Birthday Beerrun

So after running the InsideOut Sports Classic Half Marathon last Sunday, my normal routine would be to take a day or two off from running before easing back into the mileage. Instead, last week seemed like the perfect week to do back to back to back beerruns and support my local craft brewers that are hosting weekly runs around the Raleigh-Durham Triangle area. My legs actually felt great come Tuesday thanks to my spring training plan and racing primarily on dirt during the half marathon distance. 

I decided to take on the challenge of running the Big Boss Run Club, the Fullsteam Ahead! Run Club and finishing by racing the new Natty Greene's Foxhunt 5k on Thursday which was the night before my birthday. 

I started with a 3.1 mile run at Big Boss on Tuesday and ran with a friend - Rich who is training for the New York City Marathon this fall. Rich is one of the founders of Triangle Spokes Group - a great local charity I have blogged about before and will be writing about again really soon. My legs felt great after the run and the Big Boss D'Icer pint tasted great.

The next evening, I headed over to Durham for a run at Fullsteam Brewery. This was my second time running with Bull City Running at Fullsteam and I went with the 4.2 mile run that circled downtown and Duke's east campus. It was in the low 90's so by the time I made it back to the brewery, I was drenched in sweat. Luckily, I made it back fairly quickly and didn't have to wait long for a pour of their seasonal Summer Basil farmhouse ale and a slice of pizza from Pie Pushers - a sweet little food trailer serving up the Durham food truck scene.

 

Thursday night, I joined some friends from the Big Boss Run Club and a fellow beerrunner from LoneRider Brewing for the Foxhunt 5k at Natty Greene's Brewpub and Restaurant in downtown Raleigh. This was an official race with timing, closed streets and beer at the finish. Natty Greene's also hosts the Old Town Draught House Beerun that I have run the past two years in Greensboro. The temperatures were up again but I felt great and fairly hydrated at the start. Following a similar format to the old SkirtChaser 5k series, the ladies started first at 7pm than the guys lined up for a 7:03 start. The goal is to catch the ladies including the fox, a single runner who started up front. When we guys took off running, I started much faster than I would normally start a 10k or half marathon but still considerably slower than many of the other guys around me. The first mile was mostly uphill following Hillsborough Street to the first roundabout so I was surprised to pass the first mile mark at 7:06! After the initial start, no one ever passed me as I pushed myself past some of the guys and than some ladies all the way back to the finish. As I came round the final turn to the finish, I was actually alone and could hear more than just Michelle yelling my name. She had rounded up a group of friends to come surprise me at the finish and share a beer. It was really cool to have those guys and gals there for me as I crossed the finish.

In the end, my 5k time was 23:04 which is officially a new 5k PR for me beating my time from the Second Empire 5k that I ran in the same area of Raleigh in September 2007! It also gets me close to my 5k times from high school when I was about 35 lbs lighter than I am now.

My next goal is to break my 10k PR from November 2003 and I am hoping to do it at the Historic Beaufort 10k in July. It's a flat race but its likely to be burning hot like last year so we'll see if I am up to the challenge. In the meantime, come out for a run or a walk with me and the crew at Big Boss Brewery any Tuesday night this summer. Cheers! 

Spring Half Marathon...Done!

Over the winter, my lovely wife Michelle decided she wanted to run a half marathon this spring. While I was mostly slacking in December and January, she was running on the treadmill and occasionally outside in the cold. It turned out that she was looking at running a few distance races in the coming months - a decision she made on her own with no pressure or even suggestion from me. 

 

She started by running (but not eating) the 4 mile Krispy Kreme Challenge back in February. It's a run I have done twice in the past and it's certainly not a run for slackers considering its got a bunch of hills along the out and back downtown Raleigh course. She ran that in the pouring rain without issue and than joined me to run the Old Town Draught House 5 miler in March. We both than ran the Cooper River Bridge Run 10k in April and targeted the InsideOut Sports Classic Half Marathon in May. I certainly give Michelle full credit for this plan as I have been a fall marathon runner for the past 6 years and struggled to motivate to run anything further than a 10k before September. I've also never run much in Umstead State Park where the IOS Classic takes place. 

It all changed this late winter and spring as I ran regularly alone and with the Mrs during our training for the 13.1 mile distance. I am in better shape this spring than I have ever been this time of year as a runner.

This past weekend was race weekend in Cary where the IOS Classic starts and finishes. The race is an out and back 13.1 taking runners into Umstead Park and back along the Black Creek Greenway and Lake Crabtree. It ended up being a great morning weather-wise though a bit hotter than most runners would prefer. The 9 miles or so of the run through the park was just beautiful and one of the most peaceful races I have ever run. The lack of spectators was made up for by the awesome volunteers at the water stops throughout the park. I found running on dirt and crushed gravel was also a lot more forgiving to my leg muscles and knees than all my previous races on pavement. 

In the end, I finished with my second best half marathon time to date with a time of 1:48:11 while Michelle finished within her goal as well having run the entire distance mostly smiling to the finish. I am very proud of her for this big accomplishment and have to thank her as well for motivating me to run a spring half marathon for the first time. 

   

Shout out to my friend Betsy who I met the weekend of the 2009 Marine Corps Marathon. She is a fellow beerrunner in Connecticut and supporter of the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation. I recently received a shipment of canned beers from New England Brewing Company where she volunteers and enjoyed a few of them at the finish line Sunday.  

I'm now looking at half marathons to run this fall since I didn't get into the NYC Marathon via lottery again this year. That will most likely not happen until 2013. Carpe viam (Seize the road)!

Grand Am Series In The Wet

If you follow my blog or know me, than you know I love Virginia International Raceway and go there a lot. While VIR offers a variety of activities to get folks to visit throughout they year, I generally end up there as a spectator. This past weekend was the annual Bosch 250, which brings the Grand Am Rolex Sports Car Series to the historic track for a usually exciting race that features many of the same cars and drivers that compete each January in the legendary Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona. Along with the Rolex Series, the Grand Am Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge and the SCCA Trans Am Series were also there to race. This was the first year I recall that the race weekend was in May, having been in late April for the past number of years. Originally, Grand Am raced in the fall at VIR before eventually moving both races to the spring. Looking back through my old galleries, it looks like Trans Am first raced there in 2002 and Grand Am in 2003. That's a lot of professional sports car racing over the years at VIR.

This past Saturday, the Mrs and I rode up to VIR for the day. It's just a little over an hour's drive from Raleigh. We had to drive our Subaru Outback as I broke a spark plug wire on the MINI Friday night and wasn't able to get the repair part in time for Saturday. However, having the Subaru worked out great once the weather turned wet at the track later in the day.

We arrived before the start of the CTS race and got to walk the paddock area as I normally do. Most of the Grand Am teams Rolex Series teams were prepping their cars for the next race and the CTS cars were already on the track. VIR is a unique place to spectate as a standard ticket gets you access to the paddock area all weekend long including the ability to walk along pit road and view the pits from outside the fence during the race. For most other race series and venues, this would be a very limited privilege with a high price tag attached. While strolling by, I saw Memo Rojas, the co-driver for the Team Telmex Ganassi race team walking away from his hauler. Memo has co-driven with Scott Pruett to many race wins and championships over the past several years.

  

We decided to drive over to turn 14, also known as the Oak Tree turn (top picture) to watch the first race and were lucky enough to find a pull thru spot with a view of the entire south end of the course. This worked out great because as the rain sprinkles came and eventually the pouring rain for the start of the second race, we were able to sit in the back of the car with the hatch open and stay dry.

Since I know what sells tickets (wrecks and grid girls), I have to mention that the CTS race included a spectacular single car end over end crash by a race driver in a Porsche Boxster. It happened right in front of us at the approach to the turn. From the in car video below, you can see the driver got off track and hit a hole in the wet infield before turning backwards into the wall. Luckily, he walked away though his Porsche was pretty beat up.

The Bosch 250 started under caution due to the heavy rain showers but it was pretty awesome to see the Daytona Prototypes come round the turn spraying rooster tails of moisture out from their rear ends. After a bit, we moved to the Roller Coaster turns near the end of the course to watch the cars come up and over the hill that leads through a winding downhill portion of track. Believe it or not, I have never been to this part of the track before as a spectator. Again, we backed the Subaru right up to the edge of the fence and watched the race with others as the Rolex cars got to racing.

 

 

For the finish, we drove over to the top of the hill in turn 4. This is my normal place to watch a race at VIR and good place to be at the finish. There are often big passes between turns 2-5 and its also close walking distance to winner's circle. In the end, Action Express Racing took the win with Team Ganassi a close second. The win by Action Express earned them an extra $25k bonus from Grand Am who had placed a 'bounty'on Team Ganassi who has dominated the series since last fall. Ironically, one of the Action Express drivers - JC France, is a member of the France family who owns NASCAR and the Grand Am Series. Just saying...

Here are a couple more shots I took from winner's circle with the trophies going to the top 3 DP and GT teams. This years pictures aren't what I have shot in the past but only because I didn't take my SLR camera. I made do with my point-in-shoot Canon.

 

Not sure if I will make it back out to VIR to spectate this year but I am considering their annual holiday charity laps event in November. It would be nice to drive the MINI on track again but in the dry. Cheers.

Big Boss Run Club Launch

This past Tuesday night, some new friends and I held the first weekly beerrun at Big Boss Brewing Company in Raleigh. Dubbed the Big Boss Run Club, we plan to meet at 7 PM on Tuesday nights at Big Boss all summer long for a run and post-run beers on the patio.

Our first run was a 5k distance out and back along the Raleigh Greenway that parallels Crabtree Creek - a portion of greenway I often run during marathon training season and bike during Bike2Beer rides. There was a total of 47 runners who signed in for the first night and we could not have been happier with the turnout.

The Big Boss Taproom is being kind enough to offer a weekly special for our group which will usually be a selected pint of Big Boss beer for $3. This week it was Blanco Diablo Wit ale. As things get going, we are hoping to set up a few incentives to award people for coming out regularly (ie. glassware, shirts etc.) and that once the City of Raleigh works out their differences with food trucks, we'll be able to get some grub onsite to go with the fine beers.

I met fellow Big Boss Run Club organizers Win and Ben recently at a Fullsteam Run Club run in Durham and jumped at the chance to help them get a run club going at Big Boss in Raleigh. We chose 7pm on Tuesdays for the runs since its tough for a lot of people like us to make it out before than. Another interesting fact I learned this week as well - Ben and our fourth organizer - Greg were two of the original founding runners of the Krispy Kreme Challenge. If you aren't familiar with the KKC, check out my posts from 2009 and 2010 on the Raleigh event now known nationwide.

Please join the new Big Boss Run Club Group on Facebook to stay connected on upcoming news related to the weekly runs or visit Big Boss online for details about the runs and directions to the brewery. You can also email me at racephan@nc.rr.com with any questions or comments about upcoming runs. 

Triangle Area Beerruns

As you know I like running and I like beer. Okay, I looove them. One of my favorite ways to combine the two is to go out for a long, hot, sweaty run and cool off afterward with a pint or two of craft beer. This includes solo runs, group runs and races. If you promote your race by offering beer at the finish, preferably local or craft beer; I am your runner. Yeah, I also appreciate the big events that serve macro beers from one of the big three but please, stop with the low-calorie watered down stuff. We just ran 13 miles, I think we can take the caloric content of a standard macro-lager. 

Lately, the Triangle area of NC where I reside has seen has seen a huge growth in craft beer while continuing to host a large population of runners and run/walkers. We have 12 craft breweries and brew pubs that make up 14 locations. There are dozens of beer bars and restaurants across Raleigh, Durham, Cary, Fuquay-Varina, Hillsborough and Chapel Hill that each offer something unique.

Taking advantage of these great places to grab a pint are folks from all ages and walks of life including the Triangle running community. There is no question about it - runners drink beer.

This spring and summer, there are more organized beer runs popping up in the Triangle than ever before. Now I don't want to confuse beerrunning with hashing. Typically, beerrun means going for a run than having a beer afterward. This is the focus of my post. I wanted to highlight several of the regular beerruns in the Triangle below and hope to get more runners drinking craft beer while also getting more craft beer drinkers out on group runs or walks. I've participated in some of these runs and plan to be out for more of them in the coming months. There are also more organized road races in the area than ever before. Some of them are offering beers at the finish and that is always a plus. Check out the listing and I hope to see you there.

Nog Run Club

Monday nights weekly at 6 PM

Tir Na nOg Irish Pub - 218 South Blount Street Raleigh, NC 27601

more info available at Nog Run Club or Facebook Groups

Ordinary Beer Run
Monday nights weekly at 6:15 PM
1750 Ordinary - 6490 Tryon Rd Cary, NC 27518
more info available at FSSeries

Big Boss Run Club
Tuesday nights weekly at 7 PM, starting May 10th

Big Boss Brewery - 1249 Wicker Drive Raleigh, NC 27604

more info available at Facebook Events or TriBeer

Fullsteam Ahead! Run Club

Wednesday nights weekly at 6 PM

Fullsteam Brewery 726 Rigsbee Avenue Durham, NC 27701

more info available at Bull City Running Co. 

Dos Taquitos Centro Miercoles Margarita Run

Wednesday nights at 6 PM

106 S. Wilmington St. Raleigh, NC 27601

more info available at Dos Taquitos Centro

NC Roadrunners Club Summer Social Series

Thursday nights weekly

Location and time changes monthly - more info available at NC Roadunners Club

Natty Greene's Foxhunt 5k

Thursday, May 26 at 7 PM

more info available at FSSeries

If you know of any other beerruns or events coming up this summer, email the info my way or ping me on twitter. Cheers!