RACE REPORT: Beer & BBQ 5K 2015 - Thomas Creek Edition

After landing from my flight from Wisconsin, I made a quick stop at home to change into running gear, before heading out to Thomas Creek.  I didn't realize they were located so close to where I live.  They had a nice outdoor nook where musicians can play, along with an indoor bar on the side.  They had the big garage doors open, so it was cool to be able to look in and see the brewing equipment, too.  Beer & racing - two of my favorite things, combined.

 

It was a hot day.  I was among the first to arrive, since they had warned about limited parking.  I hung out in the car for an hour, with windows open and the Beer & BBQ SWAG towel draped over a window to block out the sun.  When the time got nearer, I found a shaded spot on the sidewalk, iced up, and did a super quick warmup.  We had to walk like 0.15 mi to the start, and people had started walking to it, so I went with them.  It was too hot to make me want to do much more warming up, anyway, although I could've used more icing.

The course was kind of like a lollipop out-and-back, which is nice for predictability and pacing.  They closed off the lane, and we were off.  I counted about 5 women in front of me in the first few hundred meters.  Over the first 0.5-0.75 of a mile or so, I started catching them, and I settled into second.  I couldn't even see first until about halfway. 

Chugged along, skipped the water stop half way since it involved a slight detour and saved a couple of seconds.  Started estimating counting down the 0.05 mi increments in the last mile.  In the last 0.5 mi, I was catching up to first... not enough real estate, and she ended up beating me by about 3 seconds.  Afterwards, I debated whether I could've pushed harder... so close.  I settled on the good answer of "no" - I was giving it nearly all that I had, at the end.   I could've potentially run more efficiently or paced better in the early miles, but at the end, I don't think there's much more I could've done, so I'm ok with it.  I'm not trained, either, so it's good to know that there's always next time.

Results:
The course was 3.02 mi on the USATF certification.  I ran it in 21:38, 6:58 average.  1-2 min slower than my PR, but this race was all about place, not pace, with the heat.  I won a 6-pack of beer and a Thomas Creek shirt - nice! They also had beer (Chocolate Banana Split Stout was my pick) and BBQ and an awesome (but loud) band.  Sweet!