2017 Haddon Township Turkey Trot 5k: Race Report

Another year, and another Haddon Township Turkey Trot in the books.  I love this race because it's in the town where I teach, so I get to race a lot of my students.  A lot of people from Who's Up run it too, so there are always a lot of familiar and friendly faces.  The race course is almost pancake flat, and the post-race donuts and breakfast sandwiches are included in the race fee.  What's not to love?

Some race reports from previous years:

2012
2013
2014
2015
2016

This was technically my second race since Broad Street last May, but I was sick during my last race and didn't run very hard.  So it had been awhile since I'd really pushed myself in a race.

I seriously didn't know if I would break twenty minutes, which is usually my benchmark time for the 5k.  I know I say that a lot, and I always manage to come in under, but all the signs pointed to me straying north of this benchmark in this race: not having raced in so long, not having trained at all for the 5k distance, and probably having gained some weight since last spring when I was in decent shape for Boston.

I got to the Pour House at 7:30am, early enough to snag a good parking spot.  Met my dad shortly afterwards and then hung out for the next hour and a half talking to my dad, saying hi to students and friends, and doing a brief warm up run.

At 9am, a thousand South Jersey runners walked two blocks down the street from the Pour House to the starting line.  At the start, we charged back down Haddon Avenue, made a left onto Cuthbert, and another quick left onto Park. 

The start.
Photo by Patrick Rodio

At mile two, I caught up with one of my students.  I joked that if he couldn't beat me, then he was in trouble.  He hung with me for awhile, and we both began to reel in another one of my students.

When we made the final left turn back onto Haddon Avenue, the first student of mine had fallen behind, and I was now running with the second student.  I ran neck and neck with him to the finish, but he outkicked me in the last hundred yards and beat me by two seconds.  It was a thrilling finish.

Trying to catch up to my student (in red) in the homestretch.
Photo by Patrick Rodio

So it looks like there was enough muscle memory in my legs, as I finished the race with a chip time of 19:31.

Given this race's size, I've never placed in my age group, let alone won, but that's exactly what happened this time.  I even got a plaque for my efforts:

I also posed with my dad under the Pour House sign, which has become a tradition for us.

Then I posed with friends from Who's Up:

Mental note: finish chewing before posing for a picture in the future.

Another year down and new memories added.

2017 Run the Bridge 10k: Race Report

I haven't done a race since Broad Street last May.  I had grand plans to sign up for all of my usual fall races this year, but one by one they came and went without me ever having pulled the trigger.  It would seem I have lost my running mojo.

I finally signed up for a race I did for the first time last year: The Cooper Norcross Run the Bridge 10k in Camden, NJ.  I ran it last year in just over 41 minutes, which still stands as my 10k PR.  It was a thrilling race that ended in a photo finish with a fellow runner from Who's Up on a perfect fall day, so I have good memories from this race and was keen to relive them.

Unfortunately I was just getting over being sick and I wasn't able to run to my potential.  I considered dropping out completely, but I couldn't bear the thought of a DNS, or wasting the $50 entry fee, so I managed to pull myself out of bed on Sunday morning and head over to Camden.  I told myself to just start the race and if I needed to I could always stop at the halfway point which is very close to the finish area.  But then I couldn't bear the thought of a DNF either, so I finished the whole thing.

Philly running friend Willa and I got to the starting line on the NJ side of the Ben Franklin Bridge just as the race was about to begin.

We placed ourselves into the sea of people as best as possible because there weren't any signs for paces or corrals (or at least that we could see).  At 8:30 the race began.  I set off at about a 9 minute pace, and Willa quickly pushed ahead of me.

I never run with a phone, but since I knew I would be running slowly, I decided to bring it with me so I could take pictures on the bridge. 

The first half of the race is an out and back on the bridge, the only time foot traffic is allowed on the main area of the bridge (except when the Pope is in town).  When I got back to the Camden side and crossed the halfway mark, I was still going pretty slowly but decided I felt good enough to finish the race, so I continued to slowly plod through the streets of Camden.

Around mile 4, I saw this guy:

At mile 5, employees from the Haddonfield Running Company were manning the water stop, so I got a selfie with Shawn:

And finally, after 52 minutes of running, I entered the outfield of the stadium, and shortly thereafter crossed the finish line.

I was just happy that I finished after all and I didn't start a major coughing fit en route, though my deepest apologies go to my fellow runners who had to witness my snot rockets, both their frequency and the sheer volume of snot expelled. 

The winner finished in 31 minutes.  Everyone from Who's Up finished well ahead of me as well.  Willa finished in 47:17.

There was a beer garden at home plate pouring Yards Brawler and Pale Ale, and I got myself a Brawler and hung out for a bit with Willa and Erik.

I love this race and hope to continue to do it for years to come.  I was feeling lousy both from being sick and from the prospect of getting out of bed so early on a Sunday morning, but it's true that you never regret a run once it's over.

It was definitely a novelty to stop so often during a race to take pictures and not worry about a time or pushing myself hard at all.  I can see why people like to do it, but for me, the true appeal of signing up for and running a race will always be pushing myself as hard as I can.  I really missed that this time around.

My next race will be later this month - the Haddon Township Turkey Trot, which I do every year.  After that, who knows?  Hopefully 2018 will bring a renewed vigor to my running.

2017 Broad Street Run Race Report

I last ran the Broad Street Run back in 2007.  It was insanely crowded the entire ten miles and I found it nearly impossible to get a decent pace going.  I swore off the race and usually referred to it as a "shit show" every May when the race rolled around again.

Over the last few years, though, I'd been considering giving it another shot, and I finally pulled the trigger this year.  And I'm so glad I did.  It was an amazing experience.

Let's go back to the beginning.

I woke up at 5am on Sunday, and by 5:30 I was on the road.  Drove into South Philly and parked at the stadiums in-between the Wells Fargo Center and Citizens Bank Ballpark. Walked to the nearby subway and was on the train by 6.  It was packed with runners - standing room only.  15 or 20 minutes later we arrived in North Philly.

I checked my bag at gear check and then had a good hour and a half until go time.  I walked around, used the porta potties which still had no lines at this point, ran into Emi and hung out with her for a bit, sat around for a bit people watching, found the secret elite enclave and did a warm up run with them, then got into my corral.

For the uninformed, the Broad Street Run, named for its course down Broad Street in Philadelphia, is now in its 38th year.  With 40,000 participants, it is the largest 10 mile race in the United States, and the 6th largest of any race distance.  When I ran it in 2007, there were only about 17,000 runners, and even then it was obscenely crowded at the start.  Races back then had yet to figure out the wave/corral system, so race starts were always a free-for-all. People placed themselves wherever they wanted and were all sent off at the same time.

Like most big races, Broad Street now seeds runners based on expected finish time (though they have volunteers checking bibs, it is still very easy to sneak into any corral you want), and they send runners off in waves, waiting a few minutes in between each one.  Because of these new measures, the course was a lot roomier this time and never felt crowded.

Having just run Boston three weeks earlier, it felt nice to know I only had ten miles ahead of me as opposed to an entire marathon.  I had no plans to go hard, but you know me.  Once I was out there, I just wanted to run as hard as I could.  I stopped around mile 3 to use a porta potty, which cost me about 30 seconds.  But I was still surprised that I ended up running negative splits.  At the 3 mile mark, my average pace was 7:01.  At the 5 mile mark my average pace fell to 6:55, at the 7 mile mark it fell to 6:52, and I finished the race in 1:07:46 for an average pace of 6:46, good for 869th place.

The course had a lot of great spectating sections, and the aid stations were perfectly placed and expertly manned.  I remember thinking in the last few miles how much room I had, and how uncomfortable I was due to how hard I was running.  My previous 10 mile PR was 1:09 from last fall, but I wasn't wearing a watch this time and wasn't sure what the difference between my gun time and chip time was.  The upshot is that I wasn't sure if I was headed for a PR or not, but I decided to keep my foot on the gas anyway, so to speak, and obviously it ended up paying off.

After finishing, I caught up with a few friends from Who's Up, including Emi, but once again failed to get a picture with her as we immediately lost her after getting our gear from the buses.  Again, I swear she exists.  So here's me with Kim:

After enjoying the finish line festival for about 30 minutes, I made the short walk back to my car, then the short drive back to NJ.

I already have a feeling that I'll be back next year for more.

2017 Boston Marathon: Race Report

Quick stats:

14th marathon
2nd Boston
Qualifying time: 3:01:06 (current PR)
Half split:1:47:54
Final time: 3:50:55

And here's the long version:

I woke up at about 5am and showered (which I normally do before a half or full marathon so I can wake up and loosen up a little).  Warm weather was predicted for the race, so I decided to go with my Who's Up? singlet.

I had already set out all of my clothes, as well as my bag for athletes' village, so it didn't take me long to get ready.  Around 5:40am I left the apartment and walked the few blocks to Boston Common to get on the bus.  I was in wave 1 corral 5, and the bus loading time for wave 1 was from 6 - 6:40.  I wanted to get there right at 6 to avoid waiting in line.

When I arrived at the Common, there were already hundreds of runners streaming in from every direction.  There was a security checkpoint to check my bag and my bib, and no wait at all to get into one of the dozens of yellow school buses.  The ride took about 45 minutes out to Hopkinton.

What a difference two years make.  Two years ago it was a miserable, cold, wet New England spring morning.  Thousands of runners were trying to avoid the rain and wet grass by piling under the two large circus tents they had set up.  I didn't bring enough throwaway clothes and spent two hours shivering sitting on a plastic bag.

This year the weather was gorgeous (already about 60 degrees at 7am and sunny), so there was plenty of room to spread out in the village.  The BAA lays out a lot of amenities, including Gatorade, bagels, bananas, coffee and tea, apples, and Clif energy blocks.  I made myself a tea and wandered around for a bit to take it all in.  I saw a line forming  to get pictures in front of the "It all starts here" sign, which I missed last time, so I jumped in line for that before it got too crazy.

I talked to a lot of runners, one of which, from Texas, was glad to hear I shared his goal of simply finishing, rather than coming anywhere close to my qualifying time.  I also talked to a woman while in line for the porta potties who was from Vancouver and qualified in her first ever marathon.  I was jealous.

I went to the medical tent where they had sunblock, and I slathered it all over me.  At about 9:15, the announcer started calling those in wave one to head out to the starting line, which was almost a mile away.  The whole thing was incredibly organized, with volunteers at every step of the way to make sure we were all where we needed to be.  On the way out to the starting line, people were outside of their houses already cheering us on and offering people last minute things such as vaseline on sticks and more sunblock.

I visited the porta potty one last time, then headed to my corral just in time for a fighter jet flyover and the national anthem.

Here I was in a corral with people who had run a qualifying marathon back in 2015 or 2016 somewhere in the vicinity of 3 hours.  I wondered which of them were still in 3 hour shape and which, like me, were just here for the spectacle.  As soon as the gun went off I moved over to the right side of the course to hopefully stay out of people's way.

It was a little disheartening to see how many people were passing me in the first few miles of the race, but I knew that my less than stellar training cycle, along with the expected temperatures in the 70's, necessitated a slower pace.  I ran my first mile in 8:27, which I considered a sustainable pace for the full marathon.  Spoiler alert: it wasn't.

The first half of the race, particularly the first 10k, was absolutely brilliant.  I high fived as many kids as possible.  I jumped and air fived a kid sitting on his dad's shoulders ("I'd like to see you do that on Boylston," said a passing runner).  I sang along to the music.  I smiled from ear to ear and fist pumped the air.  I've rarely been happier in my life than I was right there on the streets of Hopkinton, Ashland, Framingham, Natick and Wellesley.

I almost collided with a teenage girl trying to cross the street around the 10k mark, and I heard a volunteer chewing her out behind me as I ran on.

At mile 12 we headed into the Wellesley College Scream Tunnel.  I had seen something on Twitter a few weeks ago soliciting ideas for signs.  All you had to do was fill out a Google form and the girls of Wellesley would make it for you.  I asked them to make a sign for me in German, figuring my students might get a kick out of it, and they e-mailed me a picture of it a few days later.  I looked for the specific sign as I passed, but didn't see it.  Oh, and for those keeping score at home, I ended up kissing 4 women this year.

The halfway point is just past the Scream Tunnel on the main street of Wellesley, and was probably my favorite part of the whole race.  I wanted to stop to hug and kiss every last spectator and scream "ISN'T THIS FUCKING INCREDIBLE!?!?!"  I was absolutely as high as a kite and never ever wanted to let go of that feeling.

But what comes up must come down.  It was a warm day (now in the seventies).  Not the warmest in Boston history, but up there.  There was no cloud cover and only the occasional breeze from behind.  I was taking water and Gatorade at every single aid station but still could not slake my thirst.  I stopped sweating.  I had trouble stomaching my last Gu, fearing it might come right back up.  The upshot is that in the second half, the race became pure drudgery.

I walked up the first Newton Hill.  Jogged the second.  Walked the third.  I started to wonder if I might run slower than four hours for the first time in ten years.    At mile 20, my quads seized up in debilitating cramps.  I could barely walk, let alone run another 6.2 miles.  A National Guard member came over to check on me and he suggested using my elbows to dig into my quads, which I did.  I had to stop and do this every ten minutes or so for the rest of the race.

People had been passing me for the entire race, but just past the halfway point was when the white corral caught up with me.  For reference, I had started in the first corral (red), and the white corral started a half hour later.

While running, a lot of spectators misread my singlet.  "YEAH! WHAT'S UP MAN?!"  I just chuckled and kept running.  I walked a lot down Beacon Street and spectators were able to get a better look due to my slower pace.  "WHO'S UP?  YOU'RE UP MAN!!!!!!!!"  I appreciated their exuberance, even if I wanted them to stop yelling at me and leave me alone in my misery.

Any time I tell myself before a race that I only care about finishing, I always end up setting some sort of loose time goal for myself anyway.  I probably would have been disappointed to finish in slower than four hours, so I spent the last few miles of the race doing late race mental math and hoping I could make it.  I didn't want to have to hustle down Boylston like last time.  I really wanted to be able to take in those last few blocks.

With less than a mile to go, while going under the Bowker Overpass, one of the few places on the course with no spectators, a man running next to me yelled "I FUCKING LOVE EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU!!"  To say this was an emotional moment would be an understatement.

Right on Hereford.

Left on Boylston.

And there opened up in front of me one of the grandest moments in sports.  Four blocks of screaming, joyful humanity, pushing the runners around me towards our nirvana.  I tried to turn around and run backwards for a step to take it all in, but the change in gait sent me down with a calf cramp like I had been shot.  A police officer came over on a bike to check on me.  I grimaced, dug my elbows into all areas of my legs, then hobbled on.

I crossed the finish line in a daze, and slowly moved my way forward to collect my medal and other things.  Not sure why they were giving out mylar blankets, but I took one anyway.  A bottle of water.  A banana.  A bag of food.  Some sort of chocolate protein drink.  I had to stop to sit on the curb a few times to collect myself.  Volunteers kept asking me if I was ok but I really wasn't sure.  After twenty minutes in the finishers' area, I finally felt ok to leave.  Because my Airbnb was so close to the finish line, I hadn't checked a gear bag, so I just walked back to my place to shower and relax for a little bit.

And so ends my 2nd Boston, my 14th marathon, and one tough race.  But we're not done here yet, folks.  Stay tuned for my next post when I get into the post race celebration.  Spoiler alert: there was a fair bit of alcohol involved.

2017 Love Run Half Marathon: Race Report

I'm a creature of habit.  Once I find races that I like, I tend to do them year after year. Haddonfield Adrenaline 5k.  Wissahickon Trail Classic.  Philly Marathon.  Rock 'n' Roll Philly Half Marathon.  These races and I go back years.

A few years ago, a new Half Marathon debuted in Philly called the Love Run, and I've been wanting to try it ever since.  Because I was planning to drop down in distance for my long run that day anyway, and because I'm not doing the ODDyssey Half Marathon this year, and in an effort to try something brand new, I signed up.

It ended up being a great decision.  It was a very well-run and fun event, and I could definitely see myself doing it again in the future.

Like a lot of Philly races, this one started at the art museum, so I took the train across the bridge into Philly on Sunday morning, then walked out to the museum with several hundred other people.  I'm part of a large running group on Facebook called Run856, and they had a tent set up where people could drop their bags, so I didn't have to worry about official gear check.

The weather was supposed to be cold and rainy for the morning of the race; luckily we only had to worry about the cold as the rain held off.  I ran in just a long sleeve shirt and wool hat which worked out perfectly.

I started in the first corral and set off at what I guessed was about a 7:30 pace (I didn't wear a watch for this race).  The first few miles wound through Center City before returning to the art museum and bearing left onto Martin Luther King Jr. Drive.  I was feeling pretty good throughout, even during the climb up to the Strawberry Mansion Bridge and short detour around the other side of the Schuylkill River.  As I fell into the homestretch in the last few miles along the river, I started picking up the pace.  I finished the last tenth of a mile in a dead sprint, which made for a nice picture:

Side note: I love it when races offer free professional pictures.

My time wasn't too bad either.  I've been running long this winter in preparation for Boston, of course, but haven't approached anywhere near the intensity that I would like.  Going into this race, I told myself I would be happy with anything under 1:40, so the fact that I beat that and managed to finish the last few miles with a solid kick is a win in my book.

I had a full set of clothes to change into, thankfully, considering how cold it was.  I hung out waiting for others to finish, and then got talked into redeeming my free beer in the beer garden.  Because you're not living until you're drinking beer (Yards, natch) at 9:30am outside in 45 degree weather after running 13.1 miles.

I then went to a nearby bar to get out of the cold and meet a guy from Who's Up? for another drink, followed by walking back to the train to return to New Jersey.

If you're looking for a good half marathon in the Philly area, I definitely recommend this one. There was a great turnout for such a new race, the course was beginner friendly with just one challenging hill in the back half, the participant perks are solid, and there were no major snafus of any kind.  Race management was solid all around.

Dare I say it?  I just might love this race.

2017 Haddonfield Adrenaline 5k: Race Report

Ran the 12th annual Haddonfield Adrenaline 5k last weekend.  I love this race for so many reasons (flat and fast course, competitive field, great after party...) and try to do it every year. It's usually the first race of the year for me and a great time to shake off the winter cobwebs and assess where I'm at in terms of racing fitness.

The race happened to fall the day after St. Patty's Day this year, so rather than go out and drink my face off Friday night, I abstained from alcohol completely and went to bed around 10pm.  Because Stevie works on Saturday mornings, my dad met me at Haddonfield Memorial High School, the site for the start and finish of the race, so he could watch Neale while I ran.

Close to 9am we all gathered on Kings Highway, and I caught up with some people from Who's Up? towards the front of the pack of hundreds of runners.

The race was unremarkable, to be honest.  I ran hard, but without any specific preparation for the 5k distance this winter,  I finished in roughly the same time I do every year.

The winner finished in 14:42, by the way.  Like I said, it's a competitive race.

The after party was held at the gym of a nearby church with wine and kegs of Yards Pale Ale and Yards Brawler.

I love these guys.

Another great year in the books, and already looking forward to next year...

2016 Haddon Township Turkey Trot Race Report

Ran the 10th annual Haddon Township Turkey Trot this morning.

Here are some race recaps from previous years:

2012
2013
2014
2015

I love this race because it's local so it doesn't take long for me to get there, and it's also in the town where I teach so I get to race against a lot of my students (the swim coach makes all of her swimmers run this race for conditioning, so that helps).  Spoiler alert: one of them beat me this year.  Sigh...  Also it finishes at a bar and there is a whole breakfast buffet afterwards.

Racing, followed by drinking beer.  All in all, my idea of a quality Saturday morning.

I got to the Pour House at 8 o'clock and got a sweet parking space on the street right next to the bar and finish line.  Met up with my dad for a bit, then did a quick warm up jog with Erik.

The race started promptly at 9 o'clock with close to a thousand people lining up on Haddon Avenue.  At the signal, we all tore off about a half mile down the street before making the first turn.  The course for this race is great because it is almost pancake flat with very few turns.  If the weather is perfect (like it was today), then it is a great course to set a PR on.  Too bad I just wasn't in PR shape today.

The downside to this race is that despite its size, it doesn't offer a water stop (usually not a huge deal in November, though), nor does it offer race clocks at each mile marker.  I didn't have my watch on so I had no idea how fast I was going.

One of the guys in my running group was hanging off my right shoulder, and we traded places several times in the second half of the race.  I was trying my hardest to fight off the urge to give up and just let him overtake me for good, especially because I've been fighting a cough for the last two weeks.  I kept telling myself to keep pushing because this is most likely my last race of 2016 and I wanted to finish on a high note.  I ended up edging him out by just five seconds and finished in 19:45, 24th overall and 4th in my age group.  The winner finished in 15:34.  This race is nuts.

When I crossed the line I suddenly felt the urge to throw up, which almost never happens to me after races, and I spent the rest of the morning coughing my head off.

Me: I think I made my cough worse by racing this morning.
Father-in-law: Maybe you should have skipped the race.
Me: I couldn't!  It's tradition to do this race!
Father-in-law: Your cough is becoming a tradition at this point.

I tried to congratulate as many of my students at the finish line as I could before heading to my car and getting changed.  At the awards ceremony, a woman saw me wearing an old Philly Marathon shirt and asked me about it because she had just run it last weekend.  My dad and I ended up talking to her about marathons for the next twenty minutes.

Neither my dad nor I won anything in our age groups, but Erik won 2nd in his age group and got a sweet mason jar pint glass which I picked up for him because he had already left.

My dad and I got our traditional picture beneath the Pour House sign:

And I then spent the rest of the morning with the Who's Up? crew drinking beer and talking about Boston (three of us are running in 2017 and one just qualified last weekend for 2018).

If you're looking to PR in the 5k, this is a great race to target.  Flat course, usually good weather, and right at the end of the fall so you can train mostly in moderate weather.  Can't wait for next year...

2016 Cooper Norcross Run the Bridge 10k: Race Report

Every year in November for the last decade or so, runners have gathered in Camden, NJ to run across the Ben Franklin Bridge in a race aptly named "Run the Bridge."  It's a 10 kilometer race with an additional 2 mile walk, and benefits the Larc School, a facility in New Jersey that caters to students aged 3 - 21 with moderate to severe disabilities.

It's one of those races that has been on my radar for years, partly because I'd always heard good things about it but also for the novelty of getting to run on a closed bridge (the only other time I'd done so was when the Pope came to town).  So 2016 was the year I finally got to check it off my bucket list.

The staging area for the race is Campbell's Field, home of the now defunct Camden Riversharks baseball team.  We live pretty close to it now, so I was able to take a leisurely Sunday morning ride through Camden to get there.

Once I got there, thousands of people were streaming into the stadium.  Everything was very well organized, from bag check, to packet pickup, to ID check (for the post race beer garden).

A little after 8 o'clock, runners started heading over to the base of the Ben Franklin Bridge, about a half mile away.  They had signs for paces, and I placed myself between the 7 and 8 minute pace signs.  There were a few guys from Who's Up? there with me, including Erik who jumped in at the last second.

Dave Welsh announcing before the start: "If you're elite, please come to the front.  If you think you're elite, take a step back."

At 8:30, the gun went off, and we all began the long slog up the mile long incline of the bridge. The entire first half of the race is on the bridge, with the first turnaround point on the Philadelphia side.  The second half of the race is run through the downtown streets of Camden.

I was feeling pretty good on the bridge and began picking people off, and then tried to hold the pace once back on level ground.  By about mile 4.5, I had caught up with two guys from Who's Up?, but I soon began to wonder how much longer I could keep it up.  At the mile 5 water stop, there were several employees from the Haddonfield Running Company all yelling encouragement, which was a nice boost, but I was still hurting and wanted the race to be over as soon as possible.

I forgot how tough 10k's can be.  5k's obviously hurt too, but they're only half the pain.  And 10 miles or longer, you at least have the chance to build up to cruising speed.  But 10k's seem to be balls to the wall for the entire race.

Once we reached the homestretch and the stadium came into view, Michael began pulling away.  I yelled at him to finish strong, and he looked back at me over his left shoulder while motioning with his arm and shouting back "COME ON!"  We made the final turn into the stadium and onto the outfield grass, with Michael just barely edging me out in a photo finish. When we crossed the line, he  immediately turned around to congratulate me, which the finish line camera caught on video:

This is why I love racing.  Getting up early.  Pushing myself to my limits.  Testing myself. Experiencing a beautiful fall morning when I would have otherwise been on the couch at home.  The camaraderie with a fellow running club member.  THIS is why I love it and wish I could do it every weekend.

My finishing time wasn't too bad, either.  I'm pretty sure it's a PR in the 10k, but hard to tell as I just don't race 10k's very often.

After finishing, I waited for Erik, and then we went over and got beer (Yards Brewing - interesting that they went with a Philly brewery as opposed to the many South Jersey breweries).

We hung out for awhile listening to the live music, and each got another beer.  Dave Welsh came around and while talking, he mentioned how they're planning to demolish the stadium within the next year, so next year's race will be much different.

So I'm not sure what next year's race will look like, but if it's anything like this year's, I can definitely recommend it.  Great, challenging course with great beer at the end.  What more could you need?