Following my first race, a quick 5k in June of 2013, joined a group of fellow graduate students and signed up for the Pilot Fireball Moonlight Classic on July 3, 2013, in Knoxville, Tennessee. It was a fun night run to celebrate Independence Day near the UT campus.
A running graduate student
As graduate students, we were always looking for ways to procrastinate writing literature reviews, and excuses to get outside the office were always welcome.
This began as a weekly 5k fun run where we received $1 off pints of beer at the finish and evolved into a few of us signing up for a 5k race on a hot evening in early July.
Fireball Moonlight Classic 5k
Organized by the Knoxville Track Club, the Fireball Moonlight Classic ran from the Vet School and Animal Science buildings on the University of Tennessee campus and along the Tennessee River to turn around at Neyland Stadium.
Moreso, I remember the atmosphere with fellow graduate students and friends as we waited for the 5k to begin. There were a few fun costumes and we waited around in the parking lot while snapping a few photos.
I was in gym shorts and in no way actually prepared to race a 5k – hindsight is 20/20, right? My emotions were mixed. I was anxious, nervous, and mostly unaware of what all this running a 5k entailed.
I ran the 5k in 24:34 on a very flat and wide paved road with a big crowd. This was my first race with crowds of people and I remember being very focused on getting to the finish as fast as I can.
There haven’t been many flat, road 5ks in my journey, so it’d be interesting to go back see how I could run these stretches again.
Looking back, the Fireball Moonlight Classic planted a seed that maybe I could enjoy this running thing. But it would still take another year before I began finding true enjoyment in this journey.
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