An Afternoon of Beer and Racing History in Hillsborough

About 10 days ago, we had a free Saturday available and decided to ride over to Hillsborough for an afternoon of hiking with our dog Rocky and to check out a local pub. It was about this time last year that we first visited the old Occoneechee Speedway grounds so I decided to stop by there again to see how the place is looking. First though, we visited Occonechee Mountain State Nature Area and hiked the trail around the 'mountain' along the Eno River to the top. It was Rocky's longest hike with us so far and he seemed to enjoy the workout on a cool fall day as much as we did.

After a nice hot lunch and ironically; several Highland Brewing Cold Mountain Winter Ale pints at The Wooden Nickel Pub, we headed over to the former speedway to take a walk around the historic 1 mile oval. 

During our visit last year, I mentioned the land was on the chopping block as the NCDOT considered building a new highway bypass directly through the middle of the property. Fortunately, those plans were scratched and the historic dirt track from NASCAR's founding decades will remain for others to enjoy. 

Since last year, the Historic Speedway Group has continued to make repairs and upgrades to the property and they were easy to see and appreciate as we made our way down the track's front stretch. Along with improvements to the property, HSC also recently launched an updated website with more facts about the racing history at the track. According to the signage at the track and information on their site, they plan to one day build a museum near the site that will house artifacts and displays relevant to the racing heritage at Occoneechee Speedway.

Our visit that day reignited my interest in historic NASCAR Grand National Division dirt and paved speedways of North Carolina from their early days before becoming the Winston Cup in 1970 and now the Sprint Cup Series. Subsequently, a little research online pointed me towards two former tracks that existed in Raleigh which I plan to blog on in the near future.

Number 10 for 2010

This past week was Thanksgiving and I decided to run the Ridgewood Turkey Trot in Raleigh that morning. I had ran a few times after the Richmond Marathon so I felt certain I could run a competitive 5 miler on Turkey Day. The Ridgewood Turkey Trot is a race I have wanted to run for at least 4 years now being that its close to my home and the largest Turkey day run in North Carolina. I've only run a Turkey Trot once before back in 2006 - the Inside Out Sports TT in Cary which was about a month after running my first marathon ever. 

Thanksgiving Day came and the weather was in the high 30's with sun and little wind. Michelle, Rocky and I headed out to the start along with approximately 3000 other runners who were competing in either the 5 miler or the 1 mile fun run. Having reviewed the course online and knowing the area, I couldn't help but notice the course was basically 2 miles downhill, 1 mile of rolling hills than 2 miles back uphill. Based on that basic premise, I planned my run accordingly.

   

As the start time neared, I handed my hoodie sweatshirt over to Rocky to keep him warm and lined up for the gun. This was the first time ever that I chose to run in just shorts and a T-shirt when it was this chilly. However, my recent cold weather start at Richmond gave me confidence that I would adapt quickly. My goal was to PR for the 5 mile distance and beat my previous best time of 39:56 from 2006.

With the start, I took off and set into my race pace immediately. Running downhill is very deceiving at a start because your legs want to go so much faster but I know from experience that I'll need them the last two miles more. Runners of all ages and sizes were blowing by me as we headed down Ridge Road but I held back. As we hit the half way point, I held my pace and stayed comfortable as we ran through the rolling hills, up and down, midway through the 5 miles. I was tracking my time and course on my smartphone with RunKeeper but it was tucked away out of view so I had no idea what my actual time was.

As we rounded back to Ridge Road for the 2 miles uphill to the Start/Finish, runners were slowing and dropping to a walk now. A couple kids - boys probably no older than 10 ran by me as we headed uphill. One was wearing a 1 miler bib but the other was wearing a 5 miler bib. I thought to myself - WTF! How could this little kid run that pace and I'll be damned if he is going to beat me. No, I didn't trip him, I just hung on their back and with 1.5 miles to go, they slowed and I pulled away. A group of 3 men than ran past me who were dressed as pilgrims. Thinking back to the Freemont Oktoberfest 5k, many runners were in costume which while awesome, also gives me incentive to push past them. I refused to let costumed runners beat me so I upped my pace and pushed past them with less than a mile to go.

At this point, I felt a little weak and tired but I reminded myself that I had only run 4 miles so whatever it took, I could push myself hard for the final mile uphill to the finish. No pain would even come close to those final 6 miles of the Richmond marathon a few weeks earlier. After all, it was only a mile to go so I picked up the pace and kicked it to the finish. As I rounded the corner to the finish line, I saw the gun time clock was 38:xx which told me I was setting a PR. I sprinted across the finish to find Michelle and Rocky. I received a text message almost immediately from timing and scoring with my time - 38:31 - a 7:42/mile pace! I'll take it.

This was my 10th race of 2010, my 3rd 5 miler of 2010, my 3rd PR of 2010 and my second fastest race pace since 2007 - the other being this year's Freemont 5k which was almost a PR as well. It was a great way to finish out the year running and worthy of a beer immediately. After cooling down for a moment, I headed into Whole Foods and grabbed a Highland Mocha Stout, one of my favorite brews from Highland Brewing Company in Asheville. Maybe next year, Michelle and Rocky can join me for the trot. And incidentally, this is my 150th post since launching this blog back in March 2006. Cheers!