"Transition back to the 1920’s Prohibition Era rum running and race through the wooded trails of the backcountry. Like our bootleggin’ ancestors, see if you can make it through the moonlit woods to get to the stompin’ grounds, where you can enjoy a nice glass of moonshine and flatfoot it to bluegrass and old timey music."
The
Moonlight Bootlegger 5k race series came to Oak Mountain State park near Birmingham, Alabama last week (11/12:16). My daughter Andrea ran this race, a nighttime trail run. Her boyfriend ran along with her. This is Andrea's race report;
I send a text a few days after our first date. “Look what I just signed up for, do you think I’m crazy?” laughing at myself, because, well, I am. A little. Fifteen minutes pass and I get a response, “Nope, sounds cool. I just signed up too!” Fast forward about ten weeks and I’m meeting the boyfriend we now know is as crazy as me in the parking lot outside the state park. We jump into one car and head towards the parking lot our race will end in. Poor guy didn’t know how much anxiety I could go thru until I had accomplished everything I needed to in plenty of time before the race starts. There’s just too much to do and not enough time to do it! (editorial note: you really can inherit this trait?) Start by picking up our registration packets, t-shirts, and the magic bracelet in the gazebo (the one that says you are old enough to drink). Also hanging out there is a live bluegrass band. Perfect! A quick stop in the bathroom and back to the car to put on braces, oils, numbers, sneakers…you get the idea. Then stretching (highly recommend not doing a lower leg workout the day before a race, what was I thinking???). Time for one more bathroom stop before the pre-race meeting. It’s a small field, 72 runners. And as a group, we all walk the half a mile down to the race start as the sun sets. A young kid (14?) passes us on the walk. I nudge the boyfriend, “he will be the winner.” Called it, kid kicked everyone’s butt. Never fails.
Two minute countdown, headlamp on, gun fires, and off we go! My boyfriend is a hiker, I haven’t run in weeks, and I was able to jog his walk pace and felt like I was sprinting thru the dark when he ran, trying to watch for the little rocks and roots hidden just beyond the light. Every tenth of a mile was a little tea light, glowing along the path in the woods. In order to prevent hunting for mile marker signs in the dark, there was bluegrass music playing from speakers. I loved the music idea! You could hear it approaching and the pace would pick up. But I also had that movie scene in the back of my head, where banjo music in the woods was not a welcome sound. My excitement over a mile completed quickly washed that away. The volunteers were great, helping to guide us, and places on the trail where there was a small chance you could veer the wrong way were clearly marked. As we approached the finish line, we could hear the other runners hanging out and the live bluegrass music playing. Sprint towards the end! The boyfriend bolted, his sprint was kicking my butt. Maybe this is wrong, but when a girl fell on the sidewalk (yep, she managed to find her way thru the little trips on the trail only to be taken out by pavement) and he was a complete gentleman, stopping to help her out, my thought was “Yes! I can catch him!” I know, not very nice. Cross the finish line with the race leader (I think, was watching my feet trying to avoid the evils of pavement running) calling out names and cheering you in! Best part about the end, moonshine in a mason jar! Choices were cherry cola and peach tea. Food was banana halves, fun sized candy bars, granola bars, pretzels, and popcorn, yum! I managed to win second in my age group and received a cute mason jar, few rocks in the bottom, candle, and homemade metal handle. A backwoods lantern! (We won’t discuss out of how many in the age categories). Super proud of the boyfriend who also won a lantern, coming in third in his age group in his first ever 5k. This was the most fun 5k I have ever been around/participated in.
