How fast can you run at night?

Chase (Finish Strong) asked: "Any thoughts about running on an illuminated , but dark-ish road vs. the light of day , as it might relate to speed ? I sense that stride length may be shorter at night because of a caution factor . The watch will tell the tale. The Master's Midnight Mile." ((Rest of his comment here.)

I run at night a lot. And often I bump into things or just fall over, but last night was different. I was on the star-lit trail, steaming home with 1.5 miles to go, vaguely thinking about the possibility of lions and bears being around, when out of the pitch blackness at the edge of my peripheral vision swarmed a herd of deer. They crossed at full speed in front and behind me and disappeared off to my right heading towards the hills. It was a breath-stopping, come-to-a-complete-halt moment. I felt like those people who have described being in the ocean and suddenly being surrounded by a school of dolphins. Well, we've no ocean here, but I guess this is the Boulder equivalent and another privilege of being able to run here.

But back to Chase's comment. I usually run at night because I am a severe sufferer of CGOTH syndrome. That's Can't Get Out of the House syndrome. I start off with good intentions, then it's a constant stream of "Where did I put my blue shirt?" "Oh, I better just check that email". "Where's that bottle I made up?" "Oh, it's colder than I thought, I better get a long-sleeved thing"... "Keys!@ Where the "<>*& are my keys???" And so it goes. I swear sometimes I start getting ready at 4pm and I'm lucky if I'm out of the door dressed and with shoes on by 6pm. And as the year gets older, it's getting darker sooner.

But, I do like running at night. It's cooler and I think I run faster. I've been working a lot on mental tricks recently, and one I like to use is to try to feel the space around my body when I run, the space/distance between my foot and my hip and so on. At night, when there's no full moon, I can almost FEEL the black space around me.

I used to stumble a lot running on uneven trails with no light, but I've been doing some proprioceptive exercises that Mark Plaatjes suggested: stand on one leg; stand on one leg and wave your arms about; stand on one leg and close your eyes.. etc etc...The idea is to progress to standing on one leg/foot with your eyes closed on a wobble board while juggling chainsaws. Seriously, I haven;t fallen or sprained an ankle for, well, DAYS now.

For a Midnight Mile, I'd choose a smooth, even, flat road. One that I know well. I'd make sure I wore a reflective top just to dilute the chances of being run over. And if I was really going for speed, I'd carry some sort of light to illuminate my feet. The brain seems to have problems knowing where to put them when it can't see them or the road surface. And I'd jog the course both ways first, to check for car wrecks, fallen trees, holes and anything else I might have to veer round or jump over.

That'll stop you cutting your stride length or cadence for fear you are going to hit something. Cant wait to hear what you do.