Midnight 5K and Week 2 Wrap Up

Ever ask yourself, "Self, what the hell are you doing?" Those were my thoughts last night. "HaeWon, what the hell are you doing driving to Seymour in the middle of the night." I was driving there to run a 5K at midnight. My speed work for the week. If I didn't run the 5K, I'd have to run some speed work on my own this morning. Bed was sounding pretty good at 11 pm but the thought of having to run hard by myself in the morning made me go to Seymour. Besides, it turned out to be a very pleasant summer night, full moon and not too much humidity.

There were like a bazillion kids when I showed up at the Seymour High School football stadium. The run was to benefit the Seymour High School cross country team. The Seymour Owls. Maybe that's why it's a midnight run? I found my group of Crossroads runners and commented that I was about to get smoked by a bunch of high school kids. I actually felt pretty good though. My goal was to run under 25:00 and try to get my average pace down under 8:00 again.

The start was jam packed with kids. For a minute it felt like I was in a corral at the Mini-Marathon, it was that crowded. Gun went off and the kids took off. It was really dark. Too dark to see my watch for most of the run. My first mile felt 7:30-ish. My second mile didn't feel too bad but I felt pretty comfortable too so I was worried I was running too slow. The good thing about having all those kids blast out in front of me was that it gave me something to do... as in picking them off one by one. I was pretty sure my second mile was under 8:00 too but I was getting tired. The race was run through downtown Seymour. I had no idea where I was going. We kept turning block after block so I got really turned around direction-wise and just kept following the kids in front of me. Somewhere in the second mile Jane, who runs in the age-group below me, caught up with me. She's a bit faster than me so my goal at that point was to just stay with her as long as I could... to the next corner, the next street, the next sidewalk... where the heck are the stadium lights?!! Surely we're close to done by now. Finally, the stadium came into view and I let Jane go. Too tired to kick at this point but just trying to maintain my pace. I thought I'd run under 25:00 as long as I maintained my pace.

Here's what the Garmin ended up showing...

several of us thought the course was long...

Mile 1 - 7:35
Mile 2 - 7:46
Mile 3 - 7:55
last 0.1 - 1:21

Official time - 24:37 (7:55 pace)
Finished 74 of 237 Overall.
For the record, I got beat by 52 kids between the ages of 12-15. Fast little stinkers!
18th out of 121 in the women's race and won the 45-49 age group (1 of 9)

I didn't get home til 2:30 am but I was happy with my run and I got to sleep in this morning.

So this is how the week ended up...

Sunday - 10 miles
Monday - 6 miles
Tuesday - 12 miles
Wednesday - 3 miles (I cut it a mile short, it was pretty ugly)
Thursday - rest
Friday - 5 miles (5K + 1 mile warm up and 1 mile warm down)
Saturday - rest

Week 2 Total Miles: 36

I have more work days plus travel next week and no races so we'll see if I can keep up this pace in Week 3. Wish me luck!