Leap Year Glow Run Race Report

Another race is in the books! Jamie and I decided to do the Leap Year four-miler, which was first done in 2012. It was located at Willow Metropark, which is fairly close to us, so that was a bonus. The downside is that it was at 6:30 at night, and I am not a fan of running in the evening. It’s not the darkness I don’t like; heck, the majority of my runs are in the dark during the winter months. What I don’t like is having to dread my run all day long. I much prefer getting my run done and over with first thing in the morning. But obviously, with Leap day being on a Monday this year, they couldn’t do anything but an evening run.When Jamie and I arrived, we met up with my friends Ann, Toddra, and Todd’s cousin Jennifer. Toddra had been kind enough to pick up our race packets, so we were able to grab them without having to stand in line, and then go back to our car and get things situated while staying warm. They gave us some glow sticks, along with a (really cozy!) sweatshirt and some other things, and Jamie was enthusiastic enough to put one of the glow sticks on his shoe!We hung out in the car until about 6:20, and then we headed up to see our friends. I got my picture with the girls:

I was also happy to find that my friend Meg had signed up for the race is well. I was able to find her and get a quick photo, too:

And of course, Jamie and I got our picture taken together, although he was less than enthusiastic.

You can see that he’s wearing shorts with a sweatshirt. Not exactly normal February run attire! It was 46 at the start, but it would go down into the 30s with a strong northwest wind by the time we were done!

We lined up near my girlfriends. Jamie really wasn’t sure what kind of pace he wanted to maintain, and I wasn’t about to pressure him into anything.  He is always an enigma on race day; he could do anywhere from a 9:50 pace to an 11:30, just depending on how he feels. He had a lot of hockey in February, and had only run maybe five or six times the whole month, so I didn’t see any reason to pressure him. I was just happy that he was willing to race!

After a 10-minute delay due to porta potty lines, we were off! Jamie started out strong, but there was a surprising number of people, so he kept it steady in the low 10s.  In the second mile, he lost the glow stick he’d attached to his shoe, and he came to a full-on stop to fix it.  I had to turn back and go find him, and then he sprinted ahead to catch up to Ann, Toddra and Jen.  I was proud of him for making the effort!

By the time we hit 2 miles, he was clearly winded, and he asked to walk at that point.  We did, but he only walked for .06 before starting up again, quite fast!  Once again, I had to sprint to catch up.  I think he thought he’d catch up to my friends, but we couldn’t see them (it was dark!), so it was pretty much impossible.  He continued on at a good pace, and actually pulled out a solid 10:15 for the third mile, including the walk break.

I wish I had been able to take pictures for the race, but it was so dark, it was just not feasible. I have to admit the doing a night race was a really different experience. I run in the dark all the time, but it’s different when you’re on a completely unknown course, especially when it has a lot of twists and turns. And other people!  There were some people who had really bright headlamps, and I must confess, I liked those people! I especially liked it when they were behind me. 😉

Around the 2 1/2 mile mark, I was getting rather warm, and I took off my jacket. I still had my long sleeve Under Armour top on underneath, though. Jamie was also getting warm, which didn’t surprise me, and he took off his sweatshirt as he ran.  He tried to hold onto it, but I felt sorry for him, so I offered to take it. He was so grateful. Unfortunately, that meant I had to run with two articles of clothing wrapped around my waist for the rest of the run!  :p

We had the wind at our back for about the first half of mile 3, but then, with about half a mile to go, we turned northwest and that wind was coming straight at us, strong and COLD.  At that point, Jamie had the cold wind coming straight at him, but he had on nothing but shorts and a short-sleeved T-shirt!  I knew he was freezing…he even commented that he couldn’t feel most of his body, poor kid!  I didn’t even bother to offer him his sweatshirt back, because I knew he was too focused on finishing strong to waste time putting it back on.

It was a challenging last half-mile, but he gave it his all!  He even sprinted at the end, and I had to really work to catch up to him!  I was surprised to find later that he finished with a 9:55 for the last mile, and a sub-9 (close to 8!) for the last .08 (extra mileage thanks to our zigzagging on the course).  He was SO cold and exhausted when he was done…he later told me he had to just “keep walking” at the end of the race or he was afraid he’d just fall over. 😮  But he warmed up in the after-party, had a granola bar, a cookie, and some water.

His final finish time was 41:08, which equated to a 10:17 average pace. However, if you count the extra .08, his average pace was a 10:06.  And for a kid who hasn’t run 4 miles in about five months, that’s pretty awesome!!

After the race, Jamie was really excited about the glow-in-the-dark medal.

I’ll admit, I thought it was pretty cool, too! We had to drive up to get JJ at my sister’s house, and Jamie asked me if we could go out to dinner before we got there. Because he had such a good race, I gave in and agreed. Originally, he’d ask for Mexican food; it wasn’t my first choice, because Mexican can be hard to fit in a diet if you haven’t planned for it. But then, on the way, he changed his mind and asked if we could go to the Thai restaurant near where my sister lives. I figured Thai food wouldn’t kill me, either calorically or literally (I’m not a big fan of spicy food, ha ha!), so I let him have the meal of his choice.

He had pad Thai with beef, on the spicier side.  And of course he had to have it with chopsticks.

I’ve only had Thai food a couple of times in my life, with the most recent one being the day before my marathon last April. (The same restaurant.) I was unsure of what to get, but I decided to be daring and try something I’s never heard of or had before: pad khing. Basically, it was vegetables in a ginger sauce, with chicken and white rice.

As it turned out, it was delicious!

We had a nice dinner at the little restaurant, and Jamie enjoyed rehashing the race as we ate.  He was really proud of himself and pumped for his good race.  I often fret about the fact that Jamie usually doesn’t seem to be interested in running.  If we sign up for a race, I have to badger him to train most of the time.  And yet, when he is racing, he positively amazes me with his determination. And afterwards, when he’s had a good, solid effort (which he usually does, because of that determination), I can tell how proud he is of himself, and how good it makes him feel.  When you have a teenager, with all the angst and drama and surliness that typically entails, it’s nice to know that they have something that has such a positive influence on their lives.

All in all, it was a great race, and Jamie has already told me that he plans to run it again when he’s a senior in high school, ie, on February 29, 2020. I don’t think I’m ready to think about that just yet. 😉

Thanks for reading!