Southern Star Brewing Co. 5k Race Recap

I arrived up at Southern Star around 7ish. It was already warm - 82!  I needed to pick up my packet with my bib and timing chip so I took care of that business, went to the REAL bathrooms and then strolled back out to the car to put away the stuff I didn't need. I had plenty of time to stretch, warm up, and mentally prepare myself.

At 7:45 they started getting everyone up for the race director to give a description of the course.  The course map wasn't published in advance, it was only described as through a neighborhood and gently rolling.  This was a very casual race, but not disorganized.  The Star Spangled Banner was sung and then we were off!  It was soon apparent that gently rolling meant hilly! It wound through a subdivision that was across the street from the brewery and was pretty shaded... but, oh those hills!



There were quite a few hills... none of them I would consider "gently rolling", especially for the flatland that is Houston.  There was a water stop at about 1.75 miles and very well manned, and we ran past it again almost a mile later.  I was carrying my own hydration (nuun), but took a cup to pour down the back of my neck both times, I felt it really helped with the heat.

I had a goal to run it faster than last year, which was 28:23, but my pie in the sky goal was to run it in under 28:00.  The night before, I finally looked at a pace calculator for what paces I would need to hit, and I wasn't so sure... especially in the heat.  I made sure to wear my "she believed she could so she did" bracelet for extra motivation.  I have to admit I found motivation in the "Team Beef" folks as well, I made a point to pass up as many as I could.

After crossing the finish, I was beyond pleased to see the finish time on my watch was 27:17!! I grabbed an ice cold bottle of water and headed back to my car to get my recovery drink, change into my Oofos, and stretch things out.  I was parked not too far from the road to the finish, so I was able to cheer on some runners who were finishing up.

 I headed back the brewery to claim my finishers glass and have some beer.  As I was getting in line for a beer a woman stopped me and asked if I had placed 3rd in my age group, she said she thought I had and had only beaten her by 5 seconds. So, of course I had to head over to the initial results and sure enough, my name was 3rd from the top in my age group, quite a surprise!

 

I stuck around and enjoyed a couple beers and watched the awards ceremony and even won a cool beer mug in the raffle!

Before the race I did make some goals, let's see how I did against them:

1. Time Goal - beat my time from last year - 28:23.9 - achieved - official time 27:14


2. Run reverse splits - not achieved, my splits were everywhere - 8:50/8:36/8:45


3. Stay hydrated - achieved


4. Be comfortable being a little uncomfortable - achieved


5. Have fun ... enjoy the race and the after party - achieved

Overall, the Southern Star Brewing Co. 5k Run was a blast... definitely a fun race to keep in mind for August!