Sausage Stampede (Oct 8, 2006)

The one thing I always forget about Elgin, is it ain’t Manor. It’s 20 miles further east. Therefore, I am invariably 20 minutes late. The Sausage Stampede, a 5K for the advancement of all things sausage...actually the Elgin chamber and a cancer research fund...found my way to my race calendar quite by accident. I had planned on running the Hairy Man in Round Rock on the 14th, but along with being directionally challenged I apparently can’t read a calendar. The hairy man being on the next weekend, the sausage stampede became my race of choice.I rolled 290 east out of Austin, fully aware most of the shell stations refused to open before 9:00am...there must be some problem with coffee being brewed in east Travis county, who knows, blue law? I'd hoped to find a way to feed my caffeine dependence in route in Manor. No luck.No 7/11, no reliable conveinance stores in route. Minus 5 points for this race. Plus...the aforementioned problem with its deceptive distance from the 787 zip...oh yeah, that’s my prob.Anyway, feeling a little rushed and undercaffeinated, I found Elgin. The race was a rectangular route around historic downtown. I registered 30 minutes before start time, finding Evil and the RunFar crew...but surprisingly few runners. The check-in volunteers were all super sweet women, who were militantly rationing safety pins for the race numbers. Only one per racer. Wow. People were improvising...folding numbers on one side and tucking them into their shorts. One woman just ran with hers in her hand, like a hanky. They were sweet about it, and I guess it gave the race some small town charm...musta been a run on safety pins at the Wal-Mart.What is nice, is that Elgin still feels like Elgin. It hasn’t californized, or austintationized...whatever... itself yet. UnLike Liberty Hill and Seward’s Junction, it still feels like a small town. Not greater Generica. Plus 5 points. Must be that extra 20 miles. I know it confused me, maybe it has thrown everybody off.On to the race.I had thought a bunch of Austin runners were doing this dude, but the only folks I knew at the start were Mike Burton and his wife Sara. I warmed up and toed the line about third row. At the gun, Mike was about 8th and I stayed about 10 feet behind him till the first turn. TOO FAST. One kid shot off the front and took some high school hotshots with him. In the pack I only saw 3 what I considered legitimate runners. Guys that looked controlled. We made the turn at about 600 meters, and as we turned to head north, back up town for the long straight, 3 of the high schoolers broke. Burton broke a couple of more and by a mile (for me a 5:31...Shit, still too fast) it was this one kid way out front, 300 meters in front of Burton, Burton, this guy Mario and me, plus about 4 guys close to me. Mario had about 50 meters on me. The weather was 68 to 70, overcast and damp but not super humid. Air felt decent. The leg was about a mile and a quarter long, slow incline with a downhill charge to the turn that you had to climb back up to get the the long downhillish, flat finish. I felt okay. Burton was trying to reel in the rabbit, and he was fading, but not by much. Mario was strong and steady, but I was slowly making up ground. As we made the turn for home and started the climb, I caught Mario, but only just. As we crested the hill and headed home I could still hear him. He could close, but not hold. I held him off till the end, then sprinted the line. Clipped the line in 17:35, a PR by more than a minute, and in 3rd overall. First old fart.Afterwards they had bottled dasani, ice cold in tubs and powerade. Plus out on the square, free Elgin sausage, a keg of beer, nothing like Budlite at 9:30 in the morning, and a moonwalk for the kiddos.Awards were nicely done finisher type medals, with what division you won. But they were all the same, first second or third. And it only took them about 45 minutes to get to the results.Everybody was super nice, and nobody associated with event left. They all hung around and clapped for all the finishers and the awards.So how does it rank?Course: Rocks, flat by Austin standards, good for testing your VO2 and getting what I'd call a McMillan-type time. Do the race, use your time, check the chart. If the weather ain’t super shitty, it’s a good gauge.No coffee. 7-11 not a sponser. Elgin sausage is a lot of peoples favorite. Makes me burp.Love the small time charm.Winning is like rose colored glasses. Everything looks okay when you PR and get hardware.