Double the races, double the pain, double the fun – Midnight Flight Races 9.4.09

Last night, I kicked off my Labor Day Challenge in fine fashion. I finished 13^th in the 10k and 12^th in the 5k for the Midnight Flight races. In both races, I finished with decent times 16:55 for the 5k and 36:17 for the 10k.

Both races had exceptional fast Master's fields. For the 5k, I was the 4^th fastest Master. The winning Master's time was 16:09 while I ran 16:55. That means there were 3 Masters running faster than me. I don't see that very often. The 10k had similarly fast field with the winning Master's time of 34:31 compared with my 36:17. However, this time I was able to move up one spot to the 3^rd overall Master. It is worth nothing that of the top 4 Master's runners all of us ran both the 5k and 10k races.

The logistic of this race were a bit rough for several reasons.

The Midnight Flight races are held in Anderson, SC which is about 2 ½ hours south of Charlotte along I-85.

And, the races don't start until 10 and 11 pm on a Friday night which makes it double tough. For most of us, Friday is a work all day and then jumping into a car for a long drive to a race is never easy.

Also the traffic going down 85 can be a pain with multiple areas to get caught up in traffic slowdowns.

But maybe the toughest part is racing so late at night. Very rarely do I run at 10 or 11 pm at night so it is not something my body is use to doing. For the record, typically, 10 to 11 PM is past my bed time.

Soon after arriving I met up with Dan, Ben, Megan, and Val. Dan was running the 5k. Ben was doubling while Megan and Val were running the 10k. Dan and Ben both ran fast times with Ben running fast times for both races. Megan and Val took home the top honors in the 10k with Megan winning the Women's open division while Val finished 2^nd.

My game plan going into the race was to go as hard as possible for the 5k and build up as much lactic acid in my legs as possible and then try to run 5:50 miles for the 10k.

The 5k field was the larger of the 2 races and there was much pushing and shoving at the start of the race. Rather than push someone down, I waited the field to string out before starting to pass people.

The 1^st mile and half were flat to down hill and I kept upping the pace. I felt good at the turn around and started pushing hard up the hill on the return. This was probably not the best move because I pushed across the red line and my legs started to tighten up during the last ½ mile.

Nearing the finish I could see the finish clock and thought a sub 17 minute time was possible so I dug deep and push hard to the finish.

Between the races, I move into recover mode. I took another Power Gel, drank some water, and did another mile to keep the blood moving in the legs. Also I changed shoes and socks between the races. I wanted to run in dry gear.

The 10k start was delayed so I keep doing strides on a side road right up to the start.

The first mile didn't feel that bad. I saw Megan go out in front of me. I wouldn't catch up to her until after the mile. In staying with my 5:50 pace race strategy, I didn't want to push too hard going out.

I was following a couple of other runners through the turn around and then I was able to get away from them during the 4^th mile.

During the 5^th mile, my legs were starting to tighten up. But I was able still able to catch another Master's runner.

Checking my watch after the race, I averaged 5:47 per mile for the 10k. This was after running an all out 5k race so I was pretty pleased with my efforts. Also it gave me a good indicator for how much lactic acid that I can handle during my runs.

The 10k awards were delayed so it was well after midnight when the awards were given out. By then, it was close to 1ish in the morning and time for a drive back to Charlotte.

The racing was hard and I was very tired from the effort. Getting in the car for the drive back was not all that enticing for me to do. For the first hour, I was really struggling to stay awake, but then I turned on some music, found a good radio station, and cracked the window to let in some cool air. Then, I started to feel much better.

But it was nearly 4am when I crawled into bed. I had set my alarm for 6 am so I can meet Peter for 10 miles on the Davidson Trails. I made it but just barely.