Monday, May 5, 2014

Three Races and a Wedding, Part 1: Cinco de Miler Race Report

I ran three races this weekend. Here's my Cinco de Miler Dallas review.


Saturday morning started with the Cinco de Miler run at Fair Park. I was really only gonna run the Cinco de Muddo on Saturday, but when I saw how cool the Miler t-shirts were, I couldn't resist. The race organizers had sent out multiple emails last week warning participants about Fair Park event traffic and strongly encouraging us to bicycle or carpool. Since I live 27 miles away and would be running alone, I made sure to pick up my race packet earlier in the week and chose to ride the DART train to Fair Park.

Bad idea.

The Cinco de Miler start/finish line was over 1.5 miles from the nearest train station, so I and several other participants got a helluva warm-up before the start. Several of us noted that EVERY OTHER RACE held at Fair Park began near the entrance and near the DART station, such as the Hot Chocolate 5k/10k, The Ugly Sweater Run, The Electric Run, and so on. Not cool, Cince de Miler, not cool.

I hoofed it and got there with just enough time to use the port-o-cans, which were clean and stocked with paper, and to snap a quick photo before lining up and taking off on the 5-mile course.


The course was pretty ugly, winding mostly through housing near Fair Park, but I'd brought music with me, including the girl power set-list from our V-day performances. The weather was nice and dry, and I felt good. I think I smiled through the whole course. A police officer monitoring the course cheered and offered high fives and another clapped for us further down. The course was mostly flat with a long downhill slope near the end. I finished in an unlikely 1:00:29, about 5 minutes faster than I expected.


Registration included a free finish line beer. While I stood in line, a man came by to check IDs and pass out wristbands for over 21s. When we got to the front of the line, they made us fish out our ID again for proof of age and handed us each a can of Corona Light, only 99 calories. I had thought Corona was a light beer. Obviously Cinco de Miler knows nothing about running. I took two sips and chucked it in the garbage. No wonder they have to give it away for free; Corona Light is fucking awful.

There was little going on at the post-race "party," so I trekked back to Fair Park Station as quickly as I could, joints aching. I just barely missed the train and had to wait 20 minutes for the next, worrying about whether I'd make my next race at all.

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