Just a week ago today, we were running a fun race along the Eastern Promenade Trail.  I had harassed a bunch of my coworkers (and Mike) into joining me in running the 6th annual Portland Brewers’ Holiday Dash 5K.  We had a blast.  See?

All the runners (and walkers) were in such a great festive mood.  The costumes were great, especially this guy dressed up as Ebenezer Scrooge.

Photo Courtesy of Maine Running Photos

He was really fast, too.

It was the first time I dressed up for a race.

Photo Courtesy of Maine Running Photos

My striped tights were pretty tame compared to the ugly Christmas sweaters and Christmas tutus I saw other people wearing.  I’m going to have to step it up a notch next year.

Rira’s was the home base for the race.  The day ended up being unseasonably warm, but it was still nice to be able to go inside (and use their bathrooms) while waiting for the race to start.  It was especially nice to be able to enjoy our free beers inside Rira’s after the race.  (Not exactly free – included with the $35 race registration fee – but still delicious.)

The start line was about a quarter mile away from Rira’s right where the trail first crosses the Narrow Gauge Railroad tracks.  We ran about a mile and a half out to just past the graffiti wall near the sewage treatment plant and turned around and came back.  It’s a pretty course with views of the ocean the entire time.  I even think the graffiti wall is cool.  Here’s a picture from a year or so ago.

The artwork keeps changing.  And thank goodness there’s no snow yet.

Three of us set a PR which was really exciting.

Photo Courtesy of Maine Running Photos

Actually, at least five of us set a PR, since it was a first time race for a couple people.  By the time we all finished the race, Rira’s was packed, but we managed to push our way up to the bar and get our beer.  The line for the brunch (also included in the entry fee) was all the way up the stairs, so we enjoyed our beers while waiting for the line to get a little shorter.

In the meantime, we started to see people walking by with their plates full of brunch food.  It didn’t look terrible but didn’t look worth the wait either, so we decided to move on to a less crowded place.  We hit up The Porthole and ended up having their backroom (used to be The Comedy Connection) all to ourselves.  I opted to drink my breakfast and had a delicious Bloody Mary, and we all had a great time chatting and joking reveling in our race accomplishments.

Overall, here are my thoughts on the race:

Best Parts

• Great ocean view
• Good location, easy walk into town
• Festive mood
• Having a warm restaurant as home base.  It was really crowded both before and after the race, but it seemed to actually run pretty smoothly.  The race directors and Rira’s had obviously worked out the process for allocating the free beers, checking id’s, etc.
• Great photos by Maine Running Photos
• Being able to see my friends on the out and back course

Complaints

• The race web-site says that the race has “Automatic timing” which I took to mean chip timing.  It was timed by a timing company but was not chip timed.  It doesn’t matter a whole lot in a small-ish race (400 people in this one, so not that small), but I had told my friends who were doing their first 5K that it didn’t matter where they started because it would be chip-timed.
• The race t-shirt was light blue.  I was hoping for something more Christmas-y (like red), since this was a holiday-themed race.
• No age group prizes.