Steelers Gatorade 5K Recap

I wrote this post in September, soon after the 5K but wanted to wait to post pictures.  Oops.  I just proved what a procrastinator I am.  And I have two more 5K races to recap from December.  So here's the first one and I'll follow up with the other two in the next few days.

Before the race

After taking a 6 week hiatus because of a toe injury (grumble, grumble) I signed up for the Steelers Gatorade 5K.

This was my 3rd race at the North Shore, and my biggest by far.  They had over 3000 registered runners.  I ran it with my friend Mandy, and Dave came to cheer us on and take pictures.  That didn't work out so well at the end though.

The race started by the river, and they started in waves because the river trail is kind of narrow and there were a LOT of runners.  (I know there are bigger races but this was the biggest I've been in yet so it seemed ridiculous to me.)

I wasn't really happy with the waves.  I hadn't run much- maybe once or twice, in the weeks before the race.  I knew I used to run around a 30:00ish pace but I had no idea how I would do at this one.  So I wanted to line up right around 30-32 or so to try to push.  Well, the waves were something like: "under 18:00", "18:00 to 22:00", "22:00 to 26:00", "26:00 to 30:00", and then "30:00 and up" with walkers in that group supposedly at the back.  But it was all clumped together.  So we lined up with the 26-30 group even though I was pretty sure I wouldn't be able to keep up.

And at the beginning, whoever the announcer was, he was pretty mean/rude.  I don't remember now what he said exactly but he was kind of yelling at people.  I understand it's a big group but that's not the only way to get people to listen!

So Mandy and I took off.  And wow, it was nice for us.  We didn't have to try to weave around anybody.  And the funny thing is, we weren't even off track on pace for that group in the first mile or so.  We ran the first mile in about 9:34 according to my watch.  I actually was thinking maybe we could beat 30 minutes or at least be right around that.  (I wonder if other racers were annoyed with having to go around us but we were in the right time frame and I wasn't aware of people really pushing around us, even though it was crowded, so I think we were ok.)

I should have tried to take the first mile more slowly, though, because I tanked.  I think it was right before the 2 mile mark, I told her I really needed to walk.  So we walked for a very short time there.  I also don't remember what our time was at the two mile mark.  At this point we were on the street, which was wider, and people were passing us a lot more.  I thought a short walk would keep me going, but after starting up running again, I had to walk again.  For a block or two.  I was really bummed about that. 

The race ended in Heinz Field, on the warning track.  They actually were also showing the finish on the jumbotron, which is pretty cool.  Mandy and I picked it up as we entered the field, and ended up passing people as we came in.  The one problem with that was the only way I could pass was next to the wall and Dave wasn't able to get any good pictures of either of us.  Mandy had more energy so she beat me in.

I finished with a time of 32:44.  Not my slowest time, but this was a flat course and my slowest time was a course with the entire 3rd mile in a hill.  I should be happy because I'm at least back to running, but I can't help it- I always want to do better and it was hard to see my time slow down by about 3 minutes.  I know Mandy could have run the whole thing if I wasn't there, but it was also nice to run the race with someone.

Blue Dust and beer sampling

Last Saturday was the Big Pour, which we've wanted to go to but for some reason every year haven't been to.  It's a big sampling of lots of different beer.  We've done something similar twice now, at the Brufest, which is in Station Square and put on by the Pittsburgh Rugby Club.  (November 19, 2011 is the next one!)

Anyway, I've heard that they're trying to make a Pittsburgh "beer week" similar to what other cities hold.

Sidebar: we stumbled across San Francisco's beer week when we were there in February and it was AWESOME.  Loved it.

Thursday night we went to Hough's in Greenfield.  I was a little disappointed there.  It was supposed to be samples of Dogfish Head and Oskar Blues with free glasses.  But the reps from both places just stood there drinking beer the entire time, and by the time we realized there weren't samples and to get a glass you had to buy a draft of that beer, they were out of Dogfish Head glasses.  We did get two pint glasses from Oskar Blues though.

Friday night we went to Blue Dust, in Homestead (near the Waterfront).  That event was just great.  We got 4 sample platters of beers (3 beers on each platter):

Victory:
Storm King Imperial Stout - I usually don't like stouts but I did like this one.
Scarlet Fire (a smoked lager) - I didn't care for this one and Dave drank the whole thing after I took a few sips.
Mad King Weiss - I liked this one best of the three from Victory.

Roy Pitz
Double Pale Ale - I didn't like this one
Gobbler's Lager (Octoberfest) - This one was ok
Their pumpkin (mystery beer so I don't know what it was called.  - This one was also just ok.
I wasn't too impressed with the Roy Pitz brews.

Weyerbacher
Heresy (Oak aged imperial stout) - I didn't like this one, I think it had a coffee taste in it if I remember correctly
14th anniversary (2 year aged wheat wine) - This was by far my favorite of all the samples and Dave and I split a full glass of it after we finished all the samples
15th anniversary (1 year aged smoked stout) - I thought I wouldn't like it because it was smoked AND a stout but I really liked this one as well.
BTW, 14th and 15th anniversary were straight from their private beer library.

Troegs
Naked Elf (unfiltered Belgian gold ale) - I liked this a lot
2 other beers I don't remember (ok we drank a lot and it's been a few days- should have written this down that night!)  Neither of them stands out though.

I should have written this down earlier- I could have provided more of a description and remembered exactly which beers we were drinking.  Oh well- next time!

Dave also ordered a glass of Black and Red from Dogfish Head, which tastes like cough syrup.

And this doesn't count the other 2 beers from Dogfish Head, 3 beers from East End Brewing, which people at our table had so we got to try these as well.

Definitely a good night for sampling- they had 18 beers on tap just for that night.

Blue Dust was also really crowded.  We got there an hour early because that was also going to be dinner, and even at that point there wasn't really standing room inside.  We saw that there was "seating" outside, so we wandered out there, met some people and ended up sharing a table with them.  One of the Blue Dust employees brought random chairs from who knows where.  We had some chairs for tailgating in my trunk so we grabbed those, and the guys at the table with us had their friends bring some more chairs.  So that worked out.

And it turned out that the guys at the table with us- 2 of them are brewers for Milkman Brewing.  Last year at Brufest, we tried a peppermint stout that was just amazing.  You got to vote for your favorite beer and that stout won the award.  (They also came in 2nd in the actual judging.)  I've been talking about that since then, as one of the better beers I've ever had.  It turns out that they are science/engineer majors and we ended up going back to where they currently brew and trying out some of their beers.  They had a Saison, a Peppercorn, and a Kolsch.  I was excited about the Kolsch but it had an aftertaste to it.  They said they're going to have to work on that.  Dave had the Saison, and I had a few sips of that- it was pretty good.  And then I tried the Peppercorn, which was also pretty good!  They have some unique ideas and try to brew things that are different.

We ended up getting home around 3am, oops!  I haven't been out that late in so long...  But it also just shows what a good night we were having.

It's been awhile!

The last few days I've thought of things to blog about (which is sometimes the reason I don't blog- I don't have anything I consider interesting to write about).  But I feel like I should have a catch up post first, before starting anything random.

So 6 days after the Father's Day 5K, I ran another 5K- the Lisa Clay Styles Memorial 5K.  It was in South Park; I've never been there before, and ended up being flat.  Normally I wouldn't want to drive that far for a race, but it was in memory of a mom who was killed a year before that by a drunk driver while running around her streets.  It reminds me you really do need to watch out for cars.  Her story is here along with the information on the race.  http://lisaclaystyles.com/  Such a tragic loss.  As I ran, I thought about her a lot.  (And no, I didn't know her.)  Dave also walked the 1 mile race, which turned into longer.  Haha.  He didn't know where to turn around because it wasn't really marked, so imagine my surprise when I heard my name called and some cheering (from Dave), and I was just barely past mile marker 3!  Which meant he had walked a mile.  I was too far past him to tell him to turn around and come back.

This is the only picture I have, and I know, it looks the same.  I have my favorite set of running clothes I like to wear for races.  My bangs are now long enough, though, that I don't think I need a headband anymore.

Then, at a East Winds Symphonic Band concert, I dropped a cymbal on my toe.  And I only had a sandal on.  Luckily I still have all of my toes but it required 5 stitches.  And bled a lot.  I got really light headed and I've now left my mark at Twin Lakes park on the concrete stage...  (I bet it washed off.)  I do have a picture of the toe after the stitches were taken out but even though it's partly healed it still makes me squeamish to look at.  Blech.  The doctor thinks it might have gone to the bone but he didn't stitch it up, so who knows.  (I went to Med Express- they were great!  But didn't tell me how bad it was because I was feeling so squeamish.)  And here's the cymbal that did it.  Well, it could have been the other one.  But you get the idea.  (That's the toe that was cut as well.)

Because of that, though, I had to take a 6 week running hiatus, which bummed me out.  I ran the Steelers Gatorade 5K on September 4th and I'll make a separate entry about that, later.

August turned into a meet friends month.  I met a number of women who also got married in April 2008.  We were all on the Knot, supported each other through the weddings, and some of us have remained friends.

I met Michelle and her husband Josh at a Pirates game against Milwaukee.  The Pirate parrot took Michelle's hat away- here's a youtube link.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oA-1jbLhk6c  (She and Josh are Brewers fans.)  Tammy, who is also an April 08er and lives in Pittsburgh, was there for dinner before the game with her husband TJ.

Then Tammy and I drove in Hurricane Irene to a g2g with a group of the April 08ers.  It actually wasn't too bad- the storm hit Vermont/CT worse and it was overnight while we were there.  Lots of wind and rain, but I think Hurricane Hugo was worse- that hit where I grew up in something around 1989?  I just remember it being more scary- maybe because I was a lot younger.

Me, Becky, Tammy, Jen, Pam, Teri, and Gerrie with the kids (Josie with Jen, Gio with Pam, Chase with Teri, and Dexter with Gerrie)

Lately I've been working a LOT.  I am "loaned" out to a different project to help them write test procedures.  And as soon as I got on the project, they said, ok- mandatory 60 hour work weeks.  A week later that became mandatory 72 hour work weeks.  Six 12 hour days, Monday through Saturday.  That's just crazy.  But part of the reason I haven't been on here recently.

That catches things up a little bit about the past few months!  I'll add some more specific posts soon.