Sly Fox Fox Trot 5K 5/30/15: Way cool race and party

I found the Fox Trot on one of my go-to race sites, Pretzel City Sports.  They manage and time the race and did an awesome job as usual.  There are also a few other brewery-themed runs I'm pursuing on  http://www.greatamericanbreweryruns.com/ which, linked to this event, are on the check list for next year.  Sly Fox makes great beer.  I needed to get a few races and short 5K's on the calendar so it worked out well.  Plus with a food truck festival, band and beer, it's a no-brainer.

It's been a fairly unproductive training and racing year so far, what with a job this year and all... So I was very interested to see how I'd do with a sub-20 goal and sufficiently recovered from the Nashville half.  I felt great and ready to rock so I was pretty pumped.  Kristen was racing after a spinning class that same morning so I was impressed with her ambition.

I had no strategy for this race; I'd just do my best to hold a pace around 6:30 and cruise.  One may argue that is a strategy but it's a simple one.

Being a later race, starting at 11, it was already really warm by the gun time but not too bad, probably around 75.  We took off, I was as about 5 rows back and after clearing a few human hurdles, was chasing the lead pack about 10 back.  I clocked a 6:16 after one and tried to maintain the pace I had at the end of that first mile, right at 6:30/mi.  It's taken me a while to understand what certain paces really feel like and know within a pretty small range, where I am, within about 10 seconds per mile.  It's been a while since I focused on it and it needs to be a part (requirement) of my training regimen.

At about halfway I could feel my speed decreasing and other runners started passing by.  I challenged myself to chase them and overtake but most had the legs to keep going steadily while I slowly dropped back.  I regained a few spots on a long and relatively easy climb to the finish but I wasn't breaking 20.  I crossed the finish, saw the RD, Ron Horn, and he said I was about 24th.  Disappointed with my 21:07, I waited for Kristen and our friends Shasta and Andrew and we met at our rendezvous spot by a food truck and grabbed our race swag.  Sweet Sly Fox glasses and a free beer.

The line looks horrifyingly long but the Sly Fox champs at the beer tent slayed it.

The post race sauce in a pretty cool can-shaped glass.

The food truck options were pretty awesome.  We tried a few but being cashless, we were limited to a few that took credit cards.  Perhaps a blessing in disguise because we landed on these parfaits from the truck Sum Pig:

Ridiculousness in a cup.  Collards, pulled pork, corn, mashed potatoes and bbq sauce.  And an umbrella for flair.  If it wasn't too late, I'd serve these and these only at our upcoming wedding.

These growler prices!  They're giving it away!  Support your local brewery.

We soaked in the sun a little while and made our way home to clean up and get back to town for a BBQ with some friends.

The event was awesome.  I will certainly go back and plan to stay all day to enjoy more of the activities and food that Sly Fox has to offer like the drinking games everywhere and pay a visit to the Manatawny Still Works across the street.