Halloween Tempo Run in a Cemetery

Thursday night, I put over 11 miles on my legs, and everything felt GREAT. (I REALLY think the compression calf sleeves I got a few weeks before the TC 10 Mile help to keep things "healthy" on longer runs - they work for me and my bum calves. I don't wear them often - this was the first time I wore them since the 10 Miler.)

Twin Cities in Motion (the organization that puts on the TC Marathon and 10 Mile) was holding their 3rd ever "Flash Run" in Minneapolis. We were supposed to meet at the gates in front of the Lakewood Cemetery. I figured I'd show up early, do a HARD tempo run, and use the Flash Run as my cooldown. So that's what I did.

I ran a loop inside the cemetery as a WU. I didn't map it out ahead of time and I don't use a Garmin, so I just ran. Afterwards, I mapped it out:

Just shy of 2.5 miles

It had some nice little hills - nothing was long, but there were some short and steep buggers. I figured the loop was around 2.3 - 2.5 miles (which was a good guess), so I thought I'd do 2 hard laps at tempo speed. My first lap was 14:20 (5:48 pace). I was dying on my second lap, and did that one in 14:54 (6:01 pace). Overall, my time was 29:15 for 4.96 hilly miles (5:53 pace). And including the WU (and some jogging to and from my car), I had done 7.5 miles in 50:59.

The moment I finished, I saw a cute ladybug and Xena (Warrior Princess) standing by the gates. No, I wasn't delirious from the run. It was people starting to gather for the Flash Run. I came over all sweaty and nasty. And oh yeah, I was wearing my "Tutti Frutti" shorts too!

The "bowl full of tutti frutti" shorts at the Mosquito Man Duathlon

Katie and Matt showed up, so did Kris and Mark, and after a few minutes, there were 9 of us ready to go for a nice evening run around Lake Calhoun. We headed off, and I followed a bowling ball and a bowling pin for the first part of the run:

Here's the entire Flash Run gang (except me) running around Calhoun:

No one seemed to mind that a bowling ball, a bowling pin, a time traveler, and an obscure M*A*S*H reference were leading a run around the lake. Gotta love Mpls / St. Paul!

After just over 3.5 miles of chatting with friends, we were done for the night. Hannah had brought candy for us, and she told us all to take A LOT. So I did. I enjoyed this on my ride home:

Ahhh yes, THERE are the shorts.... ;)

If you want to be kept in the loop on future "Flash Runs," become a fan of Twin Cities in Motion on Facebook. That was a good way to get 11.17 miles in! Good way to spend an evening!