Moonshiner 5K Paris Mountain Night Run

I ran the Half Moon Outfitters Moonshiner 5K on Friday, September 17th in the Vibrams. The race started at 8 PM. I was amazed at how many people attended. The race results showed that 212 people ran the race. Even Superwoman and her sidekick showed up! You will have to view the photos to see what I am talking about. Go to http://greenville.metromix.com/events/photogallery/moonshiner-5k-at-paris/2196685/content. When you see the picture you will understand.

I've never run or hiked at night so I had to order one of the headlamps that they offered on the race entry website. You were not allowed to run without a head lamp; which is wise during night run.

The race started promptly at 8. I decided to start out about mid way in the pack of runners. I was not planning on running the race hard and did not want to delay any fast runners behind me. Unfortunately that allowed a bunch of slower runners in front of me.

We started off at the top of the main parking lot and ran past a shelter over the paved road and onto the Mountain Creek trail. We then took a quick left onto the Turtle Creek trail. That trail is very narrow and extremely hard to pass slower runners on. I decided to just go with the flow and tried my best to watch my footing so I did not wipe out. I did have one near fall but caught myself with my hands and kept going. After about a 1/2 mile or so we popped back out onto the paved road. I had not studied the route before hand so I had no idea how long we would be running on the road. Most of the paved road was uphill which helped spread out the flock of runners. I felt really good so far so I decided to pass as many people as I could while there was space. I am not sure where but eventually we turned back onto the Mountain Creek trail and started back towards the finish line.

During the run I was amazed at how much dust and debris I was sucking into my lungs. My bright running light illuminated all of the dust kicked into the air by the runners. There was also a lot of small moths flying around. I am sure I ate a few of those during the run.

The crowd had really spread out on the return trip on Mountain Creek so the running was much more fun. I picked up my pace quite a bit during the second half of the race. It was really neat running on those trails at night. I was starting to tire a little near the end as we emerged back onto the paved road for the final stretch. I did not realize how close the finish line was until it was too late. According to my Garmin the race was actually about 2.86 miles instead of 3.1. I usually like to sprint the last hundred yards but I did not get that chance, which is fine.

Thanks to Half Moon Outfitters we had lots of water to drink and food to eat at the finish line. Half Moon Outfitters and the race volunteers really did a great job. I appreciate all of the hard work they put in to make a successful event. Thanks again! The race was a blast.

Have a great day.

Gary