It’s a busy week thanks to a self-awarded long weekend, so I’ll offer this quick race report in list format. Here’s why I’d highly recommend you run the Rockville Rotary Twilight 8K next year:
1. With an 8:45 p.m. start, it’s probably the coolest temperatures you’ve run in since May.
2. With an 8:45 p.m. start, you’ll be running in the dark—which is really fun in a large group of people!
3. You can run the race as a team, as I did. My running buddies and I saw “Back to the Future” at the AFI theater in Silver Spring the night before the race, so we named ourselves “Make Like a Tree and Get Out of Here.” We placed ninth out of 19 teams, and were the first jokey team: The results list corporate teams and running-store-sponsored teams like “Booz Allen,” “Falls Road” … and then, “Make Like a Tree and Get Out of Here.”
Striking our best Michael J. Fox air-guitar poses.
4. It makes hill training worthwhile. There’s a lot of downhill, including the last mile (thanks for that, race organizers!). There’s also a lot of uphill, including one at mile four that just about stopped me in my tracks.
5. Despite the hills and the heat, it’s a faster race than one might imagine. I finished in 41:12, 8:18-minute miles, good enough for 23 out of 197 in my age group, 146 out of 1128 overall women. Not my best time ever, but let’s just say I thought I lost a *lot* more time on that hill at mile four.
6. Killer post-race party with a great cover band, free beer and huge watermelon slices.
Yum.
Did you run the race? What did you think about it?
Amy Reinink 
that pic is so cute! I didn’t run, but maybe next year. 🙂
Sounds fun! Looks like you had a great time!
Love this! I”m glad *somebody* was creative with a Team name – that should happen more often 😉
We ran this race last year and also had So much fun – I had a huge ol’ piece of watermelon + free beer. You will rarely find me in a happier state, post-race. 🙂
Nice running girl!! Glad you are back!
Haha, every other race report I’ve ready from Saturday read, “Ugh, I almost died.” Glad to read a positive one 🙂 Congratulations!
So many typos. Hope you can figure out what I was trying to say 😉
Fun – love the pics!
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i ran this race on 7/15/00 when i lived in virginia and worked in rockville. it was the first race i had run since high school track in ’87. i loved the race and had a great time (for me) of 36:47. i’ve run over 8,000 miles since then and now live in ohio, but this race is a great memory.