What better way to start out a day than by running a few races with some debauchery thrown in between
The 10k starts exactly one hour after the 5k begins. One of the perks of running in the event is free beer. Not the all you can drink type that Stone offers at the San Dieguito Race (Next weekend 2/12/12 ) but a couple of Michelob ultra's.
(If you can you really call that beer?)
Both years I ran straight through the finishline and and pounded my beers as fast I could. A couple fizzy yellow beers between races really had no effect on me.
After the 10k I had to go and open my big mouth to a local reporter that maybe I should try a six pack instead
(Great idea Pat! )
I forgot all about this but my friend the reporter did not. When I came up with idea I was not sponsored by Stone.
Might as well give it a try, and since that fizzy yellow beer is for wussies I'll be drinking
Yikes!
My walet was pretty damn empty as usual and I needed to find a way into both races. If I couldn't I had a back up opportunity to pace a 3:05 group at the surf City marathon held the same day.
Lucky for me
My friends at the Village Runner were kind enough to sponsor my entry to the event. They are the premiere running store in the South Bay and I was stoked to be running for them.
(Is it possible to be both the village runner and the village idiot at the same time? We shall see.)
(Is it possible to be both the village runner and the village idiot at the same time? We shall see.)
They also happened to be one of the events sponsors.
So how's my health you ask?
I thought I had gotten over my shin splint and that is why I did the Super Spartan race the week prior. On that occasion it felt great Unfortunately for me earlier this week it began to hurt again. I decided to take it easy Thursday Friday ans Saturday before the event.
Saturday Race Expo
Both of my nephews and my sister would be running in the 5k which would make things a lot more fun. Even Grandma (my mom) was gonna come down and watch
(although I don't suppose she was too proud of my decision to drink a six pack)
Any time spent with the family
Is time well spent!
Any time spent with the family
Is time well spent!
My Nephew Lucas tried to teach us some tricks
but Thomas and I were pretty hopeless.
I also gotta hang out with my buddy Jeff from village runner
We grabbed a bite to eat at Ruby's which was in same parking lot. While there Lucas proudly showed me his art work an the wall.
The weather was freaking beautiful so we headed to the beach to go sledding.
A little frisbee was in the cards as well.
Nice diving catch dude!
Pretty sad that I'm the smart one in the family.
(at least on this day)
Nobody else worth their bathing suits
That did'nt stop my nephews from going for a swim
Nice diving catch dude!
(at least on this day)
Nobody else worth their bathing suits
We all felt pretty good and were excited about the race cumming up the next morning.
Lucas felt so good he decided to play some music for us.
February in Southern California is pretty rough.
Race Day
We arrived to the race at the crack of dawn to get parking. It was warm in the car so we stayed there until the dog started farting. "Wait a second there's no dog in the van?"
(SHHH don't tell!)
Costume contest
Easiest costume ever.
No costume for me just staying comfy in my PJ's
They must be from Hermosa Beach
Lucas loves Panda's
Defenders of the Ale
These dudes didn't even know there was a costume contest, a race or that it was even Superbowl Sunday. What I like about them is that instead of dressing like the usual frat house fizzy beer warrior they actual chose a few craft beers. Notice the Stone Ale breast plate, and shield.
Time To Race
I lined up near the front as usual. A few kid's snuck in front of me but I didn't really care. I wasn't feeling all that confident and my belly was growling for some food.
Normally before a race even a short one I have about 500-1,000 calories for breakfast. Everything I read says not to do this so I only had about 300. I was starving but I wanted to see if it would help.
"Nope"
I took off pretty fast as ususal and held the lead for the first 1/2 mile before getting passed by some old dude who was running really strong. As for me I didn't really have any gusto in my tank. A couple other dude's jumped in front of me and we flip flopped positions cruising along,
while
the old dude ran away with the win.
It was a race I could of won on a good day.
but
"You get what you get and you don't get upset."
I strolled into the finish line finishing in 3rd place out of 3,151 finishers
with
a sore shin.
Time to drink
with
a sore shin.
Time to drink
By the time I got to my beer's (about 45 seconds after finishing the race) they were pretty warm. My plan of pounding them in about 7 minutes would be tough.
The first beer took longer than expected taking over 15 seconds
(Much more difficult than during my beer mile)
The first beer took longer than expected taking over 15 seconds
(Much more difficult than during my beer mile)
Nooo!
In my rush to open the second on I snapped the top of the bottle off.
(an inauspicious sign of things to come).
(an inauspicious sign of things to come).
Fizzy yellow beer may be for wussies but drinking glass in the third grade!
Tangent:
Back when I was about 8 or 9 years old myself and few friends stumbled upon a 12 pack of Budweiser in the bushes at Sand dune park. This was back before they had twist off caps. We were pretty nieve kids, we weren't excited about finding the beer because we wanted to get drunk, we only knew we weren't supposed to have it which made that much more enticing. Nobody had a bottle opener so we opened them the old fashion way?
Yep we smashed the tops of the bottles off on a rock and hurried to get the warm foaming beer into our mouths glass and all.
"Aah, the good old days!"
"Aah, the good old days!"
I'm not as tough as I used to be when I was 8.
I decided against drinking that beer. ( if I had some kind of filter I probably would have.) Now I was totally out of my rhythm and only had five beers to drink. I drank beer number 2 and 3 pretty slow realizing maybe this was not such a good idea.
I decided against drinking that beer. ( if I had some kind of filter I probably would have.) Now I was totally out of my rhythm and only had five beers to drink. I drank beer number 2 and 3 pretty slow realizing maybe this was not such a good idea.
I was taking longer than expected on beer 4 and I had wanted to see my family finish the race. By now it had been almost a half an hour since the race had began .
Way to go Thomas!
I asked him what his time was but he had no clue. He looked like he given it his best effort and I was totally proud of the little dude.
Then he pulled up his shorts showing me his right knee coverd in blood. (My heart went out to the kid) then I saw his other knee covered in blood and finally his left hand witch was also dripping with blood (poor guy)
I guess sometime during the second mile he took a spill. (he didn't know what to and had nowhere to meet his family till the finish line) He sucked it up and ran an awesome race. I could tell he wanted to cry but toughed it out
(In no way would I have thought less of him if he did!)
(In no way would I have thought less of him if he did!)
I took him the medical station to get cleaned up .Thomas never complained and the medical crew were really friendly and helpful.
I love that you want to follow in your Uncle's footsteps although I wish you wouldn't shed blood like he does.
While I helped thomas Grandma went off to watch my other nephew finish.
Way to go Lucas!! You totally beat your mom with that sprint to finishline
Good job sis! and Nice Shoes.
What happened to the Panda hat?
Mom's can make everything feel better.
By now it was a about 10 minutes till the 10k was about to start. I had only drank 4 beers when I remembered that I was entitled to 2 free Michelob ultra's. I sprinted about a 1/4 mile to the beer garden pounded the beers in about 30 seconds then ran to the Village Runner tent to switch my bibs. By the time I meandered my way throught the masses of people to the the front of the starting line I only had about 3 minutes to spare.
There I ran into my buddy John Megeff. I had decent buzz going and I'm sure John couldn't wait to get away from my drunken babble.
On your marks, Get set BURP!
Unlike usual I did not take off flying. Running at about a 5:45 pace I was surrounded by people I knew. I exchanged pleasantries with at least 10 of them.
"Pat this isn't social hour this is a race. Focus Damn it!"
My pace was all over the place depending on when I burped. 5 people would pass me then I'd burp and go zooming past them down hill screaming "wee."
My performance was pretty crappy but at least I was having fun. That is until halfway through the second mile my shin really began to throb.
Just before reaching the third the third mile I took off my bib and walked off the course. Finishing the race wouldn't have proved anything to myself. I was frustrated by the injury but not upset with my decision to withdraw.
I took a short cut back to the finish line to rejoin my family whom were staring at the course wondering why I hadn't come in yet. By now 45 minutes had passed and they had expected me much sooner.
I snuck up behind my nephew and asked "Has Uncle Pat come in yet?"
Without turning his head he answered in a disappointed voice " No he hasn't."
Not knowing it was me that asked the question.
I gave him a rub on the head and got a huge smile when he turned around.
:)
"Come on guys let's go get some free beer."
ICE COLD
By now it was a about 10 minutes till the 10k was about to start. I had only drank 4 beers when I remembered that I was entitled to 2 free Michelob ultra's. I sprinted about a 1/4 mile to the beer garden pounded the beers in about 30 seconds then ran to the Village Runner tent to switch my bibs. By the time I meandered my way throught the masses of people to the the front of the starting line I only had about 3 minutes to spare.
On your marks, Get set BURP!
Unlike usual I did not take off flying. Running at about a 5:45 pace I was surrounded by people I knew. I exchanged pleasantries with at least 10 of them.
"Pat this isn't social hour this is a race. Focus Damn it!"
My pace was all over the place depending on when I burped. 5 people would pass me then I'd burp and go zooming past them down hill screaming "wee."
My performance was pretty crappy but at least I was having fun. That is until halfway through the second mile my shin really began to throb.
Just before reaching the third the third mile I took off my bib and walked off the course. Finishing the race wouldn't have proved anything to myself. I was frustrated by the injury but not upset with my decision to withdraw.
I snuck up behind my nephew and asked "Has Uncle Pat come in yet?"
Without turning his head he answered in a disappointed voice " No he hasn't."
Not knowing it was me that asked the question.
I gave him a rub on the head and got a huge smile when he turned around.
:)
"Come on guys let's go get some free beer."
Unlike normal beers I think you only have to be 5 years old to drink Michelob ultra
(too bad Lucas forgot to open it)
Nice Jersey
Nice Pat"riots" shirts
I have been a Patriot fan for about 20 years (ever since I found out there was a team called the Pat's)
Just before leaving the event I headed back to the Village Runner booth to thank them once again for their support.
(too bad Lucas forgot to open it)
I have been a Patriot fan for about 20 years (ever since I found out there was a team called the Pat's)
Just before leaving the event I headed back to the Village Runner booth to thank them once again for their support.
I love the village runner so much I wear their shirt backwards to display a bigger logo. Because of this beautiful women came from far and wide to embrace me.
(Well, at least one did)
:)
(Well, at least one did)
:)
Just a couple of classy dudes drinking some world class beer.
Conclusion
Although a lot of things went awry, racing wise it wasn't my best day, both my nephew and I got banged up and my team lost the Superbowl.
But
Tomorrow is another day for something great our wounds will heal and baseball season is just 40 something days away.
(Go Angel's)
and most importantly
As I mentioned earlier in this post
"Any time spent with the family
Is time well spent!"
Conclusion
Although a lot of things went awry, racing wise it wasn't my best day, both my nephew and I got banged up and my team lost the Superbowl.
But
Tomorrow is another day for something great our wounds will heal and baseball season is just 40 something days away.
(Go Angel's)
and most importantly
As I mentioned earlier in this post
"Any time spent with the family
Is time well spent!"
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