Wurst 5 Miler

This is a great 5 mile race in New Braunfels, Texas. New Braunfels is a town with a rich German heritage and anually hold Wurstfest; the Ten Day Salute to the Sausage.

About 600 runners now show up for this event which has been going on for over 2 decades. Afterwards there is plenty of sausage, beer and polka. Awards and hand crafted ceramic mugs which come in handy for the tap beer.

For the last three years I pushed my daughter in a stroller. Anyone who has ever pushed one of those in a race knows you do not get an advantage downhill but it is brutal uphill. I knew I would get in trouble when I hit the first mile mark in 5:29. I still had a long uphill and a couple of smaller ones ahead. I was in 5th place but 6th was right there with me. Everytime we went up a hill he would take a lead but I would get it back on the flats. But the last uphill was with about a half mile to go. He pulled ahead of me then started his kick. I could match his pace but not catch him.

Ended with about a :28:55 and 6th overall. First in my age group so I still got a beer mug.

Congratulations on the great finish! Thanks for the report. So are you saying you pushed your daughter in a stroller for this race too? Fantastic time overall but if you were pushing a stroller - wow.

For my first marathon (Utah's St. George Marathon) I pushed my son in a stroller while training, including the longest runs of 20+ miles with plenty of uphill stretches. So I can relate and attest to the difficulty! The difficulty multiplies (exponentially, it feels like) the steeper the uphill.

For the race I didn't push the stroller -- and it felt strange after all those miles of training with one. In fact, I wonder if training with a stroller was a detriment, causing me to train with different running form, because I got a slight muscle injury and didn't perform as well relative to my wife who trained with me (of course, I realize anything can happen in a race performance-wise and my wife is a better runner anyway).