Why night races aren't always fun

Happy Halloween!!!!!

After a great weekend of 5ks I decided I needed to run another soon, so when I saw that they were having a Halloween 5k on Tuesday night I decided to race. The Bully's 5k for United Way at Mississippi State University started at 6:30, just after dark and took us around the campus. There was also a costume contest that the runners were participating in. I had no intention of winning the contest but still sort of dressed up for fun (and got some more use out of my Supergirl shirt). This time I paired it with some cute knee high socks to keep my ankles warm and thought it turned out pretty awesome.

My serious superhero face

They handed out glow in the dark necklaces and bracelets so that cars might possibly see us during the run, but I don't think it worked very well for me. I wore the necklace wrapped around my arm because I thought it might be hard to run with it hitting me in the face. 

The start line was located at an intersection and I had a good feeling about the course since there seemed to be plenty of cops around to block off traffic. We started uphill, which was challenging, but I still managed to run a pretty fast first mile (for me). The entire course was rather hilly and it seemed like the uphills were more plentiful than the downhills. The further we ran, the more traffic seemed to be picking up and the less the roads were blocked off for us. There were a few times I thought I might get hit by a car and there was one dangerous part where we were supposed to cross the street to turn down another street and there was just car after car not willing to stop and let us over. 

The shirts are super cute, Halloween themed!

After about 2.5 miles my legs were feeling shot, guess I shouldn't have spent 2 hours at the gym in the morning including doing a speed workout on the treadmill. But I powered through and tried to figure out where the heck the finish line was. As I turned down another street and stayed on the sidewalk due to all the cars, one of the volunteers told me I needed to cross the street to the parking lot and finish line. I cut through the grass and headed towards the cones I saw but still wasn't at the finish line. I rounded the corner and saw some people standing around but there was no clock or cones or anything visibly marking the finish line. This is the point where I normally would have sprinted to the finish but I was so confused and wondering if maybe I had already crossed the finish line that I just kind of jogged across the line. I handed over the sticker I was required to wear on my shirt (and hope it didn't fall off during the run) and then wondered why in the world they had us wear racing bibs.  I checked my Garmin, since there was no clock at the finish line and it said 25:31, which was 4 seconds shy of a PR, dang it! But I'm pretty proud of that time considering the traffic, hills, tired legs, and confusion.

I hung around and had a banana and a snack size bag of candy corn (the redemption for this race) because I was positive I had placed 2nd in my age group. Unbeknownst to me until the award ceremony, they were only giving out 1st place for each age group (not to mention they were 10 year age groups) For the $25 I paid to run in this race I would have liked a few more awards offered, but I can't be too mad as long as my money went towards a good cause. I had gotten all excited about getting one of these cute trophies, even though I'm not a Mississippi State fan, it would have been a cool souvenir from our 3 years here in Mississippi.

Super cute cowbells, wish I could have won one.

I didn't have my camera with me since I don't like to run with any extra stuff but here are some photos before the race started. I really liked seeing all the creative costumes and I loved the fact that all the volunteers were dressed up. These photos are by Harriet Laird / MSU University Relations copyright, Mississippi State University.

Start line, I'm back in the second row.

The winner of the costume contest, can't believe he ran in that suit.

Some of the awesome volunteers!

Some of the runners in their costumes.

Husband and wife dressed as the tortoise and Hare.

Close...but no cigar

Friday was a great day! I drove the 4 hours down to the beach to see my long lost husband (well only 4 weeks lost). We met for lunch at Which Wich, my first time eating there, and I really liked it. To bad there is only one location in the entire state of Mississippi. Then Chris headed back to work and I went to the Condo to discover this waiting for me:

Tigger mug full of holiday Clif bars!

My hubby is so awesome!

Chris had signed up for two 5ks on Saturday and I had the decision to run one, both, or neither of them, depending on how I felt. Despite the surprisingly cold and very windy weather predicted for Saturday, I went to bed on Friday knowing I wanted to run both races. 
We got up early Saturday morning, dressed as warm as possible, and drove the 30+ miles to the race location in Pascagoula, MS. The Ingalls 5k on the Causeway started on Singing River Island and ran out across this bridge (in 50 degree weather and 20mph+ winds).

Bridge over open water=very windy!

The race was benefiting the Special Olympics so I decided to brave it and support this wonderful cause. I am so glad I did, because I not only received this amazing finishers medal (each one individually painted and handed out by participants from the Special Olympics) but I also got the sweetest kiss on the cheek as I was given my medal. 

Front of medal

The back of Chris' and my medals, so cool!

I managed to finish the race in 26:14 despite fighting against the wind for more than half the race and I placed 3rd in my age group. There was also some wonderful pizza and cake for after the race and you bet I scarfed lots of that down.  

Then it was time to go searching for a last minute costume/something to keep us warm for our night 5k. I found a cute Supergirl shirt for cheap and got a thermal to wear under it. I also got a ear warmer headband because my ears were hurting really bad during the first run from all the cold and wind. It turned out to be colder weather than predicted so I'm glad I got this. Chris got a sock monkey hat to keep his ears warm/be his costume. 

I might have to wear this in all my races.

Once we got there and registered I spotted the trophies and knew I had to have one, they were so cool! The run finally started around 6:20 and it felt good to run and get the blood pumping. Despite the cold, I felt good and was running faster than I thought I would. I checked my Garmin way too many times because the course felt really long, but I was on pace to score my first 5k PR since April 2011 (25:29). I scored an amazing PR of 22:54, unfortunately the course was a bit short so that is not an actual 5k PR. My Garmin said 2.86, Chris' said 2.90 and another friend's said 2.98. The course wasn't well marked so I guess that might have had something to do with it. 

Witches for the women, pumpkins for the men.

So now to address the title of this blog. Both the 5ks I ran yesterday were flat, fast courses and I had a great shot at getting a PR out of both of them. The wind during the morning 5k took that shot out of the running but I am so proud of the time I did get considering the wind. I know if the course for the night 5k had been long enough I would have gotten a PR of around 24:40 since I was running an 8:01 pace, so that made me really frustrated. However, I did do well enough to take home one of those awesome trophies with 2nd place in my age group and Chris also got one with 2nd in his age group! 

I also scored an awesome t shirt, bag, pretzels, laffy taffy, and some yummy bananas (they begged us to take some home since they had so many left). All in all it was a great day and I am ready to get out there again and finally get that 5k PR I've been wanting for the last year and a half.