Thrill of the Grill 5k Race Report

I woke up an hour before my alarm went off. Instead of just getting up, I lay there pretending that I would be able to fall back asleep. So much for being well rested for the day. I had 18 miles in front of me, with a 5k jammed in the middle. I was excited. I had delusions of chatting with Dean Karnazes while crossing the finish line, though he runs probably 2 minutes per mile faster than me even at my max speed.

I was out the door before 7am and right on schedule. I had 4.5 miles to the starting line of the Thrill of the Grill 5k and wanted to be there in enough time to check out the pre-race activities and stalk Dean Karnazes.

Happily running to the starting line of the 5k

My husband was only running the 5k, so he drove and met me at the race. I was able to pack a change of hydration systems (switching out my waistband bottle for my Camelbak) for after the race. As we were milling around listening to the live music, I spotted Dean running into the race area as well. Turns out he ran from his hotel to the starting line too! We have so much in common that we really should be BFF's.

Lots of people before the start

My "Where's Waldo" shot

I snagged a pre-race banana, some delicious limeade (from where, I have no idea) and took a quick potty break. I love it when you only have one person in front of you in the port-o-potty line!

Look, I'm running with Dean Karnazes! Actually, look who is in the blue shirt behind me...DEAN!

We lined up near the front (Corral #1 I joked), so we could try to run with Dean, and ended up next to some stinky 10 year old boys who never stopped talking. They were strategizing for the race. My favorite line of the day was "Dude, it's called pacing yourself!" Good advice, but I found it hilarious coming out of a child's mouth!

Getting ready to start

I was too short to see Dean, so my husband took this photo for me

The race started and Dean was long gone. I ran at a very fast pace (for me) for the first quarter mile. When I realized we couldn't spot him in the crowd, I gave up. I had 10 more miles to run after the race was over, so I slowed down--"Dude, it's called pacing yourself." I haven't run a 5k in over 2 years, so the race felt really short. Half an hour and the whole thing was over. I hardly remember it. There were volunteers every few hundred yards and a water station at the midway mark. As Algis and I crossed the finish line, someone yelled "Watch out for the vomit!" Thankfully neither of us stepped in it.

Only in Texas!

A full breakfast was served at the finish--eggs (reconstituted and not so great), hash browns, sauteed onions and peppers, bacon, and coffee. It was quite the spread! I ate the hash browns and sauteed peppers and onions before I went on a mission to find Dean Karnazes again. He was just standing in the crowd, talking to a gentleman with Central Market. And, he remembered us from yesterday! He'll be running the San Francisco Marathon in July as well (he lives in the Bay Area), so hopefully we'll get a chance to talk to him there as well. Since Dean is a bad ass, he'll be running Worth the Hurt, a 52.4 ultramarathon. The participants will start at the finish line of the marathon at midnight, run the marathon course backwards, and end at the starting line just in time to turn around and run the course again with the crowd of 18,000 runners. Pretty amazing, and it is all for charity.

Mmmm! Breakfast!

Right before I had to part with my new BFF!

It was all over in a snap. So I reapplied sunscreen, grabbed my camel, then I was off for another 10 miles to finish off my training run.

Miles logged: 18.0