Race Review - Country's BBQ Midnight Express

Country's BBQ Midnight Express.
Saturday, August 23rd, 2008 at 11:59 PM

The rains kept coming down, but I wasn't going to let that keep me away. I parked in a nearby shopping area and walked up to Country's where I spotted a place to stretch out under the awning of another nearby store.

The flag flys throughout Tropical Storm Fays' downpours.

I arrived about 75 minutes prior to race time and found the staff to be helpful, polite and I thanked everyone I talked to. When I got my number, I was briefed on the "chip" that we would be using. Instead of a chip in a little plastic container, it was a plastic band that had an adhesive to make it stick to itself once on the shoe lace. I thanked her, and then I was able to get my t-shirt. They were white cotton this year, but the front said "I RAN WITH FAY" which I thought was kind-of neat. Everybody that I ran into was in good spirits and had basically come to accept the fact that we were getting wet.

Country's BBQ about before the race.

I went back to my car to save my tee from the rains, chomp a banana, and sip a little Mountain Dew. Then I stretched out in the spot I picked, which was right across from the finish line. All my belly aching about the course being long and it turns out they had corrected it this year by starting up the road a bit and having the finish line near the restaurant. This made the race a 5K, albeit a challenging one because of the hills we would encounter.

While stretching, I talked with a nice guy who had raced here off and on. He was a bit younger than me and belonged to a running club that was meeting here. We wished each other luck, than I returned to the Country's parking lot to see if I could run into anyone else that I knew.

I bumped into one of the Sergeants in my my platoon who had said he would be there. He had brought a friend with him from his former unit, so that was pretty cool. SGT "K" is a runner and a cyclist and we joked that he needed to take up swimming! We walked around the back and with about ten minutes until the start, we "voided" ourselves and moved on to the start.

Just wait a second, dude! We'll all get a chance!


SGT "K" and his friend near the starting line!

We moved up near the start line, which was marked off by Police tape. We ran into our current unit's Captain and said our "Hello's." Then an announcer came over the loud speaker and people moved under the tape to the next holding area. I heard after moving forward that they had said if you run a 6 minute mile, then you should move up. Simply looking around me, I could just tell that I would have to bump ahead of some people. I was remembering how in cross country racers would sometimes try to slow the other racers down with physical means, but even though I am a Soldier, I don't believe in that. I hoped that I would be close enough to the front. I think I was about 7 or 8 rows of people back.

Me in last years technical shirt; sizing up my competition!

The next announcement was that we were 5 minutes out, that the start would be sounded by a cannon and to be careful. I did a few last minute stretches in the cramped spot. We joked a little nervously about it being a good thing they told us about the cannon shot. They would have the civilian runners sprinting forward and the military runners ducking for cover!

There was one more plea to be careful ... good luck ... runners, get ready ...

BOOM!

The field behind me looking back at Country's BBQ.

And we were off. I'll try to post video of the start, but it is in my online pictures with the rest of these (horrible night shots) pictures. I should have pushed up a bit closer to the starting line as I was having to move around people almost immediately. The only slippery spot was after the first turn down a short stretch of dark street. It had a slight downhill, and you could just feel people around you slowing down. The course is normally lighted with candles and luminaries, but the rain drove all that away.

I raced my race most of the event, pushing where I wanted to, and moving into the corners where I was looking to be at. There was one part of the race that had a pretty extreme downhill that I had the momentum I wanted and I had to move farther to the outside than I wanted, but that's OK as it's all part of racing.

On the return part of the loop, it was a bit of cat 'n' mouse with myself and few other racers as we negotiated the almost "S" like turns. There were people along a lot of places along the street cheering us on, so that was really cool. Some of them were calling out times, and all of them were motivational.

With about 3/4 of a mile left, it felt as if the rain picked up some, but there were a lot of us at this point running our races and pushing for the finish. Around the last turn I lost a bit of steam, and I had two guys pass me. I found my legs with about 150 meters to go and myself and another guy kept motivating each other. At full pace, it is impossible to look at the clock, take a video from chest high and smile for the camera. So, that video is awful, but I had tagged my goal and then some.

SGT "K" had also got a good time and was happy with his race and we shook hands and congratulated each other.

The after race stations were set up very well with water up front. I took a bottle and waited to see if I could see anyone else come through. Another Captain that I knew came through and he had run the race with his 13 year old son on his birthday. He was overjoyed that he and his son did it together.

Past the water stations were pulled pork BBQ sandwiches and then Country's sweet iced tea. Yum. I thanked every one of the volunteers that I could and moved over near the restaurants front door and found a little shelter there to enjoy my after race food. Then the rains really came and Fay dumped on us. I don't know if they had a big after-race presentation, as the rains finally did drive me away at about 1:10 AM.

Despite the weather, this was a great race and I would like to do it again next year.

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Bottom line, 5K: 20:38 PR 4th in my age group and 49th overall!