RED Episode 282 Runcation Recap with Cheryl: Marine Corps 17.75K Dedicated to Eric William Miller

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Hi , this is Cheryl from the Runcation Nation and you're listening to the Run Eat Drink podcast from the Runcation .

Nation and you're listening to the Run Eat Drink podcast . Welcome to the Run Eat Drink podcast . We feature destination races from across the country and after the race , we take you on a tour of the best local food and beverage to celebrate .

And so is the Not so Live studio audience , right , guys ?

studio audience . Right , guys , Before we get into the actual recap of the race weekend you have selected for the Runcation Nation , tell us who you are , where you're from and what you're drinking where you're from and what you're drinking ?

I'm Cheryl . I live in Woodbridge , Virginia , which is a suburb of DC . I am currently drinking a Aslan beer , which is a local company called Bring Sexy Back India Pale Ale .

Oh , it's an IPA . It's also a Justin Timberlake reference .

It is .

Yes , very nice . So it's a local .

Have you been to this place , or you just I haven't been up there yet , but I keep meaning to go In Alexandria , so it's not terribly far from me .

So you're in Virginia . You're on the opposite side of what I know , because I was born in Salem , virginia , and I lived in Roanoke and the Salem area until I don't know , till we moved down here about that was seven , eight years old , so lots of mountains and closer to the carolinas , yeah , the more rural part , yeah country and she's outside of dc .

Tell everybody a little bit about how you got started running .

Originally got started running back in 2009 . I quit smoking in April and then picked up Couch to 5K program , I think in August or September , and then me and my friend co-worker , we were doing the program together and we both decided to run our first 5K in February of 2010 .

2010 . So she started running right around the time we did .

Yeah , right around the same time .

I love that we were in different parts of the country , but we were doing it and you were getting . You were abandoning smoking and getting healthy and making connections with friends . And I can tell you that I decided to run to celebrate a weight loss milestone and after I had surgery for a detached retina . So it is .

This is when I was still living in Seattle , so it was called the bubble more leave them . So it was a Valentine's day's day , 5k ah , very cool .

Oh , and how do you like your beer that you're drinking there ? That does it bring sexy back maybe after a few of them the more you drink , the sexier oh , I thought you were to say the more you drink , the lead . You care that ?

too , Not as bitter as I would like for an IPA , but it's still pretty good .

You're one of those hop heads .

Citrus or pine hops for you , citrus , citrus . Yes , she's our people . She's our people , she's our people . It's all good . So you started running and then it was 5Ks , but when we connected with you , it was all ultra and trails , and is that more of what you do now ? Has it evolved over time for you ?

It has . So when I moved to Virginia , the guy that I moved here for he was an experienced ultra and trail runner , and so he was the one that got me to go .

I hear it's a cool community . Well , I'm gonna say is that kind of .

Is that kind of what drew you and what kept you in the trail running side of things is the community , because we've heard from you quite a lot actually , and others , about how great the food is , how great the people are . What is it about trail running ?

that kind of kept you on in that subculture of running well , I'm a slower runner , I always have been , and trail running is just generally more laid back . So it fits , fits me that way . And then , yeah , the community , it's , it's less people you , so it's less like competitive .

there are the moments of that . There's beauty and solitude and it's I'm sure it's very therapeutic and it sounds like we should do more of that . Yeah , I know We've talked about your background and how it evolved to where you are today . You're talking to us after a long run . How long was your long run today ?

Ended up being 8.2 .

8.2 ? A brisk 8.2 . Yeah .

Yeah , yeah , you might be preparing for an upcoming race , but what race weekend are you recapping for us today , and why ?

The 17.75K , and that was the race that I did most recently . It's the first time I've gotten to do this race in person and it's basically like almost in my backyard , so it's super convenient for me to do this race that for that reason , a lot of people travel for this one , because it is a Marine Corps race event .

Okay , that's . How many miles is that ?

11 .

Oh great , Okay , I can't 5K . I get that Six like a 10K .

I get that , but if you get the , first part yeah . That's 17-7 , yeah .

That's almost exactly 11 . My father would be so ashamed .

No .

My anti-math converting skills for mileage , but it's a way .

Remember , you could always shout out and ask the A lady or the S lady Well , that's true To do the conversions for you .

That's true . Then he would call me lazy . But okay so it's a Marine Corps race and you did it most recently . When is it normally held ? In March , okay , so it's the early part of March , latter March , towards the end of March , towards the end of March .

Like usually , like the third week , the third Saturday of March .

Okay , so it's like you're approaching St Patrick's day . Yeah , so fun for St Patrick's day . Right , and it's okay . You said it's in your backyard , but a lot of people travel to it in your backyard at that time of year . What's the weather like ?

light Virginia is very unpredictable , so it could be 80 degrees or like this year it could be 40 and torrential downpour .

That's what it was for you , that's what it was this year . But you've done this race . This is the first time you've done it in person , but you have seen it in all shades of weather , all types of weather , and I've done it virtually too , so you've probably done it in all kinds of different weather .

It's kind of like running in Florida anywhere in February or March . It's the same thing . It might be sweltering hot , we may still be getting a little bit of winter . You just never know . You never know . Act for a little bit of everything .

Yes .

I love it . I love it . I love that this is a military race . Me too . We've done a couple and we've always had fun , whether it was an in-person or virtual . But for those that now know , pack , bring a little bit of everything if you're thinking about traveling to this one .

Yes .

Can we ask you a little bit about the registration process , if you've never been through it ? What was that like ?

It was pretty simple . You just go to the Marine Corps website . I think it's MCMO Marine Corps Marathon Organization .

Oh , so it is the same organization as the Marine Corps Marathon .

As the Marathon . Yeah , there's three main races here that are all put on by the Marine Corps Marathon the 17.75K the historic half and then the Marine Corps Marathon in 10K .

What was the second one , sorry ?

The historic half .

Historic half . I have never heard of that one .

That one's in Fredericksburg , so a lot of people travel for that one too , because it's another MCMO race . And I have seen that one as well . Oh , you've done that .

You've done . I'm doing it this year , you're doing it this year , okay , and you have you done all of the race weekends that you mentioned . You said I will will have once this is yeah , okay very nice like a trifecta , exactly yeah .

Amy's pulled up the website .

I'm sorry Do they give you a bonus medal if you do all three of them . If yes , I think they still do . It's called the Semper Fi Challenge .

Nice .

And then they also have another thing where , if you do I think there's a total of five separate races you get a distinguished participant medal .

Knowing the Marines , at some point they'll issue you a bayonet . You just got to be mindful .

Why not ? Yes , I , just when you said it , I wanted to pull it up and apparently the Marine Corps historic half is 42 days away as we were recording this , hey Okay . Two days away as we were recording this , hey okay . But is there a lottery or we're talking about registration process and things like that ? That was your question .

since COVID Okay , it used to be you had to be like on your computer when registration opened because it would sell out super fast , but this year I didn't even register for it until the month before oh and no problems no problems , no problems okay did you need to have some kind of qualifying time or any no , the history or this race .

I like it's a very generous , more and more .

Okay , how ? Okay , so you don't need to have a certain pace . It's not a lottery and it's like a 20 minute mile , okay , okay , how's the cost of registration ?

All of the Marine Corps races are a little bit up there . I don't remember for sure how much this one was . I want to say it was . I don't remember if it was over or under $100 . I'd have to look it up .

Amy's looking it up as we speak . But I know that they've got a charitable organization attached to it , so I don't mind paying a little bit more to support a great cause . So that for me is A-OK .

There's a discount for active duty military .

Very nice .

I'm the general public , though . Thank you for your duty , military , very nice . Ah , I'm the general public , though .

Thank you for your service . Yes , yes , so it says it's not open Now . Typically , I know that she's looking .

She'll be like add to cart . Add to cart . Of course there's a turkey trot they have .

Yeah , but that one it's a Marine Corps turkey trot . You probably have to go out in the woods and run after and catch a turkey .

Do you .

No , I'm kidding , but I'm bling driven . Of course I know that the Marine Corps bling is awesome . Can you talk a little bit about the bling , or is there bling for this race ?

And if so , how awesome is it ? It's pretty awesome , so it's got , you know it , finisher 1775 on it . And then on the one side it says it's got the hashtag one with the marines . It's got the devil dog on it , oops , and the mcmo logo . Oh , that's fantastic .

And then on the other like the metal looks like , it looks like a slab of metal and it's done in relief for the devil dog and on the back it's oh , it's the , it's the marine honor guard and it says once a marine , always a marine , and it's like a row of the officers in honor guard holding their rifles at attention oh , that's beautiful which is one of

It's smaller , yeah , it's thick and heavy , but this is one of their smaller ones . Wow , it's beautiful , though , and they have really nice ones .

That's an 11 miler metal . That's nice . And then the back of it . If you could hold that up one more time , is that blue the color ?

The color accent is blue .

The ribbon no , on the back of the metal where the soldiers are standing , at attention oh yeah yeah , so blue background and then you get the soldiers in the plain metal in relief on that field of blue . That is really sharp , wow beautiful .

Wow , oh , that is gorgeous .

Thank you that way and that's the perfect and she just again , for those listening to the this episode , we are actually patrons , are getting to enjoy the video version of this and see what we're talking about it's beautiful and she had .

She struck the perfect pose with the metal where it was like a portrait mode photo for a moment . I loved it . And listen , I think that and the pacing and the okay , listen . The general public cost $83 .

Okay , that's what it's under . Yeah , that's not bad .

Really . And then you can do the virtual and oh my God , Is it the same metal for the virtual and oh my God , is it the same metal ?

for the virtual it is .

They mail you the shirt in the metal .

Oh , very nice .

Do you get a bib , doing it virtually , that you can wear when you do ? Okay , yeah .

Okay , so you don't miss out on anything , doing it virtually except for being there .

No , they basically send you the same packet that you would get on packet pickup they . They basically send you the same packet that you would get on packet pickup . They just mail it to you . I don't know if they mail out the metal before or after you submit your time . It used to be after , but I think now they just mail it Okay .

So was there something that , or is there ?

The $83 price is what I did . That's what she paid for the historic half .

That's not bad .

So the $17.75 , I just I imagine it's very hard similar but it's not letting me go there .

It's close , so is there a cause ? Do you know what the cause attached to this race is ?

I'm not sure . Actually , I didn't see any information on that .

I'm sure it's on the website .

It goes back to veterans or something like that .

I'm sure it's a veteran-centric cause . Amy will have links in the show notes .

It doesn't say on the shirt .

I see that you've got the shirt there . Can you show us what that looks like too ? Yeah , it's purple big devil dog on the front .

It's actually like a navy blue , oh navy .

Okay , it looks purple on screen for us .

So it's good . So it's navy , blue Love that . And then you have the dog and you can sit like seven .

It's a cartoonish version of the bulldog and then it's the marine corps logo with the eagle , the anchor the globe .

That's great and it's hashtag run with the marines oh , and then the , year that's gorgeous , it's a tech it's a tech shirt , so it's cotton , and they switched to this company called recover and they , I believe they make all of their things with recycled materials .

Oh , that's nice , that is cool . Yeah , so it feels . So . It's a texture , not much . Is it like a thicker kind , or is it Not too thick ? No , lighter . Oh yeah , gate River Run . It would look like you could see through , so that's good . I'm thinking about Florida and the summer that's approaching and the humidity and not all tech shirts are created equal .

And don't have a lot of stretch to them .

Yeah , this one's good , this one's good yeah .

Yeah , that one . I like the look of that .

And did they have just one for both men and women , or did they have a V-neck choice , or did they just have the one yeah . No must , no fun .

They do run a little big , so I wish I would have gotten a smaller size . But now I know that's good to know . That's good to know .

Because things vary depending on the vendor or race . So I that's it . It's perfect , can I just ? I know I'm going a little bit out of order , but like , virtually you don't miss a thing , except for the course . So did the course attract you to the race ?

Why so ? Last year I volunteered at a water stop on the course so I got to just see the runners as they were coming through and give them their water and stuff and that is one of my local like women's running groups that does that water stop every year .

Oh , that's cool , that is so cool .

I really want to ask the capital H question .

Capital H question .

Yeah , is it Hilly ?

Yes .

She hesitated , and then she's like yeah , I think it was hesitation Cause she didn't want to disappoint you .

But oh , I was so hopeful .

It wasn't super hilly , but so the race is in Prince William forest park , which is a like natural or national forest park national park forest , something like natural or national forest park .

National park forest , something like that national forest is it ?

yeah , national , I don't know . National park it's a park , it's a forest , it's national .

It's run by the national park service . We got it's all good , so there are trails in there , but this race is only . The only trail is the fire road leading to and from the paved road .

Okay , okay . How long are you on that roughly ?

Let's see for probably about two , two and a half miles each time , so it's about two and a half miles . And then you get to scenic drive , which is a paved road , and so it's about two and a half miles . And then you get to scenic drive , which is a paved road , and then you're on that .

It gets your hopes up , Like you start out with the more downhill and then on the way back , it just bam .

I was so excited . There was like oh it's the time limit's great , the metal is great , the texture is great .

Had to be something Hills .

So train for .

Train for hills . At the end of a race so did you do that when you were training for this ? Did you prep for the hills ? Do you normally prep for hills ?

we don't I do a lot of my trail training runs in that park so I do the regular trail trails in there , so I'm pretty much always training hills .

Smart Gotcha , oh smart , oh , okay , okay . So you okay . So you volunteered at a water stop so you knew you would be looking forward to that water stop . Which ? What ? Your , your running group ? What mile was that ?

I think it was around seven . It was water stop three okay .

So it's been the middle of it for you , no , okay . So then you have that whole back half , that you've been motivated and you've seen all the friendly faces and things like .

So it's noon and mcmo has been using noon for a couple years now okay , and that brings me to the next part of the question is what do you typically do for your fuel and hydration ? Uh , for a race like this and race like this , and what do you lean on ?

My main fuel go-to these days is the UCAN Edge Energy Gels Two twice .

Second time Anna talked about this too .

Yeah , interviews in a row . Somebody's mentioned this we haven't tried that yet .

And the Untapped Maple Syrup Gels Untapped . This is different's new different . So I like things that are more , that are thinner , that are easy to just drink real quick , that aren't all gooey and sticky and , yeah , both of those are really easy to just open , drink down real quick and the untapped is natural because maple syrup .

So oh , so it is actually maple syrup in a packet . Yeah , they have a plain maple syrup , raspberry , maple syrup .

They have a salted cocoa , which is one of my favorites . It tastes like melted malted shake .

And then they have a coffee one that's really good too they have a coffee one so , needless to say , there will be links in the show notes amy's on the website right now , like sorry great I'm right there with you .

We need to look . I think that .

Amy might be looking at seeing about getting some of this .

I'm very excited , very nice .

So thank you , cheryl so is this a type of race where you run in costume , or do you see anything like that on the race , or I I don't . I do not want to equate military uniforms and costumes .

Okay , um , in the full marathon in october you'll see costumes , because it's always so close to halloween , ah okay but this one not much , but I feel like maybe it's a different because it's the Marine Corps that hosts that and because of the theme , and I would think that the tenor or like the mood of the race is somewhat different than say I don't know like

among the runners and with the volunteers and everything as you run it . They have really great volunteers . Everybody's just super excited . And then , of course , there's always the Marines . At all the water stops , and so they're yelling at you and making it fun .

Do they make you do burpees ? No no , I'm just checking .

I know you've got visions of the mile marker at Disney , where the green army man is there yelling at you .

And then , at the finish , there was a Duncan truck handing out free coffee .

There you go .

Was there coffee at the start ?

Not that I saw , but I could have just missed it .

What time of day is it a really super early start , is it a ?

It starts at 7am . Oh okay , so it's not crazy early , but just early enough to hit the sunrise . If they did it any earlier than that , then you would need a headlamp , but starting at seven it's just light enough that you don't need a light .

That makes sense .

How is ? Let's just say okay , so you . So registration we've talked about , but we didn't talk about the expo . I think I just got ahead of myself with the hills I was . I'm so sorry . Is there a race expo ?

There's not an expo . This year they did packet pickup at a brewery in Stafford . Nice , which I didn't get to try anything because I got there too early , so the brewery part itself wasn't open when I picked up my packet . What brewery ?

was it now , do you recall ?

I no , we can come back to that , to that , okay , I don't we'll have a link to that in the show notes also yes , I was just curious .

I'm throwing in a question that I didn't we didn't for that I didn't send , but I was just . But I'm uh discovering all these little nuggets as we're talking so I feel like I'm so I don't mean to throw them at you , but I didn't study for that I'm so excited about it though .

So let's just say , for sake of argument , we're going to come in from out of town , we are not from the area . What do you recommend in terms of let's combine the question ?

Yeah .

Lodging are there good places to stay in the area ? And then transportation do I need to rent a car or can I Uber and Lyft ? And what would you recommend ?

If you're flying in , then you would be coming into one of the DC airports . So , either Dulles or Reagan . From there , you would probably I think most people rent a car to drive south . The race start is fairly close to quantico , so there's lots of hotels like in quantico or up where I am , which is only like 15 minutes more north .

Um , we've got you know , like extended stay and different things around here too so all the all of the major ones , like , if you're yeah , conoco's got a whole everything's grown up around the marine base there and the fbi academy there and all that , so they're nice , yeah , so I imagine if you're renting a car then you might be concerned about parking , so they

And then they have designated parking lots . That's awesome and they have a map for you , and then they have shuttles that take you right to the start . Finish .

Oh , okay , so you park and then you shuttle is basically how it is .

Okay , unless you're a local and you know a secret parking spot where you don't have to shuttle .

I'm sorry . Do you know a secret parking spot ?

I do but she's not gonna say , because then it wouldn't be secret .

Then she would lose her edge .

Exactly it's what it is we got , you , yeah , we got you , I get it , it's all right where the start finishes is on like a running biking path that's on a main like highway . So there's not a lot of parking within walking distance and so they have there's like a church parking lot nearby .

Nice , we've done school buses at , I think , at Donna , jacksonville , and that is after , I think , the first year .

It's like a lollipop loop . So the fire road is the only out and back . So you go down and then you loop around back to that fire road .

Gotcha , I see that makes sense . Okay , and you said it started 7 am . How is ? Are there corrals once you get there , is it ?

Can you talk about pre-race a little bit ? And then what's the ? You said that you just line up . There's no , no corrals .

No , there's no corrals , it's timing chipped and I think , because it's in the park , there's limited numbers , that they cap it . It's so many people .

that's why it used to sell out so fast okay so they don't have corrals for this one not really needed if you're timing , but it's a good idea nonetheless to judge your placement based on what your pace is going to be at the very end and then don't .

I would if you're like us , if you're a back of the pack , or don't get up you're going to get run over and they probably use I don't know the race announcers and the organizers probably told you to line up that way , okay do they have a race announcer kind of work in the crowd in the morning and music and all that like what's the pre-race like ?

yeah , they have an announcer , that's . And then of course they have the , and so when you're coming back up that fire road and you start to hear the music , that kind of gives you that little extra burst of energy to get up that one last hill .

That's cool .

I like that . Aw , yay , and there's . I don't know , do they try and make you do some drills or some pre-race ? Let's do an obstacle course before . No , no , okay , I was kidding , I was , I figured no more , but okay . So we've talked a little bit about the course . I asked the dreaded question about the hills .

Yeah .

My God , did you do a poncho or what ? How did you ?

I had a rain resistant , windbreaker type jacket that didn't make it for very long . You're like , I'm over it , but yeah , everybody just got really wet .

We have heard that every now and then at the Marine Corps races this happens . Intense rain .

Who was it ? It was Roxanne . Roxanne Baggett , yes , and she's a patron of our show and a breast cancer survivor and she's done . Donna , we've encountered her on the course and she's just . She showed us just I think she just showed us pictures where she was just in the October race , just it was , and that was she was in the marathon .

Not quite that bad . And being back , like in the park , you were sheltered somewhat from the trees . The trees helped a little bit . I didn't even realize it was windy until I came up out of the park at the finish . So that was nice .

Right , oh my gosh . And like your feet are just , you know .

There's a couple of some things that you can do with gear .

Heavy and soaked and you just can't , yeah , and you're probably freezing at the end of it . Yeah , so , along the course you were dealing with the elements .

Just kind of the whole thing . For the most part everybody is just cheering everybody on . The volunteers at all the water stops were super motivating . They were out there standing still in that weather , so I think they had the much harder job Good point .

Yeah , that's a good point .

My friend was waiting for me at that water stop with a little bottle of Fireball , so that helped warm me up a little bit .

Traditional . We've been told by a doctor . So a shot of Fireball at a race is medically acceptable , as we've been told by Dr .

Yeah , not enough sugar to be a gel .

See , see , it's electrolytes .

Now we're going to see all over the Internet . It's going to be a thing . There's going to be like they're going to fashion a gel , somebody's going to Photoshop a fireball gel .

This gel tastes like fireball , for For us non-alcoholics , we call that cinnamon . Yeah , and , by the way , fireball , not a sponsor of the show . But they could be Looking back on your experience for this race and factoring in your weather situation . Was this more of a physical challenge or a mental challenge , and in what way ?

this more of a physical challenge or a mental challenge , and in what way ? For me it was a little bit of both . I had decided , since I'm not doing the marathon this year , that this would be my race to run in honor of my husband . So I had like a collage , like a picture collage that I laminated , that I had pinned to the back of my shirt .

Oh , laminating , that was good , very good , yeah , yeah , that's smart , so smart . So I yeah there's , when you see what the weather's going to be like , but anyway , any , yeah , just anything you're gonna do like that we've seen at the donna they have .

They have the weatherproof tyvek bibs and you write on them and those don't run because they're using sharpie . But I've seen people do similar type of memorial things and they'll do . I don't know if I've ever seen one laminated . I've seen people put them in plastic sleeves or maybe . Yeah , but that's a good idea .

Yeah , very smart , very smart . So it is the Run , eat , drink podcast . Can we ask you , because it is in your backyard when you cross the finish line , other than getting dry , changing right , do you gear check ?

I did , but I accidentally left my coat in the car , so I only had a t-shirt to change it to .

Okay , yeah , I like your . Are you the person that like ? There are people that we know that are like when I gear check , I'm getting like the UFO , the recovery slip , flip-flops or shoes , and or do you just all I need is like a like , maybe a shirt and I'm good to go .

Yeah , it depends on the weather . For this one I had gear dropped , a complete change of clothes so that I could get out of the wet stuff and into dry stuff as soon as possible .

For sure , that probably put a damper on the . Oh yeah , just walking right into that post-race party , didn't it ?

They had a lot of like canopies up that people could duck under Escape yeah With like chairs and stuff , so that was nice .

Yeah . So was there anything at the post-race that that caught your eye , that you part , that you had a chance to partake in like some food or beverage ? That was fun , or really . Thank goodness after 11 mile .

Most of it was standard stuff you would get at the end of most road races , like the little like the Nutri-Grain bar . The one cool thing that they had is that they had a company there . It was like a local popcorn company and they were handing you boxes of fresh popcorn .

That was nice that sounds good , not too bad I wasn't expecting that that's right there .

The post race , yeah , as you're coming through from the finish line like to go get your gear .

Yeah , that's nice yeah I've never . I don't think we've heard that . It might be the first time we've heard that yeah , recovery popcorn .

I love it .

Yeah , there you go .

So let's talk about if , like when you're done there .

Yeah .

If somebody are running this race and maybe you have an experience , some experience with this where should somebody go in the area for a celebratory meal ? What place ? And it could be fancy , it could be not fancy . Whatever , what's a must-hit place in that area for somebody ?

I guess it depends on if you're going for , like , a brunch or if you wait until later to have proper lunch .

Okay , have proper lunch .

There is a little like hole in the wall diner nearby . That's a greasy spoon but it's pretty delicious , so that they do . They only are open , I think , until two , so it's like a breakfast and lunch place . And then , up closer to me , we have a First Watch , which is a breakfast and brunch place . We have the Bungalow Ale House .

Amy's looking up the website there .

The Bungalow Ale , house , okay , okay .

And then , if you venture a little bit closer to where I live , there's the Stonebridge Shopping Center and there's fancy restaurants , like a fancy Thai place , there's a Latin fusion place . There's a pizza place . There's a Latin fusion place . There's a pizza place . There's a brewery that also has a food menu . That is called Brewery Public .

Okay , so there's some good options . Right nearby is what it sounds like . Now what's your go-to ? And right nearby is what it sounds like .

Now , what's your go-to ? My go-to for this time . I was carpooling with a friend and we were just in a hurry to get home because they didn't bring a change of clothes , so we just ran into Panera and got breakfast real fast .

That's not a bad thing In a pinch , not bad .

Panera's just down the street , so it's right there . It's easy to get to . But yeah , I like to go to Brewery Public if I need to order food . It's one of my . It's always been one of our go-to places for quite a few years now .

I like it . We're looking at the website right now .

as a matter of fact , I'm so yeah , I got links in the show notes .

Yes , the other favorite brewery that I recommend going to in the area . They don't serve food , but you can bring in any food that you want , okay , or DoorDash food to the brewery . Oh , there you go . They're called Water's End .

Water's End .

Yeah , so they have a few locations , and they have two , one in Woodbridge and one in Lake Ridge . They're both close to me , okay , the Lake Ridge location does a food truck on Saturdays and live music on Fridays Really good craft beer .

They took . They have a . Okay , they have a picture on their website of their tap list and the first one just says damn beer Like that . That's the name of the beer I'm not trying to get a but , that's the name of the beer . Yeah , that's the name of the beer .

I love it . That's great .

I'm sorry I got distracted . I thought that was so funny . So we got some good . We got some good local recommendations .

Yeah , Now out of curiosity , do you know the name of that greasy spoon ?

Oh , I do she does she does .

That's going to be the deep cut for everybody . If you're looking at going up for that one , I bet I'm a big fan of the little greasy spoon family-owned spots that just kill it , and there's nothing better to me than after a morning run , getting a good brunch .

Oh yeah .

Brunch style , big breakfast style stuff , because I'll just do like massive give me all the eggs . I want to do that line from a parks and rec . Oh , give me all the bacon and eggs that you have .

And then you have to stop them and say you didn't understand .

I don't think you understood me .

Everything , all the things .

It's called the Montclair family restaurant .

Thank you and we apologize in advance for the Montclair . If we send a bunch of people your way , do you get crushed on it the next time there's a race weekend ? But it'll be worth it yes so , cheryl , where are you accomplishing , exploring and indulging next ? What's next on your race calendar ?

next up for me is the heiner trail challenge . I'm doing the 25K 25K . That's 16 , about 15 to 16 miles . Trail math isn't as exact as road math .

Oh , but trails can be not forgiving . This is .

Pennsylvania trails and it's going to be the hardest trail race I've ever done .

Oh , and you said that without hesitation .

Why to ? Be , the hardest trail race I've ever done , and you said that without hesitation .

Why is it the hardest . For the 25K it's 4,000 feet of gain .

Wow , are you serious ?

My last 25K in the park where the 17.75 was almost 2,000 . So it's going to be twice as hard as what I'm used to . But they have cake tables .

They what .

They have cake tables .

Cake table . Okay , yep , for the non , for I know what this is . But for the non uninitiated , for those that are not used to the food sitch at trail runs . Tell the listeners what you're talking about there . What's a cake table ?

I've only seen pictures because I haven't run this race myself yet , but they have . At one of the aid stations they had an entire like folding table with paper plates with pieces of cake .

Yeah , An entire table full of slices of cake .

Yeah , they literally will set up An entire table full of slices of cake as part of the aid station .

Yeah , the on course support for some of these trail runs is absolutely out of this world . Fresh made food cake I've seen them with like breakfasts and pancakes and waffles and just like they're like handing you all the carbs .

And somebody actually posted a picture of a table . That was just all liquor .

I've seen that . I've seen all candy .

Yeah .

Yeah , and now apparently there is a bit of a drinking culture with a lot of the trail runs , also from what I've heard . Have you heard this , cheryl ?

Just a little bit here and there A little bit .

Okay , just checking . You don't have to .

if you're not , trail runners are very much known to indulge in a mid-race fireball or beer .

Yep , for therapeutic purposes , of course . Again , it's all about carbohydrates and blood flow . Pain relief . Do not listen to . Anything I'm saying is medical advice . I am a complete idiot and nothing I say should be taken seriously it's .

We're not trained . Yeah disclaimer .

I don't know what I'm talking about and no idea disclaimer . So when ?

is that ? Oh yes , when , that is , in two weeks ?

yesterday's I mean so you're in the taper now , or do you even do that for trail running ?

That's a good question . Do you do a taper ?

It depends . If it's like my goal race , then yes . If it's just incorporated into my training , then not so much .

I'll do a mini taper where I'll back off the week ahead of time so I have like fresher legs , but sure yeah , that makes sense oh , I just this has been an amazing recap just all the time , and I know that I just threw a bunch of questions and she has given us recommendations for great food great beverage it's she , it's it all about the race and you gotta

Oh , oh , so that's called full distance brewing .

Full distance brewing . Okay , I wonder , are they runners Again , we're going to have all of this in the show notes .

We're giving discounts . If you came in after the race with your race , babe , you got a discount .

Oh see , now that's awesome , Because I like places that kind of embrace when you have a race weekend and they embrace the runners and all that that's great .

Yes , yes , it's like something off of your , like your food or beverage , or yeah , and we've seen that . Oh , yeah , yeah , okay , I got it , I got it .

And the thing with Virginia , too if people don't know if they're traveling with their kids , there's no real bars in Virginia , so you can bring your kids to all the breweries .

And there are several that we've been to and different parts of Florida and that that kind of have that whole family aspect .

We've been to some breweries that actually have a kid play area . So it's Engine 15 Brewing yeah .

Water's in . They'll put cornhole out if it's a nice day . They're also very dog friendly , so dogs are allowed in the brewery .

This is part of the reason we like breweries so much Dogs , kids . That's awesome .

Fellow runners . It's yes , it all crosses If people want to connect with you to find out more , or because you have connected with running groups and you have a vast experience and knowledge as an ultra runner and kind of a subject matter expert .

Yeah , nation , nation . Just so you know , unofficially you are really so where can people connect with you ?

now on instagram . My instagram handle is looks likewalking .

Okay .

Which is short for looks like walking , feels like running .

Love it . We will also have a link to you in the show notes as well .

We will and , cheryl , we can't thank you enough for this race recap and we have not actually run together in person , but you have supported our show for so many years . Yes , and we can't wait to actually meet you in person and accomplish , explore and indulge with you really soon . Same here . That's a wrap .

And I'm your co-host , Dana .

Stay safe and well and we will accomplish , explore and indulge with you really soon . Thanks for listening to this week's episode of the Run Eat Drink podcast . We're having another great year thanks to your support . Don't forget to follow us on Facebook and Instagram . We're at Run Eat Drink Podcast and on Twitter , we're Run Eat Drink Pod .