Race Recap: Mustache Dache 5K

Saturday November 17th I ran in the 1st Annual Seattle Mustache Dache.  It's a 5K race to benefit Movember, aimed to raise money for awareness and treatment for Prostate Cancer.  This is DEFINITELY a fun way to get people moving and involved in a cause, by making the source of the fundraising jovial and light.  EVERYONE was encouraged to wear mustaches during the race and festivities, costumes were highly encouraged!  I'm never one to intentionally draw attention to myself, but for some reason I really wanted to dress up in costume for the run, I felt compelled for some reason.

I LOVED the bib design!  Wasn't it just so much fun!?!

I was especially excited about this race because I was getting to meet up with some local blogger ladies, some again and most for the first time!  It is always so intriguing to meet people in real life whom you only know through words on a page.  See their characteristics, their demeanor, how they carry themselves and how they treat others.  People watching is very interesting to me, though they were probably thinking I was stand-offish.  But I digress.

The rain held off for the morning which was nice because most of where the race route was would be through mud and fields, that could have made for a pretty nasty run.  This fun run could have easily turned into a Mud Run! HA!  I wore a costume that had a fun mustache that conveniently clipped to my nose and miraculously did not fall off when I ran!

 

There was quite a lot of people at the race, the start area was PACKED with people! It was crazy!!

 

Fun touches were all over the place.  From the signs to the mechanical bull, to the giant hairy 5 foot long mustache you could pose with, it was just a fun time!

The race was fairly flat, some dips and low grade inclines, but nothing bad at all.  The terrain was a bit muddy in spots, but it kept mostly to a trail that was either paved or a rocky walk way.  There was one HUGE bottle neck about .5 miles in where everyone screeched to a stop and walked for a bit because the trail had narrowed so much it was only two by two space across that part of the trail.  I think that messed with a bunch of people's times!

 There were some great costumes.

And some non-existent costumes.  Was his made out of invisible thread?

I kept a pretty even pace and just enjoyed myself.  I was treating this as a fun run, but running up to speed as much as I could, I certainly wasn't racing this.  I think I would have been more full out if I was racing this for sure, but I was mostly just taking in the fun aspects of the run and enjoying a new trail/route I've never been on before.  It was quite nice.  Then as I was getting closer to the finish I pushed it just a bit more, I wanted to stop, but I was SO CLOSE.  So I pushed on, then as I was approaching the finish line, I saw the photographers taking those horrible finish line pictures.  

These were my pictures from the finish, they aren't stellar, but then again when are race pictures good.  They were free to download (yay!) and the first time I'll actually have race pictures on a race recap, go figure.  Oh and what was my costume?  Why...I was the Swedish Chef!

 

This was approaching the finish line.

 

See the intense look on my face!  I was determined to finish strong, I wasn't going to stop for anything.

Not even for a smile!  I just look confused here though.

 

At the finish, all sweaty (sorry, I mean glistening) holding my finish line Refuel chocolate milk (my recovery fave!) and a box of Zico coconut water (not pictured, but another of my recovery faves!).  I got people commenting on my costume throughout the whole time at the race, all positive but not quite getting who I was until the very end when a guy standing there with his kids took one look at me and said "Swedish Chef!".  I thanked him and told him he was the only one who'd guessed right the entire day.  Too funny.

All the bloggers had met up again at the end to talk a bit about the race and most were getting together for brunch.  I didn't want to intrude on their gathering so I headed home to watch the UW Football game (which they won, just in case you were curious).  But not before we took a great picture!

Borrowed from Sarah's Twitter

It was really great meeting all these ladies, I felt empowered by them, humbled by their accomplishments and motivated to go after my own goals.  These ladies are great and I hope to get to know them better in the future!

The real shocker of the day came when I got home and checked the results.  My time had been posted online already, boy they were fast putting those up!  This was my first 5K since my last one in April where my official time had been 40:47.  When I checked my time I was so excited I was jumping up and down, literally!  My official time for this 5K was 35:31, not only did I PR, but I beat my previous time by 5 minutes and 16 seconds!  WOOHOO!!!  SO STOKED!  Not only did I have fun running this race, but I also brought home a PR, that makes this race a win-win in my book!

I was skeptical at first about running this race and I did it only because there was a coupon deal for the entry (and I was going to meet up with some great blogger ladies), but I think I'm sold on this race.  The race was put together really well, the location was beautiful, the vendors were awesome and the theme couldn't have been more fun.  It encouraged people to have fun and be silly, what's not to love.  Would I run this race again?  Heck yeah I would!  And I would encourage anyone else I could to sign up for it as well, it was just that much fun!