When I saw the running clothing company Tracksmith was putting on a 5K track race, called the Twilight 5000, in Washington, D.C. on my 43rd birthday, I knew I had to sign up. 

Never mind that I always say I hate 5Ks. Never mind that I’d never raced on a track before. Never mind that my birthday is on July 28 and that it would inevitably be extremely hot in D.C. 

I still couldn’t think of a better way to celebrate my birthday! 

While I had lofty aspirations of running my second sub-20 5K, it was not to be – I finished in an official time of 20:36. But I still feel like I gave it my everything, especially because I could barely speak coherently for a good two minutes after I crossed the finish line. Ha! 

Here’s my recap of the Twilight 5000 in Washington, D.C.! 

She was lightning, before the thunder

Obviously, I knew it was going to be hot and humid – but as luck would have it, the race took place on the hottest day of the summer. Temperatures during the day were close to 100 degrees, with a real feel temperature of about 108 degrees. The race was scheduled to begin at 6:30 pm, but we were divided into 9 heats based on our estimated finish times. Heat 1 was the slowest and Heat 9 was the fastest. I registered with a goal time of 20:00 and was placed in Heat 4, which was supposed to go off at 7:58 pm. I crossed my fingers that the weather would cool off at least a little bit by the time I was going to run. 

Micah and I got to the track at Cardoza High School early, right around the time the first wave was going off, so we got to cheer on the earlier runners. I met an Instagram friend, Meghan, in person for the first time, and that was fun! The wind was starting to pick up and the heat didn’t seem *too* oppressive, so I was hopeful it would stay that way. About a half hour before the start of my race, I went down to the field and warmed up until the organizers called us to line up. 

For the previous hour, we could hear thunder and see lightning in the distance, but it seemed to be far enough away that no one was panicking. But then! About five minutes before we were supposed to run, there was a loud crack of thunder and race officials suddenly halted the race, ordering us to take shelter under the bleachers. (Which yeah, were made of metal, but we huddled under a concrete overhang. I suppose that was safer!) 

We stayed there for about 45 minutes while it poured and I was starting to wonder if the race would be canceled all together. But then they announced that they were starting up again and were combining heats, since the event was supposed to be over by 10 pm. Heats 4 and 5 would run together, then Heats 6 and 7, then Heats 8 and 9.

They gave those of us in 4 and 5 12 minutes to warm up again, and we finally lined up just before 9 pm. 

Did the storm cool things off, you ask? 

No. No, it did not. 

A 5K on a track is 12.5 laps around, which others had warned me is mentally tough. But I don’t think that’s what was hardest for me. If there is one thing I excel at, it’s doing the same thing over and over again (I eat, like, the same five foods every week.) The weather was what really killed me. It felt like running through soup and like heat was just emanating from the track. After the first mile, i.e. the first four laps, I knew sub-20 was out the window, but that if I just stuck with the pack of runners who were going about my pace, I could be around 20:30. 

So I basically just locked in with them and stayed focused. I actually really liked running with a pack. The race officials and volunteers kept calling out “work together, work together! You’ve got this!” and I do think the teamwork helped!

Micah was hanging out near the finish trying to take pictures of me and so I got to see him again and again, which was a nice boost. There were also volunteers handing out cold cups of water and so I started grabbing one at every lap and just dumping it on my head. At lap 7, I just started counting down the laps and before I knew it, I had one left. I did my best to give it one last kick and crossed the finish line in 20:36, 6:38 average pace. No, it wasn’t sub-20, but it was what I had to give and I was happy with that.

I sat down for a few minutes, collected myself and then walked to the top of the bleachers where Micah was standing – yes, he made me walk up all these steps after a tough 5K, LOL! We went to the race after party at nearby Franklin Hall, but I wasn’t that hungry (normal for me when I push hard in the heat) and was mostly interested in drinking a summer shandy slushy. 

Would I do it again? 

Yeah! It was fun – a painful kind of fun, but fun nonetheless! I loved the atmosphere. Tracksmith did a great job with the soundtrack – loved the music that played all night long – and the volunteers were so fun and energetic. I’d love to do this again when it’s about 45 degrees outside. As far as my original sub-20 goal, I probably haven’t been running enough this summer to accomplish that. My highest weekly mileage since Boston was 40 miles during the first week of July. Most weeks were in the 33-37 mile range. When I ran my only other sub-20, that was coming off of Chicago Marathon training when I was running 60-70 miles per week. High mileage isn’t everything, but it can help. 

There is actually a second Twilight 5000 in D.C. on Aug. 25, and I thought for a hot second about running that. But it’s two days before my favorite race, the Annapolis Ten Mile Run, and given how dead my legs felt when I went out to run an easy 10 miles two days after this race – I decided that wasn’t smart!      

There weren’t any awards given out, but per the results I actually placed first in my age group. There are Twilight 5000 races that have already happened in cities all over North America and London, and so far I am 19th among women ages 40-44. That is pretty cool! It’ll likely change as more Twilight 5000 events happen, but I’m proud of that.