Beer and Bagel Run Recap

On Sunday, Katie and I completed the Beer and Bagel Run. First off, this race had me at 'Beer'. Following it with 'Bagel' and 'Run' just sealed the deal.

Not to mention the sweet-ass shirts.

Admittedly, I was more excited about the shirt than the race for once. A long-sleeved technical tee with the quote, "I'm a drinker with a running problem" printed on it?! Totally worth the pain of the race. And the $38 registration fee.

The Beer and Bagel Run is a cross country race that has been held at various locations near Omaha. This year's course was '3.5-ish' miles on a golf course in Ashland (about 25 miles from my house). We were warned that there would be a creek-crossing and off-road terrain. And 1500 runners!

We arrived early to ensure we got a parking spot. It was a little chilly when we got there, but it warmed up to be a beautiful day.

We really lucked out with the weather. There is definitely potential for snow this time of year, so reaching 70F in November is quite a treat!

And it's a good thing we had the weather on our side, because the super-hilly course was definitely against us! Luckily I approached this as a 'fun run' because my competitive side would have been righteously humbled.

I know that I've fallen a bit out of shape since my marathon, but this run was HARD. Way harder than I was expecting. At one point I said it was the hardest race I've ever done, but I'm having a hard time putting that in writing (out of respect for the marathon.)

It started off on a concrete path that led us into a wooded area where it switched to a wide dirt trail. The first mile went by pretty quickly and contained the creek-crossing and subsequent rope climb used to scale the embankment. That part was really fun! The following 2.5 miles were all hills. And not little hills. We're talking, hills so steep you wouldn't be surprised to see someone roll a wheel of cheese down them.

I willed myself to power through the first big hill. It sucked. My lungs were burning, my quads were burning, and I was barely moving. During the second big hill, I realized I wasn't moving any faster by 'running', so I resigned myself to walking. I'd run until it was pretty uncomfortable, and then I'd walk until I caught my breath. I noticed this was a common method amongst the others near me.

I crossed the finish line at around 39 minutes (official times aren't posted yet), about 2 minutes behind Kate. I'm happy to report that my knee did not bother me, but I definitely babied it. Hills are hard on knees as it is, and they were definitely not worth hurting myself over. However, I felt the uneven terrain in my ankles (sand, dirt, gravel, rock, grass, and concrete).

After crossing the finish line, we were greeted with a beautiful site - free beer and bagels! We lounged around on the grass, soaking up the sun and sipping tasty Nut Brown Ale.

We even found our friends Kelli and Bryson! I ran both the Blarney Stone 5K and the Memorial Day 5-miler with them.

Although this race was one of the hardest I've done, I'm pretty sure I'll be back again next year. Maybe after a little more hill training?? It's just too unique to pass up!

What draws you to a particular race? The shirt or medal? Food/Drink? Atmosphere? Location? Course?