Race Recap: Pirates 5K Home Run

Hello! For my first "official" non-introductory post, I intended to share my "running story." Every runner has a story! However, since it's timely, I figured that one can wait and instead I will share with you a recap of the most recent race I did. Since running is a major focus of this blog, I hope to share race recaps on here as much as possible! So, let's talk about the Pirates 5K Home Run!

As an avid sports fan and major baseball enthusiast, I love races that connect with other sports. I've been a Pirates baseball fan since I was little, and yes, I even stuck with them during the twenty year curse of losing seasons (hooray for breaking that wretched curse last year and making the playoffs!). Regardless of your opinion on the Pirates, PNC Park is one of if not THE best ballpark in major league baseball. If you like baseball, this should be a must-see ballpark for you. PNC Park is one of my favorite places to be, so running a 5K that finishes on the field there is a winning idea for me! The race also raises money for the Pirates Charities organization, which is another great aspect of running races. Anytime I have the opportunity to give to a charity as well as help myself stay fit, is considered a double win for me.

PNC Park: one of the best parks in MLB!

This year was actually the second time I did the Pirates 5K Home Run. After a fun experience last year, the husband and I knew that we wanted to do it again this year! The race took place April 19 and just happened to fall a few days after my birthday. Like last year, we took the opportunity to make it a Pittsburgh birthday weekend with the 5K and of course some baseball fun! We arrived in Pittsburgh Friday afternoon and checked into our hotel on Pittsburgh's North Shore, The Residence Inn by Marriot. The hotel was literally across the street from PNC Park, which was where we needed to pick up our race packets. This was already a plus to our experience compared to the previous year, when we stayed about 15 minutes outside of the city. Being so close made the entire weekend more relaxing and made the pre-race and post-race experience far less stressful since we didn't have to worry about finding parking! That's always a plus since the husband suffers from major road rage. Getting our race packets was simple and painless, which is always a sign of a nicely organized raced. My only complaint about the process, which is my same complaint from last year, is not including pins with the race bibs! Having to get pins the morning of only creates chaos. Plus OCD runners like myself prefer pinning our bibs to our shirts before wearing them to make sure they are put on straight! Sigh. Anyway, with our race entry, we received a tech t-shirt, which was a definite upgrade from last year's cotton shirt, as well as ticket vouchers to a Pirates game.

Colorful tech shirts are the best!

We already purchased tickets for Friday's game, so we redeemed our ticket vouchers for Saturday's game, the day of the race.

Cheering on the Pirates! Let's Go Bucs!!!

We spent the rest of Friday night cheering on the Pirates at the game and enjoying ballpark food. Alright ballpark food probably isn't the best thing to eat the night before a race, but it was my birthday trip so as the kiddos say, YOLO (yes, I know I'm coming off as the nerdiest, I mean coolest person ever right now)! Since our hotel was within feet of the 5K area, we had the pleasure of "sleeping in" as well. It was so nice to be able to walk right out our hotel door to the start line! The weather was slightly chilly, but otherwise great. The sun was shining and it was only a few degrees cooler than my "ideal race temperature," which is anywhere from mid 50s to high 60s. We agreed to run the race simply for training and fun, but I will admit I did have some butterfly action going on in my stomach! After my Glass Slipper Challenge running event that I did at the end of February I had taken some time off and I'm not yet in my "full on running routine mode." Also, I was unfortunately rear-ended in a car accident a few days prior to the race and had been suffering from back pain as a result. These concerns were definitely on my mind, but I was determined to enjoy the experience and give it a solid effort! The husband also assured me that we would be just fine. He himself hadn't run consistently in months, so if he was feeling confident, I knew we would both rock it!

Shaking off the jitters, we lined up according to estimated pace at the start line, which was located on the beautiful Roberto Clemente Bridge.

Start Line on the Roberto Clemente Bridge! 

The pre-race energy was fantastic and helped ease my nerves! They were playing music and the Pirate Parrot was running around being awesome like he always is! Soon we were finally off and running. Since the race was sold out this year, there were lots of runners, but I never really felt crowded on the course. The first mile is primarily on paved streets and then you go back in an area that almost has a "trail like" feel to it and reminds me of many local West Virginia running routes. On this part of the course it really doesn't even feel like you are running in a larger city. The course then travels along the river, which provides a gorgeous view! I love looking at things and taking in the scenery on my runs, so this is another reason why I enjoy this particular race course! We were feeling pretty good at this point and it wasn't until mile 2 that either of us started to feel tired. My back was starting to hurt a bit, especially after we had gone down a hill and then later up a hill. The finish line was close though, so we pushed through! Plus, the finish line for this race is extra special! Yay motivation! The final mile takes you past Heinz Field, home of the Pittsburgh Steelers (here we go, Steelers, here we go!) and back to paved streets before you head toward PNC Park and the finish.

As we made our way to the ballpark we entered PNC at right field and ran around the warning track to this finish line, which was of course at home plate! For all my Run Disney loves, finishing on the field at PNC Park is the "Magic Kingdom" portion of this race. Getting to run around the bases on the field of my beloved Buccos is ALMOST as awesome to me as running up Main Street  toward Cinderella's Castle! Again, ALMOST. At this point the excitement and awe of being on the field in the ballpark completely spiked my adrenaline and I put a surge in and charged to the finish. My petite stature makes it easy for me to zoom through people, so I unfortunately somehow lost the husband here as he couldn't get around some other runners. But, it's ok because we were almost done and had pretty much enjoyed the entire race together! Crossing the finish line felt great as my body was soooo ready to be done! It was awesome to hear the crowd in the stands cheering us on. The volunteers were fantastic with their cheers and help as well. After finishing the race, they do try to rush you off the field as soon as possible, which is kind of a bummer but understandable since they need to keep adequate room for all the runners. Since we were basically being pushed out of the park we hurried and snapped a few quick pics on the field before exiting.

Finished! 

The finishers party on Federal Street outside of the park was really fun. They have some of the weirdest post race food ever though. Hotdogs, Chic-Fila sandwiches, chips and cookies after a 5K?! While I try to be healthy, I certainly enjoy my fair share of non-healthy foods, but I still think it's odd to eat a hotdog right after finishing a 5K at 9 in the morning! I did grab us some cookies, chips, water and Powerade. Sorry, I can't just do a hot dog and chicken sandwich that early and I especially can't do it after running. Before going back to the hotel we took some pictures and enjoyed the finisher's party. As a whole, it was a great course, excellent weather and another fun experience! The finish line is worth doing this race alone. It's just so awesome getting to run on the field at PNC Park!

After the race we enjoyed the rest of our day in Pittsburgh. We celebrated my birthday and our 5K finish with a feast of German food at Hofbrauhaus. We met my old college roommate and her sister for our feast, which only added to the celebration! Ever heard of a food coma? Want one? Go to Hofbrauhaus! I can say we certainly did not come away from our 5K weekend in a calorie deficit! We ended the day by using our free race tickets to go to the Pirates game that evening. It was a good game, but sadly the Pirates lost. I blame this on that cheater Ryan Braun! Sorry Brewers fans, but it is what it is! Despite the loss, it was still a fun night at the ballpark with friends after a great race! We definitely plan to be back for the Pirates 5K Home Run next year if circumstances permit! 

If you would like more information on the Pirates Charities or the Pirates 5K Home Run, check it out here.