There were a few reasons why I wanted to do this race.
1. It was cheap. At $25 for a half marathon which includes a headlamp, I couldn't resist!
2. It was my first night run.
3. It was near my home town in Michigan.
4. My family and friends would join me!
I wasn't very well trained for this race. This past month or two I have been dealing with some seriously overtrained legs. Not fun. And no I don't just mean tired. I mean, my legs feel sharp stabby pains going through every muscle at every running step I take. They also feel like they are going through quicksand with bricks strapped to them, and my heart rate is usually through the roof since my effort level is skyrocketing. Basically, a half marathon felt like a marathon and even my five mile run had me stopping every half mile.
I had the Santa Rosa marathon the next weekend though, so I decided that if I didn't do the entire half marathon that mentally I wouldn't be prepared to do 26.2 the next weekend.
My energy and excitement for the race perked up when I realized that I had a solid pack of family attending the race (my mom, two aunts, a cousin (and her daughter) mainly walking the 5k), and a friend that drove hours to hang out with me and run the 5k. They were great support, and really good energy to have around. My friend and I decided that we needed to dress up like pandas and scrounged the nearest dollar store for some thick eyeliner to use as panda markings on our faces.
The half marathon started at 9:00pm at a school in Alma, MI. It was a great place to start, and even though the only bathroom was the one in the school, it seemed to work out alright. There were quite a few people attending, I'm not exactly sure on the numbers but there were several hundred for all three races (5k, 10k, and half marathon).
The organization of the bib pickup could have been smoother. The 5k line went quick, but the half marathon line was a little bit brutal and probably moved 5x's as slow. They seemed to have gotten everyones bibs mixed up (including mine, which they just scratched out with a sharpie and hand wrote my name on the bib) I was excited to have gotten my free headlamp though. It had two light functions...blinding or blacklight. It seemed that there were a variety of types of headlamps given out, and I assume they were all either donations or on sale at a nearby store because the brands were all over the place. I thought mine looked dorky until I looked at the girls next to me and it looked like she was about to go digging in a coal mine for the remainder of the night.
The 5k runners got these cute little blue flashlights that I doubt could last very long, but they did have the race name printed on them which I was a little jealous about. The 10k runners got a hat light that they could clip on to a baseball cap.
As for other spirited pandas, we weren't the only ones that decided to go all out. In fact there were probably 10 other pandas at the race, and we all acknowledged each other as we passed by.
The actual run was down a rails-to-trails trail (old railroad tracks that have been paved over and that are now used as bike or walking paths throughout Michigan). It was pretty rural, and the city lights dimmed out quickly. I don't know much about the scenery since it was so dark, but in the short moment that I could see, there was plenty of farm land and trees.
The 9:00 start was just early enough to see the sun completely set, and in the first few miles I was seeing fireflies on all sides, as well as many low flying bats eating the swarms of bugs we were running through. Don't get me wrong, it was beautiful and peaceful, but there were a LOT of bats. I was more fascinated than freaked out to be honest, but it's something to take note on.
The course was straight and flat. Very. Very straight. And very. Very flat. It was all asphalt too, which wasn't very forgiving on my aching legs. One of the few other complaints I had is that there were not enough volunteers to block any oncoming traffic through the crossing points, but since it's rural Michigan there was not much traffic to stop.
Once the sun went completely down it started to get a little scary since I was in the middle of the woods in pitch black. The runners thinned out and there were moments when I felt completely alone (although only for a short short moment or two). The only aid stations seemed to be at the turn around for the 10k, and the turn around for the half marathon. I wished that there was at least a bathroom somewhere in between, but those needing to relieve themselves were S.O.L. and doomed to trek into the darkness to do their duty.I crossed the finish line at 1:55:45 which was surprising considering how bad of shape my legs were in.
The post race food? There wasn't much, but then again what do you expect for $25 registration? There were some cookies that I didn't eat because I felt kind of gross and I wasn't eating wheat. My family seemed to enjoy them though.
We instead decided to treat ourselves to a reward of McDonalds (it was supposed to be at the 24hr Coldstone, but they were closed for a short time at midnight).
I would definitely come back again to do this race. :) The only thing I would probably want to change is that I would wear a face mask and glasses because they were so many bugs out at night. All in all it was a lot of bang for the buck, and it was fun running at night among the fireflies.
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