If you're going to race twice in one day, one of those races should have beer.

Two race recaps for the price of one!

Four GPx races down, seven to go.

One Growler of beer won.

Saturday was a fun day. I felt justified putting on my jammies and crawling into bed at 10PM Saturday night and not just because I was relieved that the rapture didn't occur. (Or did it? Maybe I need to call my Mom tonight and make sure because if anyone was taken, it was her.)

I'm gonna be honest, I really didn't want to race the Great Harvest Bread 5K. Twilight was horrible, my energy was low all week, I was struggling to fall asleep, end of the school year stress was hitting me hard and I just didn't feel motivated. When my alarm went off Saturday morning, I strongly contemplated just not going. But dammit, I wanted my points. I dragged my feet getting ready and didn't get there nearly as early as I like to arrive before a race. The warm-up didn't help. Crap, I should have previewed this course. It had been a year since I'd run it and I'd forgotten how hilly the first mile is. Ran into Jason during the warm-up and he seemed a lot more hyped for the race than I was feeling. Also saw some of the other usual suspects I always enjoy seeing before races and got a big hug from the man, the myth, the legend, Larry Seavers. Chatted with Rebecca (who I think might have actually been less happy to be there than I was) for a bit before lining up.

Lined up near Jinnie and found out she still wasn't feeling 100% from her nagging hip injury. Jinnie is such a trooper...she ran an incredible time on a ridiculous course for her marathon debut and has raced two of the toughest 5K courses in Charlotte the two following weekends. This didn't stop her from giving me some valuable advice prior to the race. (No, I'm not sharing it with you.)

My goal for this race (other than just getting through it) was to just run a solid, steady race. I knew I didn't have it for anything spectacular and after such a bad time at Twilight, I just wanted to feel good about this one at the end. I ran the seemingly never-ending ups and downs of the first mile pretty cautiously and was happy with how good I felt when I hit the first mile marker. I threw in a couple of surges in the second mile and tried to just lock into a pace I could maintain for a while. As I'm writing this, I realize that this race truly wasn't all that memorable for me. Usually, I can remember pretty clearly what I was thinking but I genuinely can't remember any really positive or really negative thoughts. I just ran and tried to pass people when I could.

The last mile held a lot of turns and some decent ups and downs. I remembered how bad I felt last year on the final hill and made sure to save a little for that. Just as we climbed that hill (weird, I'm still feeling good, I guess I really should have pushed a lot harder in this race), I caught up to a woman that had been ahead of me the whole race. Eff it, let's throw in an early kick. I passed her and made the turn into the shopping center. I remember Stan and Thomas cheering for me here and then Ryan Huff as I made my way through the weird S shape thing they had going (what was that?).

Final time was 22:19....not close to a PR, but a good time I could be happy with. Some really good races out there on Saturday...I hear it was a road PR for Compton which is pretty nuts on that course. Chad deserves a shout out, too...he was one of the first people I talked to after the race and it was cool to see how excited he was about his 3rd place finish. I think a lot of us look up to some of the faster runners in Charlotte and it's always nice to see how pumped they get about a good race, too.

Post race brunch was a lot of fun, too. Went to Big Daddy's with Fred and his two boys (one of them, my rival...I took him down this time), John F., Billy, and Dezi (who is a great runner and a cool girl and I'm glad I got to hang out with her and get to know her better). During brunch, I received a text...

...which leads us to our second race recap of the day!

I knew the Old Mecklenburg Brewery 1k was Saturday and had considered doing it but figured I need to get some stuff done Saturday and I should be a responsible adult and do boring things such as cleaning and doing some things for work. But alas, I continue to be young and irresponsible and easily influenced. After receiving messages from Thomas and Michelle and a phone call from the Patanias, I was done for. I wanted to run again. And I wanted beer.

There's really not much to say about a race that's approximately .6 miles long. Thomas, Chad and Joey held down 1st, 2nd and 3rd place respectively and got heckled a bit for being shirtless. Michelle, Sarah and I held it down for the ladies. I managed to finish in 3:30 which is well under 6 minute pace so that was kind of nice. And now some highlights: Eating Big Daddy's before running is not a great idea. Even if Billy Shue says it is so. Winning beer is the best kind of winning. Girls most certainly do NOT have prostates. Allen probably feels like he knows way too much about me at this point. Chad and Danielle have an adorable dog. John Compton got a haircut and ate a hot dog...this is what winners do after races. Tom and Lo Patania are ridiculously cute. I got mildly sunburned. Laura and I were probably destined to be friends and neighbors.

Oh, and apparently, if you somehow ended up with an extra free Growler, drink the evidence quickly... :) (no, I am not referring to myself.)