Sunday, August 14, 2011

Full Moon Run

Last night I participated in the Full Moon Run held by Falls Road Running Store.  The event was a last minute one for me.  My husband has a friend whose wife was doing the run and the guys wanted to hang out together, waiting for us ladies to finish at the after party.  The run on my training schedule for the day was a 6 miler, so I figured I would this run a try. 
The weather for the day was heavy rains.  Most of the day, I was not sure if the run would happen or not.  The running store kept runners posted throughout the day on their Facebook page, saying that the rain was supposed to pass by evening and the run was still on. 
The event was planned as a night time run on the white crushed limestone surface of the NCR Trail under the light of the full moon from Ashland road to Sparks road in Hunt Valley, MD.  The runners carried brightly colored glow sticks so they could be seen in the dark, but the moonlight was supposed to be our main source of light on the path. Mother Nature did not cooperate.  Due to the heavy rain earlier in the day, the moon was mostly cloud covered for most of the run. 
Everyone made the best of it and the run went great.  When we first arrived, I went to the tent to register, get my bib and pick out some glow sticks!  The store had a great selection of glow stick, glow bracelets and glow necklaces.  I picked out a few in different shades of pink (of course) and did my stretching.  Then it was time to head down to the trial.  After a few announcements, it was time to “Go”! 
The race started without much out a bottle neck at the start.  Runners found their pace quickly and the race was on!  It took some getting used to for me to run in the dark around lots of other people, all wearing lots of varies amounts of glow sticks all over their bodies.  At first it was very disorienting to me, but after a few minutes my eyes adjusted and I was having a lot of fun.
 The crowd really started thinning out by the time I hit mile one.  The wooded trail twisted and turned through the night.  The sounds of the Gunpowder creek and varies forest creatures could be heard.  There were plenty of times when I could not see another runner ahead or behind me.  That was actually kind of creepy at times.  Due to the rain, there were some muddy spots on the trail.  As clumsy as I am, I almost feel a few times, and I think I step on a dead frog.  Ewww! I hit the turnaround and started back strong.  About half way back, I met a new friend (hi Jennifer).  We will be meeting up for a 10k in September. 
The organizers of the event made the finish line look amazing.  For about the last quarter mile, the trail was lined with all the glow sticks the runners had dropped along the trail.  It felt great to run the last leg of the race in the dark of night on a trail of glowing lights.  I run through the finish line and it was off to the after party.  Mike and Andrea were right there waiting for me to finish.  I hugged them and ran straight to the water coolers. 
The Full Moon run was a great experience.  I will be doing it for sure again next year.  I bet the experience will be a lot different when Mother Nature cooperates and actually gives us moon light to run under.  Thanks Falls Road Running Store for putting on a great event! 
A dream is a wish…
--Amy

4 comments:

  1. That sounds like so much fun!!! Glad you had a good time! I wish they had something like that near me!

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  2. Sounds like a lot of fun! It is great to try new things. I have never heard of a run like this before.

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  3. You did an awesome job and it looks like it was a lot of fun.

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  4. That sounds like such a fun race - way to go! I will definitely be looking out for that one next year since its a relatively close one to us.

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