ET Full Moon Midnight 10K

One of my co workers found out about this race called the Extra Terrestrial Full Moon Midnight Marathon, 1/2 marathon and 10K. It takes place on the Extra Terrestrial Highway, near Area 51. You have to wear reflective clothing, carry a flashlight, and run in the middle of night. We signed up for the 10K, since we had to be doing 5 miles at that time anyway. I didn't want to drive 2 and 1/2 hours to the race, so i opted to take the bus that was bringing runners to the race from the Hard Rock casino. I got a reflective vest from Walmart and a small flashlight. they gave out glo necklaces at the race.
They changed up the order of the bus drop offs, and the 10K runners got dropped of last, about a minute before the start of the race. I literally got off the bus, threw my bag down, and got in line at the starting line in time to hear " 28 seconds til we start ! ". My co worker James had driven down earlier in the day, he was camping out there. I couldn't find him at the start. We would always run together at Boot Camp class, and he had a habit of sprinting by me at the end every time. It made me mad every time. lol. So I was determined to find him in the race. The race started, and it took about 30 seconds before I got to the actual start. Once I crossed the starting line timing mat I pushed start on my watch.
I was suprised that my legs felt as good as they did considering I just got off of a 2 and 1/2 hour bus ride. I was runnng at a good pace, and looking for James. I began passing people, and kept looking. at the first mile marker I heard him talking to his roommate who was running the race also. We said hello, told him I had to start way in the back, and that was about it. I took off, with the thought of him sprinting by me all the time in my head. I continued running, and began to use my old high school cross country running strategy, of trying to pick people off one by one. It worked. I got to the 3.1 mile turnaround and looked at my watch. 30 minutes. I was doing better than I thought ! I just kept going, and kept trying to pick people off. I saw James on the other side towards the turnaround and kept thinking of him sprinting by me. By the time I got to mile 5, the furthest I'd run since high school, I was so happy. I kept going. I could see where the finish line was, but it seemed like it was not getting any closer. Finally I saw it, and just kept going. I crossed the finish line at 1 hour 1 minute and 15 seconds. I ended up coming in 51st out of 245 runners, and was the 7th woman finisher in my age group. I was so happy that I had finished, and was happy with my time. I waited for James at the finish line, and we drank some nasty HEED drink, and then some gatorade. Got a pretty cool finishers medal with an alien on it. i got back on the bus for the 2 and 1/2 hour bus ride, and got home at 6am. Was a fun race, and overall great experience.