Saturday, August 9, 2014

Sandy Midnight Moon 5K Race Review / Writeup

Me posing with my age group award


Official Time: 22:59
Placement: 1st place in men's 40-44, 20th male overall
Results: Here
Race Website:Midnight Moon 5K in Sandy
Weather: low 70's, no wind.


Mile Time Comments
1 7:58 The first half mile is flat, the second half is all UP
27:16What goes up must go down. I love mile 2 on this race!
To finish7:38Hard to get cruising again now that you are done with the hills
Total Miles: 3.05


Introduction

I was really looking forward to this race -- another fairly low key 5K that would be fun and a night run -- easily beating the heat.  Although we've had some unusually mild weather this August, it is still a joy to run in the cool of night.

When I ran this race last year it was a total of 2.96 miles.  This year the race started a bit further back.  I was hoping it would be an honest 5K but according to my Garmin it was 3.05 miles.  Maybe there was some rounding errors, but the course still appears to be a little short.

Before the race I started, I noticed that my calf and Achilles were talking to me.  When I did my long run earlier this week I felt my calf tighten up -- similarly to when I pulled it while training this past spring.  The Achilles has always been a bit touchy but it seemed this week it was making itself known.  At the race, during the warm-up I could feel both areas letting me know they might a cause for concern.

I used some KT Tape to address the calf issue, which seemed to help a little.

I was wearing my Saucony Fastwitch shoes, which are light and don't offer a lot of support.  I raced in them last week and I suspect they may be contributing to the problem.  This course is also hilly.  What must go up, must come down, and on the downhill I was pushing the pace I didn't have as much support / cushioning compared to my Brooks shoes.

Cotton t-shirt.


The Race

The race started off on time and me and about another 250 runners took off just before midnight (again, about 65% women, 33% men).  There were a TON of young kids there and of course they took off like crazy.  I held it in check for the first mile because I knew that the last half mile of the first mile was all uphill.

I eventually picked off most of the kids, although a 9-year-old and I were dogging each other (and an eleven year old girl won the race in the women's division).  Sort of humbling to be beat by this kid, but we were keeping each other honest.  I would pass him and then he'd pass me and keep a watchful eye on me as we ran.  He wound up turning on the jets at about mile 2.5 while I was just gassed and trying to hold my own pace.

Either way, once I hit the mile 1 marker, I knew it was mostly down hill and there is where I started to pick off a few runners.  I felt really good at this point and I was hammering the gentle down hills.

My achilles was still cranky but never really upped the volume on the pain intensity.  However, around mile 2 my calf suddenly cramped up something fierce.  Luckily it was short lived, but I thought for sure it was going to stop me in my tracks.  Also my left hamstring isn't 100% either, getting sore after about 2 miles.  Once I changed my stride a bit, it subsided and I was able to finish the race strong (guarding my position against someone gaining ground on me).

Midnight Moon Course Map with elevation profile


Post-Race

I didn't do a cool down at all.  One, I didn't want to put any more miles on what could be an injury.  Two, I was seriously thinking about doing double duty and hitting up another 5K / 10K in the morning.  There was a small race in Bluffdale -- the problem was waking up and getting the motivation to drive down there (I did get up but was too lazy to get out of bed and again, I didn't want to further aggravate a growing potential injury).

The nice thing about the Sandy races is that once you are finished, you pick up your race result card within a seconds of finishing.  If you've won something you simply go to a desk and pick up your award.  No major fanfare, just get it and you are welcome to take off.  I was surprised that I had taken 1st in my age group.  I figured maybe 2nd or 3rd, but 1st.  I was pretty happy about that.

My time was about 30 seconds slower than last year.  However, considering that I ran an additional .09 miles, I want to say that maybe I improved a bit, or at least stayed the same.  This is one of the first positives I've had this year in a race.

I definitely look forward to doing this race next year.  It was only $20 but offers a lot of fun. However, I am going to have to step-up my performance.  If I was 45, I would've finished 4th in my age group. Time to step it up!


Back of medal

People milling about the finish area post race

Official card with age group award

Finish chute

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