Blue Bell Fun Run 2022!
Another weekend and another race! I actually did this race last year and it was a HUGE learning experience. It’s in the Hill Country so of course there’s hills. For some reason, that fact evaded me and I struggled last year. This time, I came prepared to conquer those hills!
The Race
This race is unique as it is done in partnership with Blue Bell Ice Cream. Their main factory is in Brenham, Texas and the race takes place at the high school down the road. There’s free ice cream at the finish line but there’s also UNLIMITED ice cream at the factory after the race when you present your bib. This race grows in popularity every year so I’m sure they’ll probably start putting limits to what you get soon.
I actually had this race on my calendar since January but I didn’t sign up until last week because I wanted to make sure I was ready. Too often I get excited and sign up for things but then dread them when that week comes. It’s something I’m working on so it usually means not signing up for races until the week of.
Training For The Race
Since I just did my trail race last week, I knew my legs were still fresh. I had incorporated hill training for that race and I knew it would come in handy with the Blue Bell Fun Run. The race starts with a HUGE downhill which is nice but then you’re climbing back up. Plus there’s a HUGE hill right before the end that’s just nasty. For this race, I left my ego at the door and planned to do Run/Walk intervals. I created the workout in my Garmin and had my plan set.
The Day Of The Race
I’m going to be 100% honest, I woke up in a terrible mood. I didn’t sleep well even though I went to bed early. The race was about an hour and a half away which isn’t terrible but we had to leave by a certain time. I had a whole plan to get breakfast ready, put some food in the crockpot and go. Guess what didn’t happen? I forgot to set the crockpot and I forgot my headphones. By the time I remembered, it was too far to turn back. You know how you’re in a bad mood and everything annoys you? Yep, that was me. Poor Jordan just sat in silence while I rattled off my complaints. (I apologized profusely and bought him some stuff for his video game to make up for it!)
Once the race started, I got out of my pity party and bad mood. Of course the downhill got me super excited and I had to hold back A LOT. The hills started coming at me pretty quickly and I was so, SO thankful for my walking recoveries. I opted for 5 minutes of running and 1 minute of walking. It was a huge help mentally and my pace stayed steady the whole race!
I noticed that many people were struggling on hills but I was able to slowly make my way up them. I passed up a few people and it made me feel confident in my plan. There were water stops manned by the high schoolers at the mile markers which was also a nice reprieve. Since the race started later in the morning, the sun was shining! I got a really nice tan from the race.
Right as I made the last turn and was faced with the HUGE hill, I just kept telling myself that I could do it. Slowly and one step in front of the other was how I managed to conquer the hill. I did take my walk break when my watch buzzed but once that was done, I kept making my way up! Thankfully the race ends with a downhill so I knew relief was coming!
All The Ice Cream!
After I crossed the finish line, I found Jordan and we made a beeline to the Blue Bell Factory. We got many scoops of ice cream and a couple of ice cream sandwiches. There’s some flavors that are only available at the factory so we definitely tasted those! Blue Bell Ice Cream was a great motivator to get through the tough hills and I’m sure Jordan didn’t mind spectating knowing he was getting ice cream too!
This race has a 10k and a half marathon course and it might be something I’ll try in the future. The hills are pretty much non-stop but that one at the end is just hard. Since doing the Run/Walk method worked out well for me, I think I might use it for future races! Overall, it was rough start to the day but I managed to turn my mood around and have fun!
Have you ever run a race with ice cream at the finish line?
