- Low key/low stress.
- GREAT people and a GREAT venue host in Peter Kline.
- Optional distance to encourage everyone to participate.
- Beer! Is there anything more synonymous with fun? Nope, that was a rhetorical question.
Did I mention the event is free if you are a SRC member? And only $20 if you are not? That's less than the beer alone would cost you at any bar. One word: deal.
Here's the deal. The course is nominally a 5-mile (closer to 6 this year) loop that starts at Peter's house and winds through Bridle Trails State Park. You can run as many or as few laps as you want and you can enter the 'drunk' or the 'sober' category so no pressure. In case you didn't guess, one of those cups above is mine.
When the gun goes off you start by drinking your first beer. Then you run a lap. then you drink another beer and in true Fat Ass fashion, you write down your own elapsed time. Repeat. Peter did supply a clock radio with an old school red, digital readout so telling time was easy.
Since the loop was a bit longer than five miles and since Peter added a little distance to the first and last lap, this event was five laps this year if you wanted to run it all. That meant six 16 oz. beers! Thanks to Eric Sach for procuring the good stuff - Mac & Jack's African Amber. And thanks to Peter for all the great 'aid station' food!
My favorite was the pulled pork.
With all this good stuff my race report is rather boring in comparison but here goes.
Two years ago I ran this event for the first time and was only able to complete four laps. I started out too fast and regretted it. Last year I was unable to attend due to injury and so this year - in spite of still being pretty banged up from the Crystal Mt Sky Marathon - my goal was to finish all five laps. So when the lead group gapped me just 300 m into the race I let them go.
I recall having a significant advantage when it came to the drinking portion of this event two years ago. It seems some runners are lightweights?! That turned out to the be the case again this year and at the completion of each lap my transition through the aid station was pretty efficient compared to most everyone else. Good thing too as my running fitness was not up to par with the leaders.
By lap three I started pulling some of the leaders back and when I left the aid station after the fourth lap my position was pretty much solidified.
Not that it was easy! Lap one and two felt okay but I was much more tired after just two laps than I wanted to be... I managed to recover somewhat during lap three and was still able to 'run' (read: jog slowly) lap four but on lap five the wheels started to come off and I had to walk some of the hills. And believe me, these are tiny hills compared to most trail races. I was beat.
Here are my splits and the 'official' results.
lap #1 - 50:00
lap #2 - 51:00
lap #3 - 52:00
lap #4 - 57:00
lap #5 - 1:03:00
I started with a handheld bottle but because I was drinking so much beer it lasted the entire run! I ditched my shirt after two laps and grabbed my visor for the last lap. I wonder if I could dispense with a bottle entirely next year... the smart call would be carry something.
I'm SO glad my injuries did not hamper me while running today.
Here are all the pictures.
| Sleep | 6 |
| Waking HR | |
| Body Weight | |
| Body Fat | |
| Breakfast | |
| Lunch | |
| Dinner | |
| Workout Food | 6 16 oz. cups of Mac & Jack's African Amber, 2 bananas, bottle w/2 scoops HEED, some peanut M&MS, plain bagel, half a PB & J |
| Injuries | |
| Therapy | |
| Time of Day | 10:00 AM |
| Workout Type | race |
| Weather | upper 50s at start, upper 60s at finish |
| Course | |
| Results | 3rd - Overall |
| Time | 4:33 |
| Distance | 50 km (it might have been a little short, but my GPS is also notoriously short) |
| Pace | |
| Equipment | Brooks PureGrit 3, Garmin Fenix 2 |
| Clothing | Injinji Run Original Weight Mini-Crew, Brooks Infinity 3" Split Short, Brooks short sleeve EZ T III, Headsweats Visor |
