This was the first Energizer Night Race to be held in Canada, and I bought Stephen and myself entries as his Father's Day gift. There was both a 5k and 10k, and we did the 5k.
This is me at the finish line, before the start. I'm all in white, wearing a Nike skirt, Lululemon Race Tech tank and my lime green and purple FuelBelt (love the crazy colour combination!).
Stephen at the start wearing the long sleeved non-reflective shirt we got. Some people were wearing short sleeved shirts with reflective logos and reflective yellow stripes on the sides. I wish we got those shirts instead. :(
The race started at 9:30pm, after the sun went down, but before it was fully dark. Everyone was required to wear their Energizer headlamps. The headbands on them didn't tighten very far and I was worried that it might not stay on. I was right - by about 3.5k the rubber padding on the back of the lamp was soaking wet and it started slipping. I just held it in my hand for the rest of the way.
It was neat to see all the bobbing lights, especially at the turn arounds when you are passing people going the other way.
I ran as hard and as fast as I could manage. I had a goal in mind - 25 minutes, and hopefully a shot at placing in my age group. I passed a lot of people - sometimes running on the grass to get past them. The race route was on roads, through parking lots and on bike pathways and was well marked with pylons and lights.
There were very few people at the finish line. According to my iPod, I ran it in 25:03. When I got the official time, it was 24:47!!
SCORE!
At the awards presentation, I was hopeful that I placed... AND I DID! They announced my name and I got a medal (at a side table, not on stage)!!
I did more than placed, I GOT FIRST IN MY AGE CATEGORY!!!
WHHAHHHOOO!!!!
Stephen ran it in 25:29, which was 4th in his age category! Nice job for his first race. It turns out that he can run. :) He was ahead or beside me for the first 2k, then I passed him and didn't see him until he finished.
Overall, this was a great race. They had a beer garden where you could get a free bottle of Molsen 67 - I got one, but it turns out that beer on an empty stomach after a hard run is a bad idea - I stopped drinking before I got sick. After race snacks were water bottles, FruitSource bars, some sort of trail mix packages I didn't notice the name on, and bags of potato chips. Other races I've been to had better food, but what they had here was okay.
