Davis Moonlight Run – Race Recap

I haven’t recapped the Courage Run I did last month due to extreme laziness but I figured that I should jump on recapping the Davis Moonlight Run from this weekend while it was still fresh in my mind.

I opted to wait until race day to pick up my race packet.  I’d never done that before until the Courage Run but considering that everything is a ways from my house, I’m finding it to be a great option.  I always arrive early for races anyway so what difference does it make if I just wait to pick up my packet until an hour before the race.

Packet pick up was a breeze.  It was clearly marked as to where to pick it.  There was a short line and I only waited maybe 5 minutes.  It was easy and they hadn’t run out of shirts in my size so that was cool.  Rumor has it that the shirts are glow in the dark, but since mines still in the back seat of my car, I wouldn’t know.

This race had a 5k, 10k, 10 mile and 1/2 marathon option.  Since I’ve been focusing on speed so far this year, I went with the 5k option.  Plus I’m pretty lazy of late and just don’t want to do any more effort than I really have too.  Lazy.  With all the race options, the place was packed!  The 10k, 10 mile and Half went out first, followed by the 5k 15 minutes later.  It’s an evening race so my race started at 7:15.   It did start a little late but they were trying to give the people running the longer races enough of a head start that the “sprinters” wouldn’t run up their tails.

The course was a nice mixture of street, green belts and a short section of gravel.  I’ll be honest, I hate gravel.  Despite a 9:30 mile time in the gravel section, I felt like it was a total slog the whole time. But the weather was freaking amazing!  Two weeks before the race our temps were 105+ degrees and the week of it was in the upper 80’s.  By 7:15 it was in the upper 70’s with a breeze.  I couldn’t have asked for better weather.

Before I left for the race my husband predicted that I would place in my age group but I figured I wouldn’t because I know that this race is pretty popular.  I finished in 29:10 and was fast enough to place 3rd female in my age group!  Talk about stoked!  I couldn’t believe it when I saw the results.  I texted Hubby who was all, “I told you so.”   I waited in a very long, very slow-moving line to collect my medal but when I got to the front I was told that they didn’t have the medal for the 3rd place finishers in the 5k and they’d have to mail it.  Bummer.  But they gave me a pair of socks!

I can’t wait to get this sucker in the mail!  I’m so excited about it!

Davis Moonlight Run Pros & Cons:

Pros:

Easy parking & lots of it
Easy race day packet pick up
In a college town so people watching was weird/fun
Course was a mix of street, green belt & gravel trail
Amazing weather

Cons:

No medal for 3rd place 5k finishers
Kinda windy (not that they can do anything about that)
Gravel trail section

Overall rating:  5/5

This race was really fun and I will be doing it again next year!