Cork Town St Pats 4 mile race

31:04 (according to my watch) 7:34 pace - standing in line for a 2nd free beer :)

*Edit: Final race results: Melanie: 38:32 (9:38 pace) - Me: 30:58 (7:45 pace).

The race was good. Taking off at the starting line was the same congestion you see at most races. I had to weave around a few people for the first half mile to finally settle in a comfortable pace. My first mile was around 7:06, so I knew I had to slow up some or I wouldn't be able to maintain a decent pace. The race took us right downtown, around campus martias and back again to cork town park. The way back was rough, but hearing people cheer was actually motivating. I also could smell beer in the air, since the bars were letting people spill out onto the sidewalks and drink for the day. I rounded the corner and saw the finish line and started to speed up. I couldn't bring myself to a full sprint at first, but managed to about the last 50 ft. or so, which paid off. My goal was to break 31:00 - and I did it. By two seconds, but still.. goal accomplished!!

Free beer was cool after the race. At first, I didn't want anything to do with it.. but I downed a water, and then the beer sounded good. They were serving Detroit Dwarf - by Detroit Brewing Co. Very nice touch giving out Michigan beer, I thought they were going to hand out coors light or something.

After our free beers, we met Aaron and Kevin at Slows. The place was hopping and Stone Brewing was there on the patio selling some awesome beers. They had a new one, that hasn't come to Michigan yet called Levitation. The streets were full of people drinking, walking around with open beers, etc. It was like the cops let everyone have a free-for-all for one day.

We watched some of the parade which was basically a bunch of bands, bagpipers and small floats. We had a great time though, I have some videos I recorded of it, but haven't put them up yet.

We went to Fort St. on the way home so Melanie could get her sour kraut balls. We went back to the DRB and had a few beers, played cornhole and teased Dan for missing his final playoff hockey game (he showed up an hour late for it). The Irish stew came out awesome too, definitely a keeper recipe. More pics here.