with him… whether he wanted to run, walk/run, or just walk. So we decided that night to sign up for the Run for the Trees 5k. The main reason being that everyone who participates in the race gets a baby tree at the end. How cool is that?
The course is point to point, one of the only in Orlando. The last mile or so of the race is on “the tree-canopied, wilderness dirt road of Genius Drive. This privately owned glimpse of old Florida is opened to the public only once a year, for this event.” Well that is pretty cool. The first two miles were through neighborhoods full of beautiful old homes and GIGANTIC newer homes. Then you turn on to Genius Drive and it is like you are in a whole different world. One of the property is on Lake Virginia and the other side of the property is on Lake Mizell. And the property is FULL of huge old trees and peacocks. Gigantic peacocks. And yes, the Katy Perry song Peacock was in my head the whole time. But I can honestly saw this is one of the prettiest race courses I’ve been on. When you get to the end they load you on school buses to get you back to the starting point. We were really impressed when we only had to wait 5 minutes to catch a bus back. I think the last time I was on a school bus was over 16 years ago. The only gripe I have about the race was the parking. There was only one way in and one way out, so leaving was a bit of a pain. Plus the athletic fields were in use by the end of the race, so there were even more people and cars around. Oh well, it was still a great race.
Another really cool thing about this race was the shirt you got for participating. Most of the time I’m not usually excited about the shirt, but this time I was. First off, it was long sleeved. Being in Florida we don’t end up with a lot of long sleeved race shirts, even though I’ve been in a couple of races where I had to wear long sleeves and gloves. Second, it had a drawing (by a local artist) of a local 2,500 year old tree that recently burned down on it. They are trying to get the funds together to replace the tree, and some of the money from this race went towards that.
I definitely think we will be doing this race again next year!
