Sunday was my second race in the Charlotte Six Pack Series – the Hit the Brixx 10K. Brixx is a local pizza chain based in Charlotte. I’ve run this race twice in the past in 2016 and 2017. This time it was held in South Charlotte, whereas it used to start Uptown. I think this probably helps with logistics, since we ran through a lot of neighborhoods, which probably help with road closures.

The Race

For some reason, the race organizers decided to start the 5K at 7:30 am and the 10K at 8:20 am. This is Charlotte, NC in May, when the likelihood of heat and humidity is very high. I don’t understand why they wouldn’t start the 10K at 7:30 am and the 5K at 8:00 am or even 7:45 am. By the time we started, it was really hot and humid.

There is a party at Brixx after the race where they give you free pizza and pasta. There are also several beer vendors giving out a can of their craft beer. It is a really fun end to a race.

The Course

The 10K course went through a series of neighborhoods that had a good number of hills. It was a very hot and humid day. What was most surprising to me was they only had 2 water stops. Several people brought their water packs – those were the smart people! I should have brought one because I was feel really dehydrated towards the end.

I had just started my new training program with Coach Twiggs, so I was supposed to do a run/walk at a 30/30 run/walk pace. It wasn’t easy to run/walk at the beginning because of the crowded course, so I ran the first mile. I also felt like that was a good warm up (in addition to the mile warm up I did to do the 7 miles on my training plan). I then transitioned into a 60/30 split, but I was down to more walking in the second half.

The first 5K was a loop back to the start line, and then we went (south?) to do another loop of a different neighborhood. There wasn’t a lot of fun things to look at, but there were neighbors out cheering which I find really nice.

The Results

I’m not sure why, but I cannot find my results. I’m not sure if my bib wasn’t entered into the computer or what, but I cannot find my bib anywhere! Strava estimated by finish to be 1:06:57, but I did a mile before, so I’m not sure where this started tracking. If Strava is right, then I was just 6 seconds off my PR and the conditions were way worse than ATC10K in 2021.

Overall, I felt okay about the race. It was definitely hot and I struggled towards the end, but I feel good about what I did. I was a little surprised by the inefficiencies of the organization since they usually think through some of these details. Despite that, I would do this again in the future.