Rob and I, in our continuing quest to do at least one race every month in order to make sure we keep our exercising going, did the Palo Alto Moonlight Run, which happens every October at the full moon. I did this last year, with my friend Lee, after having made a big dinner (and having totally forgotten about the run). This year, I prepared ahead of time, ate lightly, drank water profusely. We ran a pretty good race — not spectacularly fast (until I drop some weight, that’s not going to happen) but we kept running nearly the whole way, with only two walking breaks, one taken because I developed a weird pain in my right hip. Well, the way I described it was “a pain in the ball and socket of my hip.” I’m not sure what it was; it didn’t last long, and I finished the race just fine.
The Moonlight Run is a lot of fun because you’re running at night. (Natch.) Running at night, in the dark with very little ambient light at points, is a completely different sensation than running during the day. There’s no thinking about the scenery. You just run and hope you don’t bump into anything. Okay, it wasn’t that dark. But there are a few places where there’s a pole in the middle of the course and you could hear the shouts of “Pole!” moving down the line of runners.
There weren’t enough good snacks at the end, although perhaps we just showed up too late for the really good ones. We got water and some Hobee’s coffeecake. I only ate the cinnamon-sugar topping off mine. I love Hobee’s coffeecake, but at that moment all I wanted was the top. Weird.
Despite being a flat 6 miles, Rob and I agreed we’d run this one again.
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When I got home, I found it hard to get out of the car — I was very stiff. I came inside, said goodnight to Darin, and went straight to bed, do not pass the shower. I didn’t have the night sweats I did after last year’s race, so possibly I’m in slightly better shape.
I woke up really, really sore though. Ouch.