Blue Bell Fun Run Race Review

Saturday was the 34th annual Blue Bell Fun Run in Brenham, TX.  It was my first time to run the race.  I, like many others, was drawn in by the offer of all the free ice cream you want at the end.  (Let it be known that I am probably the world's biggest Blue Bell lover.  Ice cream is my favorite food and Blue Bell is the best!)

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Race Logistics

There was the option to pick up your packet Friday night, but we chose to pick it up Saturday morning.  The race was fairly large considering it was in a small Texas town, but very organized.  The race starts and ends near the high school, which receives all the profit.  We were directed to a parking spot and made our way to the cafeteria to pick up our bibs and race shirts.  They are adorable royal blue dri fit, a pleasant surprise, especially since the race only cost $25.  I also appreciated the fact that they let my sister trade in her medium for a small since they were unisex and rather large.

The race was chip timed (another surprise for such a cheap race) via a bar on the back of our bibs.  The school bathrooms were open for our use, which was much better than the usual race port-o-let.  Lines were long, but moved quickly.  Fruit, water, and some kind of breakfast bar were donated by HEB for pre-race snacks. 

Races make for great people watching (probably because most runners are wierdos).  Scanning the crowd, I realized that this was a family friendly and dog friendly race.  Lots of pooches and strollers.  Races included a 1 mile fun run (for the kids), 5k, 10k, and 10k relay.  Start times of each race were staggered, with 1 mile run at 8:00, 10k relay at 8:15, 10k at 8:30, and 5k at 8:45.

The Route

The start was up a hill and around the corner from the high school/finish line.  Upon reaching the start, I saw there were corrals.  Volunteers held signs stating "under 7 minute miles" "8 minute miles" "9 minute miles" and "10+ minute miles".  I shuffled in with the 10+ers, which was a mistake because this group included all the walkers. 

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It took a couple of minutes before I was able to cross the start, then a lot of bobbing and weaving ensued. We started on a downhill, but I was quickly introduced to the foreign-to-me incline.  A little after mile 2, the 5k route broke off from the 10k. 

The 10k continued into a very nice neighborhood, then at about mile 3 we turned a corner and I saw it.  A hill so huge and daunting, it may as well have been Mount Everest.  My legs were already burning from the unfamiliar ascents and descents.  So I walked.  I figured I could power walk up the mountain just as quickly as I could run up it. When I reached the summit, I looked to my left to see the most beautiful view of a field with a tin barn and looked to my right to see an empty water station.  Damn.  They ran out of water at the top of the hill!  (Let me add here that there were water stations manned by athletes from the high school at every single mile, as well as someone calling out time as you reached each mile.) Oh well.  What goes up must come down, and boy, do I love a downhill.  The next mile was gorgeous. It was fields and trees and shade.

At mile 5, the 5k route met back up with the 10k to finish the race.  I was dying. There was a volunteer who encouraged us by saying there was only 1 mile left.  That mile consisted of a small uphill, then a larger uphill (still not even close to 3 mile mountain), followed by a downhill to cross the finish.  When I finally reached the downhill, I booked it, but there were lots of 5k walkers in my way.  I felt insanely fast as I bobbed and weaved my way to the finish.

My Garmin showed 6.39 miles at the finish, but I hit go before crossing the start and have never worried about tangents.

The sky was overcast and it was trying to rain, but I never felt more than a few drops.  Just enough to make it humid.  The wind was gusting at over 20 mph, but only a couple of times did I feel like I was running into the wind.  Then again, while struggling to power up those monster hills, I wouldn't have noticed anyway.

Post Race

The finish was crowded and I had to loop my way back around to find water.  I downed 2 glasses then had one thing on my mind....free ice cream!

We made our way over to the ice cream truck, which was a feeding frenzy.  There were boxes of every type of ice cream bar or popsicle imaginable set out.  People were grabbing by the handful.  I chose a peach bar and a cookies and cream ice cream sandwich.  Immediately the wrapper was torn from the peach bar, and I took a bite as I made my way to the time tent.  The peachy goodness kept me occupied as I waited to see my time.  When I reached the front of the line, I realized it wasn't posted yet.  Oh well.  I was sick of the peach so tossed the last few bites and tore into my ice cream sandwich.  Yum!  This is what I think of when I think of Blue Bell.  Creamy, smooth, delicious ice cream.  I scarfed ate half and my stomach said "enough!". 

We were on a tight schedule, so didn't stick around for awards.  The winners of each division received an adorable medal which resembled a half gallon of Blue Bell ice cream.  They were also giving away coupons for ice cream via a raffle, but I failed to throw my bib number into the pot. 

The reason we were in a rush to leave was because we had to backtrack to our hotel to shower before heading to the bluebonnet trail.  Little did we know, they had showers available in the locker rooms of the high school.  That would have saved us an hour.  Oh well.  Live and learn.

All in all, it was a great race.  Very organized and accomodating.  Although, it was not a great race for me personally.  I couldn't get out of my head, despite the fact that I was jamming an awesome new playlist. 

My recommendations

-If you have the opportunity to run this race, do it.
- Book a hotel way in advance.  We waited too late and nothing was available in Brenham.
-If you want to tour the creamery, go up early on Friday.  It isn't open on the weekends.
-Train.  More specifically, train on inclines.
- Bring your family and your dog.
-Pray for good weather.


Do you hill train?  What is the most fun race you have ever run?
Obviously, I don't hill train.  Hills are non-existent in my neck of the woods.
Red Dress Run in New Orleans is the funnest.race.ever!  But it's not really a race, because even if you wanted to run, you couldn't.  It's more like a bar crawl.

Getting Muddy for a Good Cause

Saturday marked the inaugural ReAlliety Challenge here in Lake Charles.  It was a "warrior" run with the proceeds benefiting The Mission Continues, "a non-profit that empowers wounded veterans to serve again here at home, giving them purpose and allowing them to use their incredible skill sets to help build and bring communities together."

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Allie Ieyoub, owner of ProjectFit and organizer of the race (hence the name), invited different gyms in town to sign up at discounted rates ($50 per person instead of $65) to encourage a little friendly competition.  Our CrossFit box signed up for the 11:00 wave.


Packet pick up was the night before at L'auberge du Lac's Touloulou's restaurant.  Although I have been to L'auberge a thousand times, I had never been to Touloulou's.  It was added last year and has a beach shack vibe.  It is sandwiched in between the boat slips and a beach with a fire pit, volleyball nets, and plenty of beach chairs.  Brightly colored umbrellas are shading picnic tables on the dock. 

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After snagging our bibs, race shirts (white cotton-whomp, whomp), and bags, we were served our choice of burger, hot dog, or fried fish (since it was a Friday during Lent) with Zapps potato chips and a soda or water.  There was beer for sale and a band playing, but people weren't really sticking around, so after eating we were out like trout.  The sun was setting on the lake as we left.  Beautiful!


CF Lake Charles was in the 11:00 wave.  We arrived around 10:15 to scope out the situation.  It was warm.  About 10 minutes to 11:00, we were coralled at the starting line.  I had made a pact with my sister and a friend to stick together.  There was no way in hell we would keep up with the "hard core" CrossFitters. 


They counted us down and we were off.  We jumped hay bales, climbed over and under walls (some as high as about 20 ft), balanced on logs, waded in thigh deep ditches, tromped through muddy woods, maneuvered through wooden structures, splashed down water filled culverts, navigated web filled woods, shimmied across manmade obstacles, swam over and under floating "logs", slid down muddly hills, climbed up slippery slopes, crawled through trenches, and scaled net roping. 

source- This obstacle left its mark by bruising my shins and ankles.

Our last obstacle before the end.  I stole this from a friend's facebook.  I'm in the pink on bottom. 

So.much.fun.  I have participated in 2 Warrior Dashes, and I have to say, this was much more challenging and exciting.  Especially the last few challenges, where you would slide into a trench and have to hike your way out, all while tons of water was spraying you in the face.


Our time was abyssmal! Everyone else on our team was done and standing at the sidelines cheering us on by the time we reached the last 2 obstacles.  But I was having so much fun that I didn't want to rush through, I just wanted to enjoy it!

CF Lake Charles crew.  I stole this picture, too.

Obligatory muscle pose.

Firemen were there to wash off the mud and muck. The line to wash off was extremely short, especially compared to what I've experienced at other races.  I think it's a testament to how well they did with wave timing and size.


Izzo's was providing free post race quesadillas (I didn't partake) and their was free soda and water.  Beer was reasonably priced at $2 per can.  But like the night before, no one seemed to be sticking around for a post race party.


Overall review

• This race was expensive for a local race, but you could see why.  Free food and entertainment at the packet pickup, free food post race, and all the organization and work put into each obstacle on the course.  Plus, the proceeds went to a great cause.
• The obstacles were challenging, but still manageable for the average person.
• It was well organized.  Packet pickup was a breeze.  Parking was not an issue. My only complaint is there was no bag check, so we had nowhere to put our keys.  Also, they have yet to post results and pictures.  An e-mail was sent out apologizing and saying they obviously weren't prepared for this, but they should be out by Wednesday.  In my opinion, this isn't the type of race you take super seriously, so I have no issue waiting for results. 

I would definitely run it again.  Actually, I kind of wanted to run it again with a later wave.  I'm so thankful someone planned an event like this close to home.  Running a mud race usually requires driving at least 2 hours to a major city.

Our CrossFit box had a spring fling party that afternoon to celebrate the end of Paleo, the end of the Opens, and the finish of the race.  They announced the Paleo winners and the girl was none other than my sister! Her pre and post pictures were dramatically different.  I could also see a difference in my pictures, but my afters were still disgusting.

Have you ever run a mud run/warrior dash?  Would you ever?

I love them.  It's more like playing outside instead of running.  I also love trail running and should do it more often.