On Saturday, September 28th, 2013 I ran the Oktoberfest 10K in Boonton, NJ.

Short version: If you are looking for a report that has a lot of info about a well-executed race plan, good racing, and PRs, you can stop at the short version lol. I did this race for fun, it was not a goal race.....and yes, I did it in costume. It was, however, a goal race for my dad, and it was fun to share that with him....it was his first 10K and he has been working hard all summer to train for it! We had an absolute blast, so if theme races and running just for fun is interesting to you, read on! My official time was 1:08:22, a PW time for me in a 10K. And that is completely ok with me! In fact, if I had PRed I would have been mad at myself because I have my first half in 2 weeks that is my goal race this year and I wouldn't have wanted to jeopardize that in any way. My only goal was to have fun, and be a part of my dad's first 10K...goals met! (ok and I kind of wanted to win the costume contest)

Long Version

Tech Free by Accident: I must be going for an award for most forgetful runner on the planet. I went to my boyfriend's last weekend, who lives in Maryland, and did some running there. I left my Garmin charger/computer connector there, and didn't realize it until I finished a run Tuesday night and my Garmin was yelling at me for low battery the last 2 miles of it. He found it in his house and mailed it out Wednesday, but it had not arrived by the time I left for work Friday morning, and I was heading to my parents' house in NJ right from work Friday night. So...... I was going to be racing GARMIN FREE. And then, I got to my parents' house on Friday night and realized my iPod was almost dead so I stuck it on my mom's charger. ANNNND left it in my parent's bedroom when I left for the race. DOH! So I would also be racing IPOD FREE for the first time ever....I have never even done a training run without my iPod...I'm kind of obsessed with music and love rocking out on runs. OOPS. So I was forced into a tech free race for the first time ever. I would have panicked if it were a goal race, but since I was just looking to have fun, I went with it and didn't stress too much. I made the best of it. I did bring my cell phone and put on the Map My Run app just so I could see my time and splits afterward out of morbid curiosity, but it was buried deep in my costume in a pocket in my compression shorts under my dirndl (when you see the pics below you will understand) so I didn't check it once during the course....my time was a complete and total surprise at the end and I had no concept of my pace throughout, which was a but unnerving but almost kind of fun since I am definitely a Garmin watcher while I race.

Background: I have run in five 10Ks before, but this would be my dad's first. He began running in the spring to train for the Giants 5K in June  to be able to run that race with me (we are HUGE Giants fans). He pulled a calf muscle towards the end of that race and didn't do as well as he wanted to so he told me to find another fun 5K for him to get another crack at it. We ran the MLB All-Star 5K at the end of July, and he did much better, and told me to find a fall 10K for him to train for. I found out about this race and knew it was perfect for us. This race was Oktoberfest themed, and costumes were highly encouraged, and a prize would be given for best German or Beer themed costume. 4 years ago in 2009, my dad and I took a Eurotrip together after I graduated with my Masters degree . Our final city was Munich and we went to Oktoberfest on my 24th birthday. It was an amazing experience and something my dad and I hold dear, because it was probably the most fun thing we've ever done. I actually met my boyfriend there, so Oktoberfest really holds a special place in my heart. We went to Oktoberfest 2 nights while there, and the first night we realized we were very out of place there in our jeans and T-shirts, as ALMOST EVERYONE had traditional German Oktoberfest clothes on....men in Lederhosen and women in Dirndls. So we went shopping the next day before we went back to the fairgrounds and bought me a real German Dirndl. Real ones are very different from the short, slutty USA costume shop ones....they are not short, they are all knee length or ankle length. Here's a few pics of us at "real" Oktoberfest 4 years ago:

ANYWAY.....so I have the dirndl and it FINALLY FITS AGAIN (I gained 20 pounds between 2009 and 2012 and when I was going to wear it for Halloween last year I was devastated to find it not zipping.....but I lost those 20 pounds since I began running and it fits again!) so I knew I just had to wear if for the race, even if it was going to be uncomfortable. And he decided to wear his Oktoberfest T-shirt and hat he had bought in Munich for the race....because why not?

Pre-Race: Drove to my parents' house in NJ after work on Friday so my dad and I could go together on Saturday. I wore just above knee length black compression shorts and a white tech shirt and put my dirndl on over it, hoping it wouldn't be torture to run in. I let the corset out all the way and tied it very loosely so I could breathe. I had ordered tall socks that looked like beer in a mug and said "Run For Beer" on the back off of goneforarun.com because I thought they were perfect for the race. Did my hair in 2 French braids to get the traditional "German freuline/Oktoberfest girl" look. Had one cup of coffee and my traditional pre-race breakfast of toast, PB and banana, hydrated with water and Gatorade, and off we went. We left at 8:40 for a 10:30 race start time, the race was about 45 minutes away. We got there in plenty of time thankfully, because parking was really far from registration, and we found out there was no bag check (what?!) so had to go all the way back to the car to put our bags in it, and then back, and the portajohn lines were really long. I had to run from the portapotty to the starting line!

Before leaving for the race:

At the race:

Run For Beer socks:

The Race: It was a beautiful day, sunny and mid 60s at start going up to low 70s and almost no humidity. The course was a loop, with an overlap in the last 2 miles with miles 0-2 being the same as 4-6.2, and the finish line being the same as the starting line. It started and finished in a big park, and ran around the surrounding neighborhoods and past a few farms. The course was pretty hilly, with the steepest hill having to be run twice, right after the mile 1 marker and right after mile 5 marker. The big pull of the race was a 5 hour Oktoberfest bbq celebration after the race finished offering Paulaner Oktoberfest beer on tap, along with a few other beer options, giant pretzels, Bratwurst, and burgers. The festival was open to non-racers and was very well attended, so there was great crowd support at the finish. There were 634 10K finishers. There was also a Relay option where the first runner ran 4.2 miles and the 2nd runner ran the last 2, to make the race more family friendly....a lot of people had their kids running the 2nd leg of the relay. I believe there were about 50 relay teams in addition to the 10K runners.

As I said, I was running Garmin free and iPod free for the first time, but was determined just to go with it and have fun. I decided to run with my dad. He kept insisting I should run my own race and try for a PR but I didn't want to do that. He later thanked me for running with him, he really appreciated it. My dad and I train at about the same pace,  but I have the ability to turn it up a few notches on race day, whereas he just hasn't gotten there yet. So even though we both train between 11:00 and 12:00 minute miles, I tend to race in the high 9s/low 10s when I am "racing" but he can't push himself much faster than 10:30-11:00. Especially for this race, it was at the very edge of his fitness ability, and he has dealt with a lot of injuries during training so he was terrified of pulling something during the race. He pulled his calf during the Giants 5K and pulled a hamstring a month ago during a 5 mile training run with me on vacation in Miami. He wanted to start slow-ish and then try to pick it up if possible. Worked for me!

The photographer was standing atop the hill that we ran in both the first and 5th mile, here we were passing the first time:

At around 4.5 miles or so, my dad's hamstring and calf were starting to bother him, and he needed a porta potty break. He told me not to wait for him to come out of the bathroom that he would see me at the finish. I went slow anyway hoping he could catch up. There was a water stop at mile 5-ish that I tried to go through really slowly, I walked and drank some water and kept looking for him but I couldn't see him so I disappointingly decided just to run. As it turns out he was really hurting when he came out of the bathroom, so he slowed down considerably and jog/hobbled through the rest and walked the hills .

2nd time past the photographers, both of us alone :

(when I saw the photographer I waved and gave thumbs up, but looks like she caught me either right before or after that)

I finished the race in 1:08:22, which was a PW but meh.

My dad finished in 1:13:56, unfortunately losing 5 minutes in the last mile and a half or so due to the porta potty break and major slow down because of his calf and hamstring. He was disappointed with that, but really, really proud of himself for finishing. He never thought he would be able to run 6.2 miles!

Our finish line photos:

I didn't see any splits til after the race when I got out my phone and saw what Map My Run had recorded. Here they are:

Mile 1: 9:58 (I guess we didn't start as "slow" as we thought as this was our fastest mile! oops)

Mile 2: 10:36

Mile 3: 10:40

Mile 4: 10:44

Mile 5: 11:12 (this was the mile my dad and I split and I had slowed down for a bit hoping he'd catch up)

Mile 6: 10:58

Last .42 (according to my phone): 4:22/ 9:47 pace

Average pace according to Map My Run with a 6.42 mile run: 10:41

Average pace according to official results: 11:00

Post-Race: THE BEST PART.....Paulaner Oktoberfest beer and food

Sadly, I did not win Best Costume, which I was hoping for. A girl who was wearing the slutty American costume shop version of my outfit did. Oh well. There were a lot of people dressed up though so competition was steep. For fun, here are a few of the pictures of other people in costumes I ripped from the race photo website:

Swag: a nice tech shirt!

My dad originally right after we finished said he wants to retire from running....that he is too injury prone and not meant for it. A few hours later, though, he was saying he was disappointed in his time and wishes he would have gotten below 1:10 and thinks he could probably get below 1:05 and wants to rehab his injuries and train for another one! Atta boy!

Thanks for reading!

sorry your dad was having so much trouble.

Looks like a fun time and I think you should have won the contest for sure!!

That looks like a fun race.  I haven't been to Oktoberfest since the early 90s, but I had a blast back then.  I don't remember the locals being dressed in traditional Bavarian garb, but I don't remember as much as I should from that night.  You look great in your dirndl.  I'm glad it fits again.  I recently found some pants hidden deep in my closet that hadn't fit me in 10 years. Yes, they fit again.  I love running.

Thanks guys! I love having races that are no pressure and just for fun sometimes, I would say this one was the most fun of all of them!

Scotty- his biggest issue, actually comes when he slows down or stops while running and tries to start up again. During the Giants 5K he pulled his calf when he slowed down at the water stop and then tried to accelerate again. When he pulled his hamstring on our training run, we had to run around a construction zone on the boardwalk and had to slow to basically a walk/slow jog, and pulled it right when trying to speed up again. This race the calf and hammy started really hurting when he started running again after he stopped for the bathroom . Not sure if the run/walk would work for him given that but I am going to suggest it to him!

Best. Race. Costume. Ever. 

An authentic dirndl paired with those socks, the judges were clearly biased towards cheap slutty Halloween costumes.

I was disappointed to miss our local Oktoberfest 5K and an opportunity to race in my Deutschland jersey, so your report makes me happy.

Good stuff.

Sounds like fun!  Your pics remind me of my trip to Munich during Oktoberfest last year.  Love the pics!

You and your dad looked fantastic in your authentic German wear.  I especially love that you included pics from Munich.  I'm sorry the race didn't go as well as y'all hoped.  I think you should have won the costume contest, but it looks like you still ended up having fun.

I'm with Scotty, real German judges would have given you the win in the costume contest for sure!  Sounds like a really fun time!

I wonder if your dad would be willing to try to train at a slower pace?  I wonder if he's "racing" his training runs, which might be why he is struggling with injuries?