Before the race in honor of their recommitment to the brand, Oiselle asked Bird Camp attendees to submit a short video of their recommitment. I submitted two. I knew it was posted when a friend reached out and said she'd be happy to pace me. At first I was really confused and then I saw it in Oiselle's Instagram Story. There I was saying to the world that I was recommitting to breaking 2:15 in the half marathon. Shit. So we started strategizing. Dogfish Dash would be my trial to see where I'm at and if it's possible. Baltimore would be test number two to see what I could do. With Dogfish Dash being such a flat race, it should be nice and easy, right?
Packet pickup was a breeze. We arrived to the Dogfish Head Brewery towards the end of packet pickup, and there was a bottle release so the brewery was really busy. We then headed over to the large tent, grabbed our packets and in less than 15 minutes we were on our way to the hotel. We stayed right on Route One which was fairly convenient for race day and visiting the beach, but it was a little tough to get in and out of the parking lot because at least on Saturday and after the race on Sunday the road was pretty congested. When we got back to the hotel we got a closer look at our swag.
A heavy duty drawstring bag, sunglasses, bandaids, lip balm, a carabiner and golf tees. (Kind of an odd combination TBH.)
The race shirt! I love it. It's a long sleeve cotton shirt. Normally I don't wear shirts like this too often, but I like this one a lot.
The next morning, we left our hotel at about 7am for the 9am gun time and we got to the brewery about 20 minutes later. We were the among very last people to get parking spaces in the lot directly beside the brewery. After us, the first overflow parking from the truck entrance was still on Dogfish property, just behind the building instead. We had some time to kill and we could smell the grains being cooked for a batch of beer over by the car. (If you've never smelled it, it's not the most pleasant smell.) So we headed over to the runner's village and explored a little bit. A few minutes later we just stood around people watching trying to decide how to kill the next hour. Then at one point I see someone walking with a really cute black lab. And then I see who is holding the leash--Sam Calagione, the founder of Dogfish Head!!
I nerded out. I messaged the one other person (besides my husband) who was at the race and told her. After that I checked out the swag in the main tent. There was nothing super exciting. I got a hot pink cooling towel with the race logo and a super soft lens cleaning cloth from a personal injury attorney. Then I put it back in my car and took another bathroom break since the lines were starting to get long. Right afterwards my husband and I started to head towards the starting area. I lined myself up right around the middle of everything and by the time I got settled, the crowd started moving a couple minutes early. (If there was a gun, a whistle, or an airhorn I didn't hear it!) And we were off!
Game face. I got this.
The route was mostly flat, kind of scenic. Most of it went through Milton, DE which is a pretty cute little town. I was laser focused on averaging below 10:17, which is the minimum average pace needed for a 2:15 half marathon. I tried to not let my watch phase me, and after that first mile I set it to just show how much time was left in the interval. No worries about pace, how long I'd been out there, just worry about now. And when I get to walk again. (There weren't that many actual walk breaks. Typically I take them on uphill stretches or if my legs start to feel tired. Neither really happened during this race.) During the fourth mile I saw Sam Calagione again cheering on runners before he headed back towards the brewery.
My splits were amazing.
That very last mile was just .02 short of a full mile. But still. I had done it. My average pace was 10:06. If I could manage to do something similar for Richmond, even just a little slower I could do it.
After passing through the finish a little girl handed me a reusable water bottle filled with water and I walked over to get my first beer (a Seaquench Ale) and drank it while I waited in the food line. It was surprisingly short (just a perk of getting faster.) I got half a bagel, an apple cider donut, and a banana. The apple cider donut didn't stand a chance and it was gone by the time I started watching the race from the very last turn. And had another Sam Calagione sighting. You know, NBD. And I saw this great group costume too!
After a few minutes of spectating, I decided to go see if my husband was at our meeting spot, and after a few minutes I saw him make his way through the crowd. I joined him in line but didn't take anymore food. (They were offering granola with yogurt and were out of donuts by that point anyways.) So after my husband ate his granola and yogurt, we got in line for our second and third beers. You'll notice we didn't get a stainless steel cup this year, but I think it was because all the beers were in cans this year. Every runner got three beer tickets on their bib. The first was supposed to be for a Seaquench basically right after finishing, and the other two could be Lupa Luau, Namaste White or Flesh and Blood. I opted for a Namaste White and Lupa Luau, one I've had before and the other was new. My husband got Lupa Luau and Flesh and Blood. Since the volunteers didn't insist on opening the beers, we took them with us to enjoy later.
Overall, I would definitely recommend this race. It threw a curveball compared to previous years with the weird swag (not much of it actually Dogfish Head related), but it was still a great race. It makes for a really nice weekend away since it's still kind of warm but not oppressively hot, and the race is low key enough that it's not stressful leading into it. You still get a lot for your race fee too which in my mind makes it worth the trip. Being able to go to the beach after the race is pretty awesome too.
Nice recap, and congrats!! I love the costumes of the beer delivery people that you got a photo of, too!
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