Sunday, August 9, 2009

Modesto Midnight Half Marathon

On Saturday evening, Modesto had it's very first half marathon. It was pretty exciting. The run was hosted by Fleet Feet in Stockton. Surprisingly, there were between 600-700 participants. They also offered a 2 mile fun run but the majority of the entrants participated in the half marathon.
The run started at 9 p.m and consisted of two 6 mile loops. The course left a little to be desired because of the park we enter into. I run down there all the time and know that it is a home to many of Modesto's homeless population. Plus, there are VERY few lights at the park but despite that, it was fabulous. I like to run at night, lots of new sounds - lots of wildlife emerging.
I had set a goal of 1:45 but thought that might be impossible due to the limited visibility and the narrow bike path that was shared by all. I brought a handheld light and was really thankful that I did.
I started out pretty fast (as usual). I wasn't going to look at my watch except to see if it was time for a walk break. I did my usual run 10 minutes, walk 1.
Despite the darkness, I saw many familiar faces and shouted out to lots of runners. I saw Roos and Connor walking at a nice pace.
When you do walk breaks in your runs, you play leap frog with many people. I sometimes like to use this as a motivator to run faster, to catch and pass them. I'm sure that it's pretty annoying to some people but I really like the break. Walking for that short period allows my legs to recover some and I find I drink more fluids. I have read many a heated discussion about walk breaks and it's not "running" an event if you walk but all I can say is it works for me.
I played leap frog with two girls last night. One is a member of our running club and the other I didn't know. I did this until mile 12 and then passed them both to finish up at 1:43. I felt pretty good. I was happy that I achieved my goal. It's not a PR for me but very close - 5 seconds! I can't seem to get below the 1:43 mark. I suppose if I did more speed work, I could achieve that. Priorities for the past few years have been L O N G runs and not speed.
I stood at the finish line for sometime and cheered lots of runners in. Anita finished up great with a 2:10. Afterwards, we hit the beer garden for a beer then returned to the finish line to see Roos and Connor run across in 3:18.
It was a pretty late night. I didn't hit the pillow until after 2 am. I really enjoyed this event and would do it again next year. It's kind of nice that ShadowChase didn't have to do participate in any part of the organization so LOTS of members were out running instead of helping. It was awesome....

Run Fun.....

1 comment:

Danni said...

Nice job lady! At night no less!