(Left) BJ and Barefoot Rick (Right) Barefoot Rick and his dentist, Dr. Sam Kallsnick
Barefoot Rick's Night Flight 5K(?) Report - June 29, 2007
"It was a marvelous night for a moon dance ..." or a moon run on a starlit night. However, the clouds hung tough for the Night Flight 5(?). Fortunately, for most, the rain held off for the 9 p.m. start, but ... boy howdy ... was it ever cool for this time of year! So much for global warming, as temps were in the mid-60s! I can remember running this race in years past where it was still in the 80s or low 90s at race time. Sure was a nice change.
(Left) BJ and Barefoot Rick (Right) Barefoot Rick and his
dentist, Dr. Sam Kallsnick
Not only was the weather different this year, but the venue had changed this year also. Lee's Summit Hospital stated that they would no longer organize the event after 25 years in 2005. The Night Flight 5K took a hiatus last year and evolved into a Lee's Summit Parks and Recreation event this year with a new location at Legacy Park. The location change was fine, but it is a hillier course. That's okay also because they are nice rolling hills -- nothing too much to handle or decrease one's time dramatically. However, it was frustrating to find out that they had not certified the course! We hit the 3 mile mark and then kept going and going and going until finally we hit the finish line. I wasn't wearing my Garmin GPS, but a stop watch which showed my time as 23:22! What? I hit mile marker #2 at 14 minutes flat. No way it took me 9 minutes and 22 seconds to go 1.1 miles! Anyway, I checked with a few folks who were wearing GPSs and the consensus was that the course measured right at 3.25 miles! Oy Vay!
So, at 3.25 miles and with a finish time of 23:22, I ran a 6:56 pace. Not too bad!
A couple of things for the race committee to consider for next year. Otherwise, I think their numbers may fall WAY off:
If they take care of these couple of things, they will once again have a great Night Flight 5K event.
Postscript: Great meeting David Boone and Craig, a fellow worker at Sprint. Thanks for the warm howdy, guys!
Having a Blessed Barefoot Blast,
Barefoot Rick