Let’s see, I signed up for a midnight 10K cause it seemed like a good idea at the time. This was until I remembered that I like to go to bed when the street lights come on and was sleepy at 8PM. Oops. So I had a Crystal Light Energy water packet thingy and I felt much more awake.
Caribbean Steve and I carpooled to the race which was about an hour away. The race took place in Dunedin, FL, which is north of Clearwater Beach, FL, if you know the geography. In any event, it’s very close to the water. Thus, it’s as humid as something really humid. An analogy I can’t think of right now. It rained prior to the race start but it didn’t help lower the hot, humid climate. Oh, and it’s dark at midnight.
There is a person in this photo, I swear. It’s Caribbean Steve, but well, he’s dark and it’s dark and thus…I swear he’s smiling.
This race has been held for 32 years now and I can understand why, although, I don’t know if I’ll be insane enough to run it again next year. It’s a nice little course onto Honeymoon Island and back and it’s lit by very pretty luminaries. But, as I mentioned it’s as humid as a rain forest? (That’s the best I got right now. Work with me.)
There is a 1 mile run and a 5K in addition to the 10K. I chose the 10K because it was slated to start at or a little after midnight. I watched the 5K racers come in and noticed one very fast woman running about a sub 20 minutes or so. I would see her, or rather the back of her again.
Before the race started I stated I didn’t really want to “race” so I tried to reign in it the first mile. Yeah, we all know how well that works out. Within the next two miles I was racing. I am fairly certain I PR’d my 5K at the first half of this race. Oops again. But I felt ok and kept pushing. There were small bridges to climb and you all know I hate a hill but again, I just kept pushing. The good thing about this race is that I’ve actually never run a 10K race and I would PR no matter what. Woot!
It was at about this point I realized that the super fast woman from the 5K was ahead of me. PUSHING THREE CHILDREN IN A TRIPLE WIDE STROLLER. And she was basically leaving me in the dust. Yeah, that was awesome. (I told her congrats after cause she really kicked ass!)
I ran along in the dark and finally reached the 4 mile mark. I was BEAT at this point but just tried to focus on the dark shapes of runners in front of me. I thought of us as comrades just trying to survive this humid ass race. When I hit the 5 mile mark I was slowing down some and thought about how effing humid it was and how I’d never do this damn race again. Hahaha!
Just when I started to think, “Man, I wish someone would hop in and pace me,” my new running buddy Sunny hopped in and helped me get the last quarter of the race to the finish. Thank the lord for her! She was a great pacer and said, “Don’t talk! Just conserve your energy! You’re almost there! You’re doing great!” It was awesome.
I finally got to the final turn and thought “Hallelujah!” I finished and felt mildly pukey as I shakily walked to get some water. My finish time was 50:13 on my Garmin, but I don’t know what the “official chip time” was. I’ll have to post it later. But I did get this….
Third place in my age group was pretty sweet, considering I think this race was fairly competitive as evidenced by the Kara Goucher-esque lady pushing three kids. I had a great time seeing a bunch of friends from the running group, but MAN this race was HUMID. I’ll probably get sucked into again next year though. We know how I roll.
UPDATE: Official time was 50:24.
Great job placing third in your age group!
As long as I have been in Florida (that would be all my life) and as long as I've been running (that would be about 15 years), I have never done this race. I think it may be b/c I'm usually dead by 9pm. Maybe I'll plan on sleeping before, like a really long nap, and do it next year. Great job placing in your AG, especially as sauna like as it was.
Nice job!!!! That sounds like a cool race even if it was hot as Hades.
Congrats on your 3rd place AG WIN! Yay!
Must have been tough with all of that humidity. I can't even imagine. Haha! Happy 7/4!
Congrats on your AG award! That is a great pace 🙂
Congrats on placing! This kind of race looks so awesome to me…I'd love this.
Congrats on a great race. Yeah that lady has three kids and pushing a stroller and ran a sub 20 5k and looks like Kara Goucher but has she EVER had a menu created for her by me? I think not….and that is my silver lining spin on superwoman there.
Woo hoo – Age Group Podium!!! Rock on. Sorry I missed your fast little ass!
Nice 10k time and congrats on the AG placing!
Woo hoo! Good job Boo!!! So did you ever see Jamoosh?
I ran this race last year and it was humid as hell too! I think you can pretty much expect the same conditions again next year. Congrats on the 3rd place Miss Speedy! 🙂
Sounds fun! Great job on the AG award!
Congrats on 3rd place! This race sounds tough, the one late night race I did was a total disaster so I have decided that they are not for me. Also, stroller lady sounds super impressive. I don't think I could push one kid, let alone three!
How cool is that!!!!!!!!! I wish I had run that while I was there.. Congrats you awesome girl you.
What a great time! I tried to get into a midnight race around here but it filled up too quickly. I hate being passed by people pushing strollers. Much less those pushing a triple wide stroller. Congrats!