We had rain the night before the races and again in the morning before the races started. The rain just added to the humidity making for a tough weekend of racing. When I got into Philadelphia at 10 PM on Saturday July 14 it was still 85 degrees and humid. There were people running the Lone Ranger Ultra marathon and the Relay Races. With the fans, support staff and a DJ playing music if was one big party. The Midnight Madness runners started showing up dressed in florescent green shirts, vests, headlamps, blinking lights and glow bracelets. I saw a couple of people wearing a battery pack on their belt so they could power up a string of LED lights they were wearing. After a short briefing from the race director we lined up for the start of the race.
We ran counter clockwise around the river yelling words of encouragement to the Lone Ranger Ultra Marathon racers who were running a clockwise loop. It wasn't too dark running along Kelly Drive and I ran well considering it was long past my normal bedtime. I had never worn my headlamp before this race but it came in handy on the other side of the river. We turned left and ran across the Fall River bridge and then made a left turn onto the sidewalk along West River Drive. It's pretty dark on this side of the river and they had setup spotlights in a couple of places but I was glad I had my headlamp. One runner passed me but decided it was too dark and he slowed down so we could share my headlamp.
There was more light as we got closer to the Philadelphia Art Museum so the runner took off at a fast pace never to be seen again. I was running in front of the Art Museum when there was a bright flash. I hadn't noticed a photographer sitting along the sidewalk taking photos of the runners. The next photographer caught me off guard too. I guess I was too busy making sure I wasn't going to trip on the sidewalk to notice the photographers. I sprinted across the finish line with a time of 1:10:06 finishing 45 out of 296 runners in the Midnight Madness run. I hung around after the race for the award ceremony and then headed to my car to get some sleep.
It was still hot and humid at 2 AM and with all of the noise from people heading back to their cars I didn't get much sleep. The alarm sounded at 5 AM and I woke up hungry, thirsty and tired. Talk about a lack of energy and I was signed up for an 8.4 mile run, what was I thinking. There were a lot fewer people signed up for this race compared to the Midnight Madness run. I was disappointed how few people actually wore pajamas for the race, especially since I went out and bought pajamas just for this race. The Pajama Loop was also run counter clockwise so we could offer encouragement to the Lone Ranger Ultra Marathon runners. I started the Pajama Loop slow and finished slower. Those cotton pajamas absorbed all of my sweat and they were so wet after the race that I had to change clothes before I drove home.
I recognized some of the runners after the Pajama Loop as runners from the Midnight Madness run. The runners said they were tired from the first run and they ran the Pajama Loop about 10 minutes slower. I ran the Pajama Loop in 1:21:37 which was 11 minutes slower then my time in the Midnight Madness run. I enjoyed some food and water then headed home for a well deserved shower and nap. If I run these races next year I'll do things a little differently. After the midnight Madness run I'll make sure I eat enough food to energize my body for the next race. I'm not sure if that will impact my ability to sleep but it's a risk I'll take since I'm not likely to get much sleep anyway. Awards for both of these races went to the three fastest men and the three fastest women. In both races I was the fastest man in my age group but that wasn't good enough to win an award. I finished 37 out of 102 runners in the Pajama Loop.
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