Halloween 5K Nite Run

By | 12th November 2010

http://www.halloween5niterun.co.uk/

A lot of fun, I feel comfortable that I’ve set a low PR with my first ever timed 5K. It was dark, muddy and slippery for a lot of the course, and parts were narrow which made it difficult to pass people when I wanted to.

I started right at the very back, because I had no idea what pace I would be running and a lot of the other runners looked quite serious.

I bottled running it barefoot, and it was probably a wise decision. I
wore water shoes with a fair bit of wear on them, and they provided just enough protection from the stony bits that I didn’t even think about them. Grip, not so much.

However, running at lunch times in the same area stood me in good stead, and when I got my form right I skimmed over the slippy stuff while people in running shoes were picking their way through it.

I could have started a bit quicker, but I should have probably just started a bit further up the pack as I spent a lot of the first kilometre working my way past the slowest runners.

The event had a fun atmosphere, some great costumes were worn. Indeed, some of the times I was unable to pass due to narrowing of the trail, I wasn’t too bothered as I was following one or other attractive lady in “sexy witch” or similar outfit 😉

Speaking of costumes, my wife told me that the first male finisher was wearing only a g-string. Naturally I asked about his footwear but for some reason she was unable to remember.

She also saw 2 guys in VFFs, but no barefooters (hardly surprising, given the course and the darkness and mud).

In the middle of the course, there was a group of drummers in costume which gave a great ambience.

As I started to up the pace in the 4th kilometre, I passed somebody and managed to slip and tumble in the mud. No harm done, and my ninja roll meant I hardly lost any pace 🙂

I look forward to my next 5K, when I can see what I can manage. I had very little in the way of training in the last few weeks, and I haven’t go to the point of including speed work yet.

I’m taking the holistic, how my body feels, approach to building up my distance and speed. I have no plans to push distance further than 5K until I feel ready to.

Official result:

http://www.sportsystems.co.uk/ss/results/athlete/?entId=WRIGL-DJCGM-JOEEK

and the results table:

http://www.sportsystems.co.uk/ss/results/Halloween%205k/492

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