Wicked Wine Run 5k

One of my friends I met through a mom's group invited me to do The Wicked Wine Run with her. I didn't have anything going on that weekend and it sounded like fun so I signed up. They had a 5k and a 1k "wine tasting walk" you could sign up for just 1 for $30 or both for $45 so I figured I might as well sign up for both. Later I signed up for the Jenks 5k on the same day so I would run a 5k in the morning and a 5k in the evening. I planned to go for a sub-20 in the Jenks race and then take it easy during the Wine Run. I ran a 19:55 in the morning and was feeling so pumped. We left for the Wine Run early because my friends hadn't picked their race packets up early. I had gotten mine the day before and they were giving out packages of pork rinds as part of the race packet goodies. Carter wanted to try one and then said it tasted like a dog's breath smells. We hung out talking for a while and then I decided to run a mile warm up because my legs were still feeling a bit sore from the morning's race. I ran out on part of the course and saw we started on gravel and then went onto a trail path much like Turkey Mountain and from there wonld onto a paved path. I was glad I had run a fast time in the morning and wasn't tempted to go for anything impressive at this one as it was going to be a very slow course with lots of hills and lots of changes in surface. The scenery was gorgeous.

Standing at the race start ready to go.

They had us line up at the start in waves based off pace. The first wave was runners who were under 9 minute pace and they had signs for under 8 minute pace and then under 9 minute pace. As we were standing preparing for the race to start they announced awards would go to the top 3 overall male and female finishers. She said she thought it was a bottle of wine and I got excited but then was corrected that the award would just be an etched wine glass. We took off on the gravel and wound down onto a trail path. I was running a bit behind a guy who was out in front. There was a golf cart leading the way and when we got onto the trail it started spraying dust up in our faces and making it hard to breathe. I think they eventually figured that out and took off ahead of us to give us some room to breathe. I went through the first mile in 6:45 and a woman came blowing past me. I was so tempted to go with her but I knew that wouldn't be smart since I had run a race in the morning and I could already feel it in my legs so I let her go, but I did pull away from the guy I had been running with. There were a lot more uphills in the second mile and that's when I could really feel the morning 5k was on the hills. My 2nd mile split was 7:10. The woman ahead of me had built a pretty big lead and the guy behind me was long gone so I decided to just coast it in the last mile. I enjoyed running along, looking at the gorgeous scenery and finished my last mile in 7:22. As I came up on the finish I saw my friend, Niki, standing by the finish line excitedly cheering for me. I stopped my watch as I crossed and had finished the 5k in 21:58 which was 7:05 pace. I felt pretty good about running the race in under 22 minutes as my 2nd race of the day and with it being a challenging course. Directly after the finish they had a table with white wine set up to the left and a table with red wine set up to the right. I grabbed a glass of red wine but saved it until after I drank some water. Niki and I stood around chatting while we waited for her friends who were walking to finish. I eventually ran a mile cool down and they still hadn't finished. She said there had been 4 waves of walkers and her friends had been in the 2nd wave so they started way later than I did. When they finished she introduced me to the friends I hadn't met yet and I really liked all of her friends.

A picture Niki got of me finishing.

 

We had a while until the 1k started so we chatted, sipped our wine, and waited. I changed into dry clothes because I had gotten sweaty during the race. The 5k just had a glass of wine at the finish line but the 1k had 4 wine stops on the walk. They alternated between white wine and red wine at the 4 stops. They weren't filling the cups very full but I was still feeling a bit tipsy by the time we finished. By the time I pulled my phone out to text Thomas asking him to pick me up I saw he had called me and he was already there waiting on me. My friends were headed straight to a friend's birthday party right after the event so I could ride there with them but needed a different ride home. Since Elise would be asleep by the time I needed picked up, I asked Thomas if he would give me a ride and he agreed. As Thomas walked up to me they were getting ready to do awards so I quickly grabbed my wine glass and we were headed out. Overall the event was a lot of fun! I was glad I was too cheap to pay $10 to park because I wouldn't have been able to drive home between running the race and then drinking wine. I probably only had the equivalent of 2-3 glasses of wine, but it hit me hard!

The wine glass I won.