Dogfish Dash 2011
This weekend held my absolute favorite road race, the 2011 Dogfish Dash 5K/10K! I ran it last year as my first 10K and returned to take on the 10K distance again. The race is held in the town of Milton where the brewery is located and the proceeds benefit the Delaware chapter of the Nature Conservancy. The race this year was increased to 1750 runners and it is now the biggest 5K/10K combo race in Delaware!
Scott and I loaded up the car yesterday and once we crossed state lines into Delaware, I cracked open a “road beer” (this is legal in DE for passengers). Don’t worry, I was discreet! Festina Peche in a Phillies koozie.
We got down to Rehoboth a little after 6pm and I checked in and got my race stuff. Scott went over and bought a wrist band for the after party as non-racers can pay $10 to enjoy the brews. I ducked into the brewpub to see how long the wait was and as expected it was at least 2.5 hours (the wait was much less earlier in the day). No biggie, though, and we went next door to Finbar’s and got a seat at a bar table after about five to six minutes. While waiting for a table to clear, we ordered an Evolution Jaques Au Lantern. It has a major kick of spices without really any sweetness, we liked this change of pace from the usual pumpkin beers. It was delicious!
I played it safe with dinner and ordered a chicken sandwich with red peppers and brie and paired that with a simple side salad with ranch dressing. Happy to report the meal was a success for my tummy and I had NO heartburn this time around!
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Sunday we got up around 6:30am and partook in the free breakfast at the hotel. I got a mini western omelet and a bagel with PB.
It really hit the spot. I also had a small glass of apple juice, took a lemon sublime Gu, and had a small cup of coffee (caffeine really helps offset muscle fatigue and soreness for me). We got to the race about 15 min before gun time and found parking with ease.
The weather was cloudy, a little warm, and the only precipitation we got was a little mist that went away quickly. I found my spot behind the starting line and waited for the announcements. Sam Calagione was there this year and spoke to the runners before doing the countdown and blowing the whistle to start! I’m not going to lie, I’d probably get a little star struck if I met him. 
At 8:00 am we were off and running through the town! Miles 1-2 felt pretty good, but I could tell it was majorly humid and making it hard to get good breathing down. I made sure to grab water at the first stop. Energy felt pretty good. At mile 3 I took a brief walk at the water station nearby to catch my breath. Humidity was killing me! Mile 4 was more pushing. I forgot the small but still tough inclines Milton had, but my Garmin showed I was still making great time! Mile 5 came and I was so happy we were nearly done. I could almost taste the Punkin Ale waiting for me. I walked one or two more times before the end then came in for the home stretch to the finish!
Smile! You’re almost there! 
Phew! I remember at one point during the race thinking, “You JUST ran a half, this should not feel hard!” But, no matter how much energy you have, if you’re not getting good amount of oxygen in your system you’re going to feel it. Instead of pre-packaged bottled water they handed us a cool reusable one already filled. My official chip time was 55:32! A new PR! That’s twice in one week! I felt pretty awesome although majorly out of breath!
Not too bad on the splits. You can see how the humidity really started to affect my times. But, still majorly happy with it! Once I cooled down we got in line to grab our first beer and of course went with the fan favorite Punkin Ale.
Cheers to beer! Ignore my post-race tomato face.
As you can see in the background, there were major amounts of people at the after party. They had a tent area with the sponsors and a live band, (Reedo and the Front Porch Offering) so we checked that out.
Prizes for the winners. Sadly, I knew I wasn’t placing in the 20-29 age group. Maybe one day I’ll place in one of the races I do. After checking out the tent, we got back in line for another beer and never ended up getting one. The setup looked pretty much the same size as last year, but they majorly increased the runners (which meant guest increase). After about 20 min of the huge line going nowhere, we decided to hit the store instead. I picked up a cute tee and got Scott a fitted cap. We also took pics of the coolest treehouse ever.
We were a little bummed about not getting another beer. The lines were just too much. Luckily, DFH is a company full of great people who appreciate their fans to the nth degree. I received this reply on Twitter.
I just cannot say enough good things about this brewery and the people who work there. I’m so happy our 10 year reunion is being held at the brewpub a couple months from now. 
We got home just in time to watch the Eagles make a total collapse. Ugh. We’re going to forget about that now. Here’s the stuff I got from the race (like that distraction?). We got a sweet crewneck tee.
The 19 oz reusable water bottle (that folds!).
A couple magazines. One I may have to purchase a subscription. Pretty sure you can guess which one.
We also got a couple writing utensils and a really awesome poster of the Chicory Stout artwork. I’ll be getting that framed soon! I’m so glad I was able to come back to this race and cannot wait for the next one. Yes, the beer lines weren’t great, but the organizers have shown they are going to look into that for next year. You can be sure I’ll be running it, lines or not! Many, many thanks to the AMAZING people of Dogfish Head for planning such a great race!
Posted on 25 September 2011, in Uncategorized and tagged 10K race, dogfish dash 2011, dogfish head, race recap, running. Bookmark the permalink. 34 Comments.
nice work lady!!!!!!!!! and a verrrrry appropriate headband
Indeed! I was secretly hoping it’d get me front page somewhere, hah!
So awesome – congrats girl!!!
Wooo thanks!
Good job, girl!! That’s awesome, you should be really proud.
Also I love your sneakers.
Thanks! They’re the Nike LunarGlide+ II I ran my first half in (and I picked out the colors). No arch issues so I think these may go back to being my longer run shoes. The NBs hurt on anything more than 4 miles.
looks like an awesome race!! I’m a fan of races when you get beer at the end.
You did an awesome job!!
Thanks, girl! Hopefully next year we’ll get more beer than we did this year.
It was still tons of fun!
Good job!! It sounds like this was an awesome race to run!
I thought that treehouse was pretty cool too! Love your sneakers!
Thanks! I haven’t worn them in a while and I think I fell back in love.
Look at you go! Congrats on the PR. I’m loving that race t-shirt too.
I need to shrink it in the wash, but if not it’ll definitely be a motivating workout tee!
Great job, sis! I’m so proud! And I love this blog you have going on here; I didn’t know you had one! I met Sam at the Employee Appreciation Day early this September at Jungle Jiims (Nick, my bf, works at Dogfish and I was his guest….#craftbeerdrinkingdownthelazyriver) and even I was a nervous to be in his presence!
Anners! I thought Zoe had told you.
I’m jealous of that party! You’ll have to make a trek up to our house soon. We have SO much beer! Also, Victory is going to do another Ladies’ Only beer pairing at their brewery in Downingtown. Not sure on the date yet but it’ll be a weeknight at 6pm and will be beer & chocolate! I’ll let you know so you can come! 
Awesome job! It looks like it was such a fun time and it seems like a race that I would love to run!
You should definitely try to come next year!
Nice job on the race! And I know what you mean about race lines. Often, my friends and I skip and just have breakfast or whatever elsewhere- it’s more relaxing…
Last year Scott was able to breeze through and obtain three beers, so it was definitely a new thing to have long lines. I’m glad they recognized this already and put it at the top of the list to fix.
This seriously looks like such a great race!! I definitely need to sign up for a fun race like this!
You definitely should!
Woo! Hoo! Congrats on the PR.
That is a sweet treehouse!
If we ever have land I will totally want to build one like that.
That race looks like so much fun!! It was SO humid last weekend. I thought the same thing during my run. We got so lucky that the weather for the half was so perfect!!! You were still super speedy though!!!
Thanks! Yeah the humidity was killer!
Congrats on the PR! I was really wanting to run that race, but I had a work event this past weekend… lame.
You’ll have to do it next year! It sold out super fast this year so I’ll be sure to let people know when it opens up.
How fun!!! Great time and of course you look adorable!!!!
Aw thanks, girl! It was such a great race!
What a fun race and your sneaks are awesome!! I’m glad you had a good time!
Thanks, girl! I picked the colors myself. I wanted something really loud, lol!
Nice job on your race! I just found your blog, and I really like it.
That tree house is amazing!
Thanks and glad you like the blog!
Thanks for coming down and running the 10K again! Glad you and your man had a great time. Hope to see you next year! (And yes, that was quite an Eagles meltdown, wasn’t it?)
You can be sure I’ll be there! I wouldn’t miss it! And let’s forget about that meltdown. Ugh! It killed my fantasy team, too.