Most folks who know me well know that I love Dr. Pepper. So, naturally, the Dublin Dr. Pepper 10-2-4k is a race that I have wanted to do since I first heard about it several years ago. And, when we decided that we were going to Dallas this weekend to celebrate my mom's birthday, I thought this seemed like the perfect time...except for one small detail. I mistakenly thought Dublin was just outside of Waco so it would be on our way up to Dallas. Um, not quite, mel. It is about 160 miles northwest of Austin and then still over 100 miles to my mom's place in north Dallas. So, the timing of things didn't quite go as I had originally intended this weekend.
After realizing where Dublin is (and our hotel in Stephenville), I was pretty ambivalent about whether or not we would make the trip for the race up until the very last minute because it meant a long drive after a super long day and week for us. But, we did, and I'm glad we did.
We got to our hotel around 10pm on Friday, got settled, and quickly crashed as the busy week had taken it's toll on us. We made the short 15 minute drive from Stephenville to Dublin on Saturday morning for the 8am race start. The 10-2-4k races were just one part of the day's festivities celebrating the DP bottling plant's 120th birthday. For example, there was also the Tour de Pepper bike rides of various distances.
 |
| DP bottling truck that led the lead runners on the course |
 |
| Welcome to Dr. Pepper, Texas! |
 |
| DP is the Nectar of the Gods |
 |
| The theme for this year's celebration was "Our big fun Greek birthday" |
The race started and finished behind the Dr. Pepper building in downtown Dublin. The course itself was rather uneventful with lots of turns up and down the neighborhood streets. I told K before the start that I was not "racing" or running fast - I just have one speed right now and that is slow and easy. I started out feeling fine and was thankful that my recurring shin/calf pain didn't make an appearance in the early miles. K was out on the course just before mile 3 and I told him to come run with me once I saw him. Bad idea, mel. Having him with me made it way too easy for me to stop and walk and whine about the heat. There wasn't much shade on the course and the 8am start meant that things were already warming up a bit, especially since I have been doing most of my runs lately indoors on the treadmill because the heat had been killing my running mojo. K realized that his presence wasn't helping me, so he ducked out on me at mile 5 and it was for the best because I went on to finish it off without whining (or walking).
Afterwards, we enjoyed some DP of course, checked out the local art vendors, and picked up some souvenirs. Free tours of the museum and bottling plant were offered all day, but we didn't have time to check them out since we needed to get going on our way to see my mom. The whole scene was a pretty neat event though, and it's definitely worth checking out again.
No comments:
Post a Comment