Race Report: Candlelighters Night Run, Fort Worth, Texas, USA

This was different. A 5K run at night. A lot of people were out for this one, runners and walkers;
there was also a kids' 1K. Pretty festive atmosphere. Lots of people wore those glow-things around
their necks; some had them looped around their arms or legs.

The race started downtown, ran around the historic courthouse, then headed down a loooong hill
(those who've run the Race for the Cure before this year, or the Cowtown 10K, know the one I'm
talking about), ran straight and flat for a while, then turned around and went back up that looooong
hill. Forget negative splits on this one!

I started a bit too fast but managed to keep my effort reasonably steady, though I flagged a bit
at the end. My first split was 6:02, no surprise given the terrain. Second mile was 6:41, a bit
slower than my PR pace (20:35). I decided to try to pick it up a bit and not lose too much time on
the uphill.

Most of the way back I heard cheers from the runners still on the outward leg; the first woman was
10-20 feet behind me most of the way. "Yeah, first girl! Woo hoo!" It was good to hear. (And
inspiring; I don't often finish ahead of all the women, so I decided to see if I could do it here. I
did indeed finish ahead of her, by just a couple of seconds. Don't know her name, though I've seen
her around.)

I passed some folks in the last mile, some folks passed me. Finally ... there's the finish way up
there! I hit my split at the 3 mile mark but it was too dark to read it. (At that point, forget
about working the light on the watch.) I crossed the line in 20:40, 5 seconds off my PR but I'll
definitely take it -- my PR was on a much cooler day, in the morning, on a flat course that I think
I cut a bit short with aggressive tangents. Tonight I think I showed it was no fluke. (Upon
reflection, though, I did switch to lightweight trainers for this race -- NB 831s instead of the
1022s I often wear. That may have made a difference as well.)

That time would have placed in my age group last year. Not this time though -- all the placers were
under 20:00.

Post-race food: Bagels, oranges, apples, grapes, bananas, homemade brownies, hot dogs (bleah),
yogurt. Good crowd support downtown. Enthusiastic runners. Lots of volunteers. Decent traffic
control -- we got three lanes of a 4-lane street most of the way.

Three and a half stars. Brian Bob says check it out.

--
Brian P. Baresch Fort Worth, Texas, USA Professional editing and proofreading

If you're going through hell, keep going. --Winston Churchill

>> The race started downtown, ran around the historic courthouse, then headed
down a loooong hill (those who've run the Race for the Cure before this year, or the Cowtown 10K,
know the one I'm talking about), ran straight and flat for a while, then turned around and went back
up that looooong hill. Forget negative splits on this one! <<

It had one radical departure from most downtown Ft. Worth night courses in that it actually
didn't run around downtown very much. They made up for this by stretching out the length of the
run on Main Street north of downtown; I prefer this course over the others I've run down there.
With the possible exception of last year's Jingle Bell Run which went through a neighborhood
east of downtown that I never knew existed.

>> Post-race food: Bagels, oranges, apples, grapes, bananas, homemade
brownies, hot dogs (bleah), yogurt. <<

And barbeque beef sandwiches.

>> Decent traffic control -- we got three lanes of a 4-lane street most of the
way. <<

They did a poor job of directing people heading out to stay to the left on Main Street; I
saw several near-collisions involving both the people heading north and the people heading
south trying to use the eastmost lanes on the road. That's the one thing I'd try to correct
in the course.

Mike

> It had one radical departure from most downtown Ft. Worth night courses in that it actually
> didn't run around downtown very much.

Yeah, I was surprised; seems like I remember at least one race going past our office building, maybe
it was a Jingle Bell run or something.

>They made up for this by stretching out the length of the run on Main Street north of downtown; I
>prefer this course over the others I've run down there.

The lack of turns made up for the hill. I actually like the hill so I'm not complaining.

> And barbeque beef sandwiches.

Missed those. Oh, and Jamba Juice had smoothies but they were all gone by the time the 5K was under
way (the kids in the 1K probably got them all). I only know they had them because I was in the store
earlier in the evening and they were getting them ready.

> They did a poor job of directing people heading out to stay to the left on Main Street; I saw
> several near-collisions involving both the people heading north and the people heading south
> trying to use the eastmost lanes on the road. That's the one thing I'd try to correct in the
> course.

Right, I forgot about that. I didn't see any collisions but was annoyed at having to move farther
out than I wanted to. An extra line of cones would presumably take care of it.

--
Brian P. Baresch Fort Worth, Texas, USA Professional editing and proofreading

If you're going through hell, keep going. --Winston Churchill

In article <hg08mv4krpg2tco79t2ev6s9t2r8atil7f@4ax.com> Brian Baresch
<brian_news@peacenik.REMOOV-DIS.net> writes:
>This was different. A 5K run at night. A lot of people were out for this one, runners and walkers;
>there was also a kids' 1K. Pretty festive atmosphere. Lots of people wore those glow-things around
>their necks; some had them looped around their arms or legs.
>
>the light on the watch.) I crossed the line in 20:40, 5 seconds off my PR but I'll definitely take
>it -- my PR was on a much cooler day, in the morning, on a flat course that I think I cut a bit
>short with aggressive tangents. Tonight I think I showed it was no fluke. (Upon reflection, though,
>I did switch to lightweight trainers for this race
>
>Brian P. Baresch

Congrats on another great race, Brian! No fluke, I'd say. Thanks for posting another fun report to
read. Sounds like it was a lot of fun!

Teresa in AZ

>Congrats on another great race, Brian! No fluke, I'd say. Thanks for posting another fun report to
>read. Sounds like it was a lot of fun!

Thanks, Teresa! Yeah, lots of fun; I like the festive races where a lot of folks get invoved.

--
Brian P. Baresch Fort Worth, Texas, USA Professional editing and proofreading

If you're going through hell, keep going. --Winston Churchill

On Sun, 14 Sep 2003 05:54:36 GMT, Brian Baresch wrote:

>This was different. A 5K run at night. A lot of people were out for this one, runners and walkers;
>there was also a kids' 1K. Pretty festive atmosphere. Lots of people wore those glow-things around
>their necks; some had them looped around their arms or legs.
>
[report snipped but appreciated]

Night events are great, eh? I don't think that anyone (although yours is the only opinion that
matters) ever doubted your PR but this one is nice validation. Hmm, 831s, uh huh, that explains it
<VBG>. "It ain't about the shoes." FWIW, at your rate of improvement, sub 20 is just around the
corner. Yep, I'm taking odds. Er, if you don't want that hot dog, ...

Congratulations, Layne

-------------------------------------------------------
The rec.running report archives may be found at http://kinder.cis.unf.edu/rec.running

>Night events are great, eh? I don't think that anyone (although yours is the only opinion that
>matters) ever doubted your PR but this one is nice validation. Hmm, 831s, uh huh, that explains it
><VBG>. "It ain't about the shoes." FWIW, at your rate of improvement, sub 20 is just around the
>corner. Yep, I'm taking odds. Er, if you don't want that hot dog, ...

[back from out-of-town trip]

Thanks, Layne! About the PR, I was a bit concerned that the course was measured along the same curb
for the first mile and didn't allow for tangents, so it might have been 10-20 seconds short. But who
knows? Anyway, I'm probably through with fast 5Ks for a while as I ramp up the 'thon training; might
do a couple of fun ones.

Thanks again!

--
Brian P. Baresch Fort Worth, Texas, USA Professional editing and proofreading

If you're going through hell, keep going. --Winston Churchill