Midnight Sun

What is there to say about a 5k that starts at midnight on a Friday night?  Sprinkle in some perfect weather, and my first attempt at this local classic was going to be fun. 

Pre-Run

I made it down to Canal Park around 10:00 pm so I could register. With two hours to spare, the only question was where to drink prior to the race. There was a big group meeting at Canal Park Brewery so James and I wandered over. Knowing I had to run, I went with the Jameson instead of a beer.  The low volume approach to my drinking so it wouldn't slosh in my gut...  We had a big group and it was clear we would be having a fun run. After one more Jameson, it was time to run. 

Let's Run

The course utilized the lakewalk, with the start on the dirt horse path, we had to be careful in the dark of the uneven footing. Once we turned onto the paved portion of the lakewalk, it was time to settle into my pace. Running in the dark was interesting, especially with about half of the street lights not functional. I managed not to trip and just focused on running hard. With about a mile left I was thinking, this is beer mile practice. I could feel the Jameson in my stomach, but I kept pushing the pace. When it was all said and done, I just missed breaking 20 minutes for the race. 

Post Run

With my solid time, I managed a second place in my age group, and with that came a prize of a growler of Brewhouse beer. Sweet!  

Snowy Long Run

I just got home from my weekly long run with the DRC Training group. We ran 10 miles along the Lakewalk this morning. Luckily, the plow came along when we were less than 1/2 mile into the run. This made the footing relatively good for us.

The lake looked pretty neat with the ice and snow piled up from the northeast wind we had over the last few days. The eight ships sitting in the lake waiting to go into the harbor was a neat sight at the edge of the ice pack also. As we were heading back we even saw a tugboat pushing through the ice to presumably help one of the ships into the harbor.

Since we were running on packed snow, I chose to keep a nice tempo pace today. It seems a lot of people had the same idea and there was a group of us that we're pretty close together out to the 4 mile turn. A few turned back there, and the rest of us moved on to the 5 mile turnaround. On the way back Liz and I paced each other and chatted. A good way to spend the Saturday long run all in all.

The weather this week made me miss a couple workouts so I am glad I got out and nailed my ten miles early today. I will make a point of getting a run in tomorrow also, and I might even get a trainer ride in this afternoon. If Mother Nature won't make it easy to ride outside, I will just have to suffer through some more indoor rides.

Friday Run

Went out after work today to get a quick run in. I grabbed one of newer pair of tights and noticed a very small tear starting in the crotch. Not big at all, so I figured they would be good to go. A little over a mile into the run and I noticed it was a little cooler than I thought. I looked down and the small tear was growing quickly.

That will be a lesson for me when starting a run. Make sure my clothes are hole free!