The Electric Run

Friday Night I ran my first 5k!  It was kind of like a birthday present to myself.  I knew that if I signed up for the run than I would be forced to practice and get pack into shape after Leon was born (he is 5 months today!).  It totally worked, there were lots and lots of times that I didn't want to go on the run but I went anyway because I knew this race was coming up.

While practicing it would take me about 35 minutes to jog the 3 miles.  But the last couple weeks I tried to see how fast I could go and I got all the way down to 30 minutes and 30 seconds.  So my goal was to get under 30 minutes.  And I did it!  Somehow I managed 25 minutes!  I think it helped that the race was flat and I had no idea where the end was so I kept telling myself it was close and I just had to keep going for a little bit longer.  I seriously thought the middle water break was the end for a few seconds.  If I knew I was only half way I would probably of slowed down.  It also helped that I didn't run until about 9:45 so  the night had cooled off considerably.

The hard part was that it was very dark!  And they whole thing wasn't paved.  I should have realized that because I knew it was at the Puyallup fairgrounds but I didn't think about it.  Running one the rocks can be semi painful with my vibram toe shoes but it just slowed me down a little.  What slowed me down the most was all the people.  Online it said they sell out at 10,000 so it was pretty packed.  Most of the people seemed like they just wanted to walk through it so I was constantly going around everyone and squeezing my way through.  I think the more serious people left in one of the first heats at 8:45.  I passed so many people (that was fun) I don't think there were any serious runners around me, I even saw one person taking a smoke break!

Here is our little group.  My sister is all the way on the left.  We took this picture before it started getting dark.

Here is the line to race.  It was a little stressful for me to be in this huge horde of people, but not too bad.

Bob was so great and took all these pictures for us.  He had to wait over an hour for me because I was in line for a long time before I even got to start running.  These next two pictures are of a group taking off, it was considerably darker when I started running.  When I wasn't in an area that was lit up I couldn't see the ground.

Everybody was decked out with glowsticks.  I think I'm the only one who didn't want one.  I just wanted to be fast and not have to worry about it bouncing on my wrist or around my neck.

They had a dj and were blasting lout music the entire time.  I thought about listening to my ipod but there was no way it would have worked for the race.

Here is a picture of the finish line.  It was so dark I didn't know it was even the end until after I went through the smoke.  The smoke was way thiker when I got there I was a little scared to run through it because I couldn't see through it at all.  They at all kinds of different light set ups throughout the race.  One barn had black lights and bubbles that were pretty neat.  I just ran through and didn't pay much attention though.

At the end they had this huge dance party and we even saw someone get proposed too.  And the best part was probably the free ice cream.  Just kidding...kinda.  I probably wouldn't do another electric run just because it was expensive and there was a lot of waiting around.  But it was a fun night and I am really happy with my 25 minute time.