Shot in the Dark 5K @ WWC

 Less than 2 weeks later, I am back racing, but maybe this wasn't the ideal race to make a comeback. Shot in the Dark is a night trail race at the Whitewater Center (WWC). Meaning plenty of roots and rocks, and oh, yeah, you are going to need a head lamp. Preferable, you will need one with fresh batteries. This year, there were a twist. Rain rolled through Charlotte on Thursday, so this left the trail wet a.k.a muddy. I saw a few people go down, and I heard that one woman had to be carried out after a fall. I didn't see, but I just heard about it. 

Given, I am less that 2 weeks from my marathon, I least was smart enough to do just the 5k. Now, here is the sort of downside. There were 3 races: 5k, 10k, and 1/2 Marathon. They all started at the same time and followed along the same course for the first 3 miles. Let's just say, there was a bit of a log jam of runners trying to get single file. 

So, we are running along the course, and I have fallen with a group of runners. No one is passing as we all kind of agreed to run whatever pace the person in front was running. I have run at the WWC for years, so I know the South Main loop like the back of my hand. The guys in front of me kept wondering off the course. Then, they would jump back on it without realizing rest of us had filled in the space made available by them. I took a few bumps along the way as we kept adjusting the running order. 

I was happy when I made it back to the parking lot and headed for the finish at the pavilion. 24:57 was pretty good despite me not really feeling it during this race. Give it a couple of more weeks. Hopefully, my legs will be back and ready for a Turkey Trott race. 

The Cool Down Runner