RACE REPORT: CABARRAS BREWING UNITED WAY 5K 2017

The Week Leading Up:

Monday, off.  Slept 5 plus 5 hours.  Needed the sleep, because I've been feeling like my immune system has been down.

Tuesday, Feb 28:
Stationary Biked 90 minutes, for 20.7 miles.  My first time doing 90 minutes in a while. 

Wednesday, Mar 1:
6.0 in 48:05, 8:01 ave, 2 degrees of incline.  Ate more than usual pre-workout to tide me over until dinner, but no negative effects.  Could've pushed on, but wanted to save it for the race.  Didn't do burpees afterwards for the 10,000 burpee club, because 1) I felt too sweaty and gross in my t-shirt after the run, and 2) my foot has been feeling stress fractury, although that didn't stop me from running because it was my last chance before 2.5 days of taper, and I didn't want a full week without running.

The Race:

Brewery races seem to be in the evenings.  I guess that makes sense, because it would be odd to enjoy post-race beers early in the morning.  Having a race in the evening meant that I had to take it easy all day, but it was good to get rest and get to take my time getting ready.

The race was a nice out-and-back course, which I enjoy, since you get to see all of your fellow runners, those ahead that you want to chase, and those behind who make you want to press on.  The course was interesting, too.  You went by the brewery and the mall-like area around it, you got to experience a bit of gravel road, you got to do a loop tour around a truck yard with big equipment, you did a run up a nice residential street, you did a  loop around an auto-repair shop, then came back the same way.  It had nice variety, and was easily understandable.

Packet pick-up was quick, and it was nice getting to use the brewery restrooms.  The brewery looked like a lot of fun, with long tables and fun lighting.  I chilled in the car, until it was time to warm up.  I'm always antsy to get to warm up, but I have to wait before 15 minutes pre-race, or else I'll be too tired by the time I get to the starting line. 

This is my first non-US National Whitewater Center race in Charlotte.  I've forgotten how fun and thrilling road 5Ks can be, period, but it's even more awesome when it's hosted by a brewery.  It mixes two things I like very much - beer and running.  The possibility of winning beer-related prizes makes me run faster.  I'm in shape, from marathon training, and I hadn't signed up for pure road races in a while.  Road races, where you don't get to blame the trail terrain for your slowness and where trail conditions make one performance hard to compare to other performances, make you race against past peak versions of yourself.  I only want to road race when I'm in reasonable shape.

I started in the front row, and we went off.  I was 2nd female for most of the way out, I caught the first girl at the auto shop loop, and kept it up, pushing to the finish.  The turns in the truck yard and auto shop were tight, which slows things down, and there were a couple of rolling hills, so I could've gone a bit faster on a straighter course, and I probably could've pushed a tiny bit harder, but I'm happy with how it went.  This is only my third time winning a race.  I was 4th overall, too, just 2 seconds behind 3rd, I think. 

I got a little cash plus pottery, as my prize.  I used that cash to pay for another brewery 5K that I had been debating about signing up for, haha.  I showed a pic of the pottery to my dad, who told me that he had visited a museum that day and saw something similar to it.  I'm not particularly a pottery person, but maybe it will make my home look more adult, and less little trinkets on display everywhere. 

Participants got a free pint and a pint glass afterwards.  I had Cabarrus's Mocha Blond, which was incredible.  It's bursting with the aroma of a coffee shop, and it tastes like something that came straight from a coffee shop, but in beer form.  And interestingly, it's a blond, rather than a stout, which is typically the base for coffee or chocolate-related flavors.  So well executed. 

It was a first-annual race, and they knocked it out of the park!