Uncorked 5k 2018 (Friday Five Edition)

I made it through all of my Star Wars Dark Side race recaps, and now I have two non-Disney recaps to do.  I'm currently working on the vlogs for Star Wars, so those will be up soon.  Till then here is my recap on the Uncorked 5k that I ran on May 5th.


I received and email about a fairly new race, the Uncorked 5k and Half.  They were being hosted at the New Kent Winery just outside of town.  I had done a couple 10k races at this winery before, but this was something new.  This was the second year for the half, but the first year for the 5k.

A friend of mine, Lora, had started to get into running over the winter and had done one or two races since. She is a wine lover and thought this would be a fun race for us to do together.  On top of that, for an extra fee, there was a Sip & Savor brunch afterwards.  It included a VIP area to sit and watch the runners finish, brunch, and unlimited wine and mimosa.   Since she hadn't paid me back for our Harry Potter in Symphony tickets yet, she offered to pay for my VIP entry. 

As we coordinated packet pickup I found out another one of our friends, Dawn, had signed up as well.  The more the merrier.  Dawn was gracious enough to pick up all of our packets during packet pickup the night before.  Both Lora and Dawn had different bibs than I did that specified VIP, since they paid for theirs.  I had a bracelet with Lora's bib number on it that was to let me into the VIP section. 

The day of the race we all met at Dawn's house and she drove us to the winery.  From her house it was easier to take the back roads and, even though we were redirected by police because the roads were starting to be closed for the race, it was better then getting on the interstate.  When we got to the main entrance we saw a huge line of cars coming from the interstate.  There were so many cars that I had a feeling that the race was not going to start on time.  Once we parked, we heard someone say that there was also a golf tournament going on, and since there was only one road to both events, traffic was crazy.

We checked our bags and decided to find a bathroom inside since there were VIP benefits before the race.  The lady checking bibs kept asking me for my VIP bib and I showed her my bracelet.  She said that I would have to be with the person who's bib number I had on my bracelet.  We all thought that was a little bit of an overkill.

The half was supposed to start at 7:30 and the 5k at 7:45.  The half didn't get going till 7:45, which meant the 5k didn't start till around 8.  The three of us decided to do our own thing for the race.  Dawn, who is very fast, took off, while Lora and I were towards the back.  Lora had been doing Couch to 5k and said that she was about 5 minutes running with 2-3 minutes walking.  I planned on doing my normal 30/30 walk/run.


The first part of the course was down a hill on the gravel driveway.  There were tons of walkers in front of me that I couldn't get around on my run times, so I just decided to walk behind them till there was a safe path around them.  I was fine with that as it kept me from going out too fast and from slipping on the gravel.


The course was an out and back through the neighborhood around the winery.  Lora seemed to stay about 10-20 yards in front of me.  When we were about a mile in, we saw Dawn with the people already heading back.  Not long after that I started to catch up to Lora and passed her.  We came to the turn around and I kept an eye out behind me and noticed that she kept about 10-20 yards behind me.

We got back to the gravel driveway and I saw that Lora was still close.  I decided to walk up the path till she caught up and we would cross the finish line together.  Once she caught up, I told her we could finish walking up the hill, but she said no, she wanted to finish strong.  So we ran up the hill and crossed the finish line together.  It was actually really nice to finish a race with someone I knew.  Afterward, Lora said that she was glad that I waited and could finish together.

After we finished we went to get our bags and look through the few booths that were out.  They had one of those frame things to take finisher pictures with.  They had a merchandise booth and a couple others as well as the beer/wine areas where you could buy drinks.


We headed to the VIP section which was right next to the finish line.  The same lady was checking bibs there that was checking them before the race.  I showed her my wristband and pointed to Lora's bib at the same time.

The VIP had two big tented areas with about 5 big round tables each.  We decided to go to a table that was close to the start line.  On the chairs were purple and sea-foam green flip flops of different sizes.  After we chose our seats, we went to trade for different colors and sizes from other chairs.  There was also stemless wine glasses with the name of the race on them at each spot for us to take home.

We all went to the bar and ordered a drink, I went with a mimosa for my first drink.  We cheers'ed to a fun race and I went to change out of my race clothes.  As I left, I made a point to tell the lady that I have a bracelet and my bib person was at the table.  Thankfully she remembered that when I came back and did not need to get Lora to let me in.

We had brunch and a few drinks.  Since we were right by the bar, we had talked to the woman pouring drinks and her suggestions.  We did go with a couple of her suggestions.  We enjoyed watching the finishers come in.  The first woman for the half was right on the heals of the first man.  I loved seeing that.  We also saw the last 5k walker finish and we cheered as loud as we could for her.  We also saw a man who's two young daughters ran out on the course right before he finished.  They youngest insisted on being picked up, so he did and grabbed the other's hand and crossed the finish line with them in tow.

After awhile we decided that it was time to head out.  Before we did, we decided to head inside and buy a bottle or two of wine.

Overall, this was a very fun race.  I'd probably do it again, weather we did the VIP as well or not, but the VIP did make it very enjoyable.  I might even decide to do the half at some point.

Do you like watching the finishers come in?  Have you slowed down your race, just to finish with a friend?

I'm linking up with Fairytales and Fitness and Running on Happy for Friday Five 2.0