Race Recap: Three Down, Nine To Go #12in12

Another month, another race in the books. And this race was the fastest yet!!

I signed up for a 1am, “Chasing the Moonlight” 5k on the day we set our clocks forward. I stupidly confused Spring-forward with Fall-back and thought that this 5k would be an ‘impossible’ race. I know there is a race called the “impossible 5k” which happens on the day we set our clocks back for Fall and the end result is that you have a negative time (impossible, right?).

But this wasn’t Fall-back, it was Spring-forward. So my hubby and I got up at 11:30 pm and drove over to the mall to get ready for the 1am start. As you might imagine, we were very tired.

The race had a tropical theme with tiki torches, potted palm trees, and steel drum music. Lots of people were dressed up for the event. Many people wore grass skirts or flowers around their neck. There was a long line to get your picture taken with the palm trees and tiki tourches so we headed over to the more important line - the line for the port-a-potties.

We also saw an adult running in a Pickachu costume and this terrifying raptor.

This beast stalked us while we waited in line for the bathroom.

Now, the race itself was a lot of fun. We ran a relatively flat loop of road that circled the mall. It was well lit in most sections by the parking lights. And periodically, around the loop, there was music (one DJ station and one steel drum station). The lighting and music kept the early morning run fun.

Now, my hubby and I are still not at our peek fitness levels. We are cross training like crazy but his busted ACL prevents him from putting a lot of miles on his legs. The elliptical bothers both of us because we tend to hyper extend our knees on that machine. So we’ve been training with our personal trainer at least twice a week, walking 2 -3 miles every day, and doing 20-30 mins of cardio on the stair master once or twice a week.

When it came time to run we were ready. He always goes out too fast, and this race was no different. We broke away and held a good pace for the first half mile. However, after that, I needed a walk break. Yes, we took walk breaks. But when we ran we ran pretty fast (for us).

We finished this 5k in 38.50.

That’s five minutes faster than the January race and two minutes faster than February’s race. Woot woot!

My hope is that I will be back to my top running form in the next several months. In 2008, when I was 6 miles a day (injury free!!) my goal was to get my 5k time under 30 mins. I would be lying if I said my goal this year is anything other than a sub 30 5k. I want it. But I’m older and heavier and injured. So I know it’s silly to shoot for something so hard. But I’m doing it anyway.

What’s that old saying? Shoot for the moon because if you miss you’ll land amongst the stars.

Have you run any races lately? Share your running stories here: