2017 Jailhouse Brewing 5K - Race Report

Saturday, May 13th 2017 was the date of the 7th annual Jailhouse Brewing 5K race in Hampton, Georgia.  This race is an evening event that starts at 6 p.m. in the heart of the bustling metropolis that is Hampton, Georgia. My buddy Jim Macie and I have run a few races together over the years. This time we were lucky enough to have my wife Susan and our friend Carla join us. This wasn't just a race though. It had the special attraction of being a race followed by beer. It was well attended. My co-worker Jay and his wife Alice were also there. Jay took these pictures - thanks Jay. Jay's wife Alice also raced. She finished with a solid 1st place in her age-group with a very respectable time of 25:00.

Carla, Jim, Susan and I

Revolution Running provided the timing; clock only - no chip. Registration was through the website http://www.revolutionrunning.net/ which links to ultrasignup.com/ where the results are also posted.

Awards are presented for the Overall Male/Female and Masters Male/Female finishers. The Revolution Running website indicated the age group awards were presented to male/female in the following age groups: 10 & under, 11-19, 20-24, 25-29, 30-34, 35-39, 40-44, 45-49, 50-54, 55-59, and 60 & over. However, the actual results indicated the age-groups were in 10 year increments: under 20, 20-29, 30-39, 40-49, 450-59, 60-69, and 70+. The race ends near where it started at Jailhouse Brewing in downtown Hampton where, if you're old enough and paid the $13 fee, you can enjoy 36 oz of refreshing cold Jailhouse beer. You get a wristband at registration/packet pickup to get runners into the brewery tour. Only 225 wristbands are sold so Susan and I bought ours when we registered online about a month before the race.

The Jailhouse Brewing tour includes a pint glass and 3 pours. It's good beer so it didn't take much arm twisting to get me to join in. After the race, of course.

Jailhouse Brewing 5K Race Start

The course was flat on a route that was pretty much out and back. There is one little hill near the turn-around loop. There are no rest stops on the course. That was fine for me but I'm sure some of the other runners would have liked a cup of water or something. There was water at the end of the race. Just as the time-keepers got your time someone handed me a bottle of water. It wasn't cold but...

I pushed my stubby hobbit legs hard to finish the race 18th overall and 3rd place in the 50 - 59 age-group with a 21:46 finish time.

Jim finished 2nd in the 70+ age-group in 40:18.

Jim and I both won Jailhouse Brewing growlers.

My Jailhouse Brewing growler award and Susan and my pint glass

Susan finished in 3rd place in her age-group. Her time was 49:19. Carla finished in 40:56.

We all took home Jailhouse Brewing t-shirts. Kudos to all of us.

Race t-shirt front side artwork

Race t-shirt backside artwork

This is a fun little race that's close to home and they have beer. Need I say more?

Thanks for reading.

Zwift Pain Cave Setup

I've been riding my bike on the trainer for quite a while now, about 3 years. During that time I've had three separate "pain caves" as they're affectionately called in cycling circles. That's just a cheeky name for a space in a room, basement, garage, or anywhere where one can ride one's bike indoors. My first setup was in the the partially finished space of my basement in a previous home. Then while I was having the basement renovation completed I moved my operation upstairs to a spare bedroom. Finally, my third and best ever pain cave setup is ready to show to the world. We down-sized and moved into a smaller home in May of 2016. The new home has a basement as well but it's unfinished and wholly unsuitable for anything but storage. With the approval of my wife I converted a spare bedroom into my I love me room, as she calls it.

The 10' by 11' room features a, homemade shelf along an entire wall for awards and medals, Amazon Basics 5-shelf shelving unit with plastic bins for cycling, running, and swimming gear, 2 racks with hooks for helmets and hydration belts, a bench to sit on, small table, tv small cabinet, Whitmor 6267-13 organizer collection over-the-door shoe organizer for water bottles and sunglasses, 2 CycleOps Fluid dumb bike trainers, each with a bike for me or my wife, 2 fans (1 Lasko 3637 remote control air flexor floor/wall mount fan and 1 similar non-remote control fan), a Bikehand pro mechanic bicycle repair stand with a homemade laptop computer tray, and a foam floor mat covering much of the hardwood floors in the room. I also have a Vibrelli universal bike cellphone mount, Plantronics BackBeat FIT wireless bluetooth headphones which replaced my TaoTronics TT-BH06 BL bluetooth wireless earphones, and CliC adjustable front connect reading glasses. I have 2 Tripp Lite 7 outlet (6 individually controlled) surge protector power strips and an old computer monitor for video streaming or use as a larger display for Zwift. My WiFi router is also located in the same room. I purchased 4 nice 18"by 24" poster-sized picture frames of which I've used 2 to frame Ironman triathlon posters I received at previous races. The other 2 frames are mounted but haven't been used yet. I've been looking for the right poster. A digital clock and analog scale round out the room's accouterments. All that in such a small room means that there's not much room for anything else.

Awards on the "I love me" wall

Shelves and bins for everything

Bikes and gear

The cockpit with laptop, cellphone, Zwift shortcut list, and fan remote close by

To be thorough I'll include a few additional comments about some of my gear. I replaced the inexpensive TaoTronics earphones with the Plantronics equivalent because the longer strap on the Tao's always flopped to one side. It was irritating. The Vibrelli cellphone mount works well but without a hinged clamp it feels like I'm going to break it when I stretch it open to fit around my handlebars. It hasn't broken though. The $90 BikeHand repair stand works great and performs a dual purpose of providing a stable platform for my laptop and a bike holder when I need it.

The only things I might add are of course a smart trainer, a new smart TV, and a new more powerful laptop to run the Zwift App. I think I'll stick with what I've got for now though. It seems to be working since my Cheaha Challenge Ultra race results were much better than me or anyone else had expected.

And before I go I'll add images of the routes available on the Zwift Watopia course. As Zwift continues to improve their platform they add small changes that make the experience even better. Recently they added route maps at the start so riders can choose the map that best suites their needs. That's nice because previously I had to guess and usually opted for the Surprise Me route.

1 - Volcano Circuit

2 - The Pretzel

3 - Hilly Route

4 - Mountain Route

5 - Mountain 8

6 - Figure 8

7 - Flat Route

8 - Volcano Circuit CCW

9 - Volcano Flat

10 - Group Riders Nearby

11 - Surprise Me

Of course I haven't even included the various routes on the Richmond and London courses.

And I organized my closet too. All bike and running related stuff in the same place.

A cleaned-out and organized closet

Thanks for reading.