The only exception I made to this was a 5k we did this weekend. We had already signed up for it and I really wanted to try something different and this one was held at night. Everyone was given 2 glowsticks: one to go around your neck and the other around your wrist. When bent, these give off a glow so traffic could see you. They're kinda hard to see in these pics since it is still daylight here...
It wasn't long before this gorgeous full moon appeared. Snapped a quick one before the race. The picture does NOT do this beautiful moon justice.
The course was well marked as far as turns go, but not marked (or not seen) as far as mileage goes. They had large bright lights along the way that help provide visibility.
My plan was to run as carefully as I could so as not to destroy the time I'd already been "down" and have to start over. This meant running much slower...as far as the race itself is concerned and as far as visibility of the streets was concerned. This is, also, the first time I had not run with my iPod. There is just something about hearing my breathing and foot strikes that I do NOT like. It is so distracting to me. And since I've begun running consistently 2 years ago, I've not run without my music. I made that decision for a couple of reasons so I could be aware of traffic around me and to keep me from running a faster pace. That way I wouldn't be tempted to over-stretch the area I've been babying. My time was absolutely horrible but I was happy when I crossed the line...no pain and no strain. With no concern to winning or PR-ing this event, it really made for happy, stress-free running.
There was a band performing during this whole time that was fantastic. And, may I say not a one looked like they had graduated high school yet! They were all very young. The music AND vocals were phenomal for their age and experience. They played songs from the 70's to present and were very entertaining. This was a family time and many came to support the event. Some came in and some ran in costume. I really wished I could have gotten a picture of one child. She was dressed like a lamp with a lamp shade over her head and two holes cut out to see through and there was a light on just above the rim of the shade...soooo cute!! Especially seeing her dancing around to the music. Kinda reminded me of what you might see on an old Adams Family episode.
Barbecue sandwiches were served to runners and were delicious...yummmm! We stayed for the awards as we really enjoyed the atmosphere, music and children all around. There were 208 runners; their largest race so far. The shirts were nice tech shirts. This is the first time I wore the shirt of the race during the race. The last "runner" was in a wheelchair and pushed by another lady. Several things were amazing...it was a regular wheelchair, the woman appeared to be in her 80's and she was excited to cross the line. They got her medal and left early so I had no stats on this. Would have loved to known them. Such an inspiration from the woman that pushed her...What love! Surprisingly, we both won awards!! And, I do mean surprisingly. I won the Grandmasters and Kent won First Place in his age group. No pictures were taken at this time. But here are our awards...the first one is mine and the second is his.
1 comment:
Sounds like a fun one in Ocean Springs. Maybe I can make that one next year. Congrats to both of you.
I think you misread my blog. No pr for me, not even close. Just 3 seconds faster than my last 5k (23:56) PR is 23:06 - a long way off currently. It's all good though. The higher mileage is kind of counter productive to the the 5k speed.
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