Hangover (Hank Aaron State Trail) 5k

I ran the Hangover Hank Aaron State Trail 5k this morning.

And this is what I tweeted on the way to the race:

But, before I recap the race, I should probably rewind to how this 5k became the Hangover 5k.  Last night, Mr. R&R and I went out to Balzac to indulge a serious craving for duck nachos.

Perfection on a Platter

Along with the duck nachos we split an order of Ahi Tuna Tartare...and a bottle of Viognier.

While we sipped and snacked, Mr. R&R mentioned that he was going to run the Hank Aaron 5k on Saturday morning and suggested that I join him.  A quick glance at my phone revealed that the weather was going to be a cool and breezy 62 degrees when the gun went off at 8:30am, so in my wine-softened state, I enthusiastically agreed.  Clearly, I am an idiot!

We got home around midnight and I slammed a glass of water and proceeded to get approximately 3 1/2 hours of broken sleep before the alarm went off at 6AM.

I stumbled into the shower, into my race clothes, and out the door; all while trying to ignore the fact that I felt puke-y.  I immediately scurried back into the house to add another layer - 59 degrees felt COLD!

Freezing and hungover - NOT a good combination

My next tweet says it all:

We arrived at Miller Park (home of the Milwaukee Brewers baseball team), registered, donned our race numbers and timing chips, and dropped off all out extraneous stuff at the car.

D-Tag Timing

 I was originally going to run in shorts and a long sleeved shirt, but as the morning wore on, I made a last minute decision to switch to a short sleeved shirt.  It turned out to be a very good decision.

The Plan

The Reality

We worked our way into the starting corral, observed a moment of silence for victims of a senseless act of violence that occurred last weekend, listened to a truly dreadful rendition of the Star Spangled Banner, and finally the gun went off.


As soon as I started running, the puke-y feeling disappeared as I focused all my energy on finding a pace I could stick with since I knew there was no way I could run anywhere near my PR pace from last summer.  The first mile was awesome.  I ran about 2/3 of it with the Mayor of Milwaukee before he drifted back and then I met a truly awesome pace rabbit.  When the Mayor backed off, another man fell in next to me and began asking questions about the shirt I was wearing.  I was wearing the shirt from the 2008 edition of the Madison Half Marathon and it turns out that this guy (who was probably in his early 50's) is training for his first half.  We chatted about training plans, long runs, and the weather and I was surprised to see Mile 1 tick by in 9:22.  I bid farewell to my pace rabbit around Mile 1.5 and continued up a hill to the turnaround point.  I was feeling pretty good on the way back down the hill and noticed that there was a HUGE number of people still approaching the 1 Mile marker.  That never happens to me!  Mile 2 went by in 9:22.  I was stunned.  I never run even splits!  The last mile brought some unpleasantness. I was getting really warm and tired, and the course took a decidedly uphill turn. I tried to maintain a decent pace, but about a quarter of the way up the hill the nauseous feeling returned.  I ended up walking up the hill and trying to convince myself that I wasn't about to puke. Once I got to the top of the hill, I looked at my watch and realized that there was a very tiny chance that I could match or beat my PR, but it was really going to hurt.  I took a deep breathe and picked up the pace. I made one more turn and the finish line was in sight.  I dug down and sprinted in.  I gave it everything I had left and it wasn't quite enough.  My official finish time was 29:32 (Avg. Pace: 9:31/mile).  I'm not too unhappy about that.  I felt absolutely awful and still managed to come within 41 seconds of my personal best.  Not too shabby for being fueled by wine!

After I crossed the finish line, the pukey feeling returned full force.  I have never tossed my cookies after a race, but I came damn close today.  I knew then that I had definitely given it everything I had.  With the aid of a Sierra Mist, the feeling eventually passed and Mr. R&R (who PR'd by 5 seconds) and I crawled back to the car and went home.

Once I got home, I realized that the course had been just over the official 5k distance. I actually ran 3.14 miles today, which lowered my average pace to 9:24/mile!

After a shower and lunch, the official results became available online and here's what I learned:

Overall Place: 618/1701

Division (F30-34) Place: 25/104

Gender Place: 174/851

Oh, and my hungover self beat the Mayor!  His finishing time wasn't available (wonder if he ran bandit?), but Mr. R&R saw him cross the finish line several minutes after I did!  

I wouldn't recommend running a 5k (or any other race) hungover, but if you don't subscribe to the whole 'Do as I say, not as I do' idea, you might just out run the Mayor!