Midnight Sun Midnight Run

Yesterday, or maybe rather early this morning I guess, I ran a race called the Midnight Sun Midnight Run. It's a race to celebrate the summer solstice. I ran it for the first time last year, and I thought it would be really fun to do again this year. It starts at midnight (duh), and it is a 5 K distance. The course is right next to Lake Superior on a route I am very familiar with because I use it for my long runs when training for marathons or half marathons.  It's really pretty during the day and at night.

I went into this race with the hopes of a PR. I've been running some lately (finally a decent amount after being injured), and I thought it was possible. My goal was to do it in 25 some minutes, or at least this was the goal I told people. My secret keep-it-to-myself-to-avoid-embarrassment goal was to to do it in 24 some minutes. Well, my official time ended up being 23:47! Boooya grampa! I feel like a freekin' cheetah! Haha. I felt like I was dying the whole race, and my dinner from earlier in the night was like a rock in my stomach, so maybe I could run faster? It definitely a thought to keep in mind.

Bronson was a good sport, and he came along to cheer. At the end of the race he said I looked good, and he told me he thought I was in the first 20 females to cross the finish. I told him that was bullshit, and he amended that to say maybe the top 40. I ended up being the 38th woman to cross the line out of 385! Sweet! I placed 19th out of 132 people in my age group. I like to see that I am getting faster. I started out with 11 or 12 min miles when I first took up running, and I ran that same pace for many years.

I'm hoping that someday I can somehow trick Bronson into doing a 5 K, but he says running is a deal breaker. I had a Runner's World magazine that had an article about how to start running, and for the longest time I couldn't find it. My secret hope wast that he was reading it, but it ended up it fell behind my nightstand...sigh. But that's ok because I couldn't ask for a better cheerleader. He's so awesome for coming to all these races to just stand around and wait for me. I'm a lucky lady!