Menu

Monday, June 25, 2018

Race Recap: Polish Pickle Run

As far as weekends go this has been a good one, including a last minute 5k with friends, a 4 year old's birthday party AND a cookout, but for now let's talk about the Pickle Run. 😃

The Polish Pickle Run is an annual 5k held every year in a little town called Bremond, TX. Bremond is located about 30 minutes away from College Station and is a town rich in Polish history (hence, the Polish Pickle Run). A friend of mine has been talking about this run on and off for the last year; it’s a run she and her husband try never to miss and they always have so much fun there. So, on Friday I signed up and headed to her house to meet up with our group. We all got up around 5 am to make it there by the start of the race at 8am. Once we got out of town the drive was a quick one with lots of beautiful country and farmland to look at. We made it there about 20 minutes before the race started, parked in a small field with some other cars and walked the block into town to the starting line. We set our watches and before we knew it we were ready to start!

Waiting for the race to begin

Picking up our race packets

The route began in the middle of town, went down the street and out to where homes were. There were lots of people running, everyone from young kids to kids in track to an 80 year old (who won her division). Since both sides of the road were all ours, there were no issues with being balled up and not having enough room, and while there were slight rolling elevations, the roads were nice and flat so my feet and hips were happy about that! There were two aid stations and every mile someone was there to call off the current time. There was a stretch of road before the first aid station where the turn around was that went gradually uphill for a half a mile or so, and that was tough. I was so happy when we turned around and went back down the “hill”!

During the last half mile we ran down the town’s Main Street again, and I could see the finish line from far away, so that was good incentive to keep running as fast as I could! Crossing the finish line was amazing! They gave medals out to the top three winners in each age group, and I ended up with 5th, but I accomplished my goal of a sub 30 minute 5k in 90 degree weather, so it sort of felt like a win. :) I crossed the finish line and totally forgot to turn off my Garmin for about 4 minutes, lol! I got some water and a slice of watermelon and tucked in. That was the BEST watermelon 🍉 . I met back up with Robyn, Kate and Nick and we got in the beer line and also got plates of BBQ, hung out and watched the awards ceremony. They also have raffles. They enter everyone’s race bib numblers and pick one, so someone won the bales of hay lining the start/finish and someone won a baby heifer, given away by the race director. But no worries, if you don’t have the room for a calf or a need for hay, you can choose the money option, which was what these winners did. We also went back to the car to clean up a bit, and I applied what was probably the 4th layer of sunscreen that day. Sunscreen is one of those things you don't realize is important until you're burnt up, so I take my sunscreen seriously. 😎

All done! Waiting on the awards ceremony
Awards ceremony and drawings

There were lots of pop up shops down the street and a museum, so we checked those out as well. Robyn and Nick got all stocked up on pickles and Kate found some cute sailor inspired crafts to decorate with, and a few gorgeous handmade rings. After half a day of fun and awesome people, we all headed back to town.
A parade came through town shortly after
A race T Shirt Pickle Run quilt! How cute! (My fav square is the swooshski)
The race director, Ken announcing for the awards ceremony
We had to, haha! 

I wasn’t sure what to expect of the Polish Pickle Run, but I really ended up enjoying it and having a blast! There were good people, great friends and I loved the small town experience. I will definitely be running this race again if I can. If you can make your way to Bremond, go run the Pickle Run next year, you won’t regret it!
There's nothing like a fun race day with friends!

No comments:

Post a Comment