This weekend we were the guinea pigs in the inaugural Vac & Dash 1/2 Marathon & Movie (along with forty-two other crazies), a little race at the Badin Road Drive-In put on by a local vacuum/running store. There was no chip timing or official course, it was just a quirky little fun run. Okay, a quirky twelve point five mile run...up a mountain...in the dark...on Friday the 13th.
We showed up early so we could watch The Lorax. I was thinking that this setup might have been a bad idea, as the next movie was Hunger Games. The husband was keen on watching the movie (he won't shut up about the books) and less than enthusiastic about doing the run, but we did manage to drag ourselves out of the car to the starting line at 10:30.
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| Watching The Lorax (Photo by Vac & Dash) |
The weather was almost chilly but just right for running. Because the roads weren't going to be closed for the forty-four crazies and the route had no lights on the route, we were required to wear reflective vests, headlamps and taillights. There were very few cars and most of them got over and/or slowed down upon seeing our shiny aura (except one asshole that roared by at top speed).
It's definitely a contrast between this race and the large official ones we've run before. This was a very small town event. Volunteers parked their cars at intersections to warn traffic and direct runners. There was a chase vehicle behind the last runner. The only reason there was energy gel was because I called and asked the organizer about it. There were many times when we were running by ourselves.
Approximately half the race was in Morrow Mountain State Park. It was pitch black inside the park. Running in the dark was very fun but also kind of trippy. Without good visual cues, it was difficult to tell my pace, the grade of the road, or how long we'd been running since the GPS signaled the last mile.
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| Running at night (Photo by Vac & Dash) |
I made the mistake of actually stopping for a couple of minutes at the water stop near mile nine. I'm not sure how it happens, but in that time my right knee totally locked up. I spent the next three miles hobbling on it.
We finished a little before one in the morning, completing it in 2 hours and 23 minutes. That's right, we ran it together. Perhaps not one of our brightest ideas. I run too slow for him and he whines too much for me. Nonetheless, we made it across the finish line with a minimum of violence. Despite me handicapping him, the husband took first in his age group. Of course, he was the only one in his age group. Award just for showing up? Check.
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| Age group winner (Photo by Vac & Dash) |
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