So I’m pretty sure the last time I double dipped, I swore I was done. Two races, one morning. It’s stressful and exhausting. But when I see the stars align for a DD opportunity, I get a wicked case of FOMO and I guess I can’t help myself. As per the usual, porch IPAs may also have been involved. 

This double looked to be an easy one. Seven thirty start for the Fill the Pack 5k and 9 am for MLK. A quick google maps look showed a 22-minute drive between race sites. As someone who has pulled off a triple dip twice and a 30-minute double, this should be a piece of cake.

Plus, these were going to be two good races. I’ve done the MLK probably ten times and it’s always well done with cool awards. It used to be on Strictly’s old Palmetto Grand Prix and brought out all the beasts. It still usually has some decent competition, and the course is conducive to some fast times. I had no idea about Fill the Pack, but it was being held on the legendary Stomp the Swamp course at River Bluff, which is brutally hard but features a cool start/finish in the high school football stadium.

Waking up on race morning, I had my usual moment of Why the hell do I do this to myself??, made even worse by the fact it was 40ish degrees and raining. Awesome. But I had to do at least Fill the pack for two reasons. One, Tracy was coming out for a pro bono Jedi photo shoot and despite my questionable looks, I can’t help but be an attention whore. Two, the Visser. The dude (Michael Visser) has been all over social media in search of his first sub-20, and I couldn’t help but get caught up in his enthusiasm, since that was basically me in 2010. I told him “Come follow me to a sub 20”. I couldn’t let him down, right? Yeah, we’ll get to that. 

I showed up an hour early and the race already had a decent crowd. It is apparently being used by F3 as their local running championship, so some pretty fast looking dudes out there. I don’t understand F3’s lack of racing, but they will show out when they actually put on a bib. I always have to look out for unknown superfit millennial soccer dads with this group. Branham is already there blowing up the bathroom and adjusting his nose strip when I arrive. I’ve made up some of the gap between us, but he is still kicking my ass since my Achilles betrayed me in ’23. Wesley also shows up a couple of minutes later. I used to be able to beat him too, but recently he’s been giving me a smackdown more often than not.  And then there’s the Visser, who I apparently completely misjudged since he’s dressed like an elite in a singlet and arm warmers and is super lean. I only found one potential double dipper in Margie Shelburg. With her average 5k of around 50 minutes, this would be a tough double, but she swore she would do it, even if it meant an HYC style late start at MLK.

Thankfully for the doublers, we started right on time, and the weather wasn’t too terrible. Kind of a light mist, low 40s. Definitely different from the mid-August swelter of Stomp the Swamp. The start is a diagonal across the football field and wow, everyone is hauling ass immediately. It should be known this course will destroy you if you go out too fast. It’s mostly uphill for the first half, with a part they call the “calf crusher”, a huge hill in the middle of campus that you go up and come right back down. But first you have to climb out of the sports complex, and that’s no joke either. Branham has a good lead on me only a quarter mile in, and apparently Visser will not be “following me to a sub 20” because he’s already out of sight. We hit the calf crusher, and it certainly is aptly named. I manage to catch Trey McCain and we basically climb it together, both chasing Wes, who is about 10 meters ahead.

I feel decent in the early going and decide that I must be killing it since the pace feels fast.  We kick out into a parking lot after the calf crusher and the 6:15 mile of my mind is actually 6:41. WTF?? I guess the hills are taking a greater toll than I thought. I try to kick it up a notch but even the parking lot and the connector to the upper entrance of campus is uphill. Around 1.5 you enter a forest paved trail area that is pretty steep in some sections. Yeah, this isn’t helping my pace. Finally, I hit the top of the course in the forest and start plummeting down. I’m afraid of slipping and ripping something in another sharp turn as we enter into another parking lot (site of Silent H’s most recent injury). I didn’t think it was possible, but mile 2 is even slower at 6:57. Jeez this more like the 21-minute pace group than a sub 20. But at least the rest is almost completely downhill. I crank it up a notch and manage to pass a younger guy in a yellow shirt, then set my sights on Wes. Unfortunately for me, Wes is not having it and I’m having trouble closing the gap. We hit the sports complex again and counselor Sawyer is still holding me off. But I’ve been known to channel my inner Rocket Sanders and pull off some epic blue shoeings on the astroturf of the River Bluff football field. Just ask Code Brown and the Yerg. As soon as my feet hit the soft turf, I start throwing down. But that is when the running gods paid me back for Blue shoeing and turkeying. No sooner is my kick in motion when I hear it. Footsteps. Oh no, no one passes me, right? Pace gets amped again but all I see is a yellow blur as the guy I passed whips by me like I’m standing still.  DAMMIT. As it turns out he and three other young dudes up ahead join forces and whip Wes’ ass too. Both of us brutally Gen Z’d. I end up with my tail between my legs, crossing the line in 20:21. 6:09 last mile and a 5:39 kick, and I still get a beat down. Oh well, still good enough for 1^st in AG, though no overall points since I was 12^th. Visser absolutely crushed a 19:20, a huge PR and probably good for a sub 19 on a flat course. Thankfully he decided not to follow the chunky old man.

 

In the overall, Patrick Timmerman took the win in 17:42, with top F3 John Mouzakis second in 18:58. Rowan Anders was 3^rd in 19:17. The women’s race was won by Leah Austin in 21:22. Twelve year old CRCer Cooper “Honey Badger “ Robbins took 2^nd in 25:16. Fellow CRCer Shenequa Coles took 3^rd in 26:36. Branham took home male masters in 19:58 while Geraldine Schnupp was the women’s winner in 27:34.  Highlights of the age groupers included Mark Bedenbaugh and Mark Gallagher winning the 60-64 men. Pam Griffin won the 55-59 women, while Patrick McElderry and Kenny Culbertson went 1-2 in the 50-54 men. Double dipper Margie was 3^rd in the 65-69 women. Full results here: https://www.strictlyrunning.com/json/Index_JS_C4.asp?uYear=2025&uRaceId=4520&uEvent=5k

 

After a failed attempt to recruit Wes for the double, I jumped in the car to head to MLK. The twenty-ish minute drive was just enough to get my legs super stiff. It didn’t help I was cold, wet and was wallowing in my shame from the football field. If I hadn’t forked out the cash already, I probably would’ve bailed. I get there with over half an hour to spare, which is a good thing, because my colon decides to wake up a la the True to the Poo incident on the Palmetto trail. It’s still freezing and now I’m doing bathroom intervals to add to my misery.  Brady had told me the registrations were pretty similar for these races, but the terrible weather has apparently driven quite a few away from MLK. CRC hardcore regulars were out there though, with Jimmy and Hunter Jarvis, Tanner Lybrand, Shannon Godby, Ashley Graham, Pete Poore, Ponomarev, Kirkwood, Shawanna, Artis Love, Ivery Baldwin, Joyce Welch, Lynda Leonardi, Jenny Nance, Michele Edmundson, Stephanie Mosher, Darci and Pippa Kenagy, Asheigh and Lauren Carpenter, Marcus Cunningham, Gretchen Lambert, Bridgette Honor, Jerry Rich and Marcus Cunningham. Margie made it there in time too, with 4 minutes to spare! Pete has done this race over 30 times and is probably an honorary member of Alpha Phi Alpha, the fraternity that puts this race on. 

The course for MLK is certainly easier than FTP.  The first mile is a pancake flat loop around MLK park and into 5 points. Mile two is the tough one, a climb into Shandon on Blossom and King, a la the old Get to the Green course. After the turn around on Heyward, the last mile is mostly flat and downhill, save for a little bump at the end on Lee Street. 

With the gun in race 2, I am feeling rough in the early going but start to loosen up on the back half of the park loop. I’m definitely the ugliest in a three-person pack with Shannon and Ashley. I get a flashback to 1995 chasing girls in five points. Ashley surges ahead and Shannon falls back a bit as we make the turn into Blossom.  Mile 1 in 6:15. Hunter has already exited the zip code and Tanner has put a pretty big gap on us three. My legs are a little cashed, but my lungs feel better since they were already blown out at FTP. Despite my Sasquatchean physique, I’m better at hills than most, so I throw down the hammer on Blossom and break free.  The Blossom/King hill combo is pretty brutal, so I mail in the next quarter mile to recover. Rounding the turn on Woodrow back to home feels good, so I try to at least stay in sight of Tanner. Mile 2 – 6:36. The last mile feels decent cardio wise, but my legs are begging me to stop. Thankfully, it’s all flat on Woodrow/Wheat and King on the way home. I’m running all alone but I’m still deathly afraid of getting a repeat of the last race. Apparently, Mr. Yellow shirt, Andre Smith, lives rent-free in my head now. Cresting the last hill on Lee st, it’s one long fall down a mountain to the finish. I can see the clock and it’s still in the 19s but it’s going to be close.  One last blast and I manage to cross in 19:50. Whew! Very happy with the time for the second half of a double. Good enough for 3^rd behind Hunter and Tanner, and 1^st old man (Masters).

 

In the overall, Hunter Jarvis cruised to another win in 16:10. Tanner got 2^nd in 19:10. Ashley managed to hold off Shannon for the top two spots in the women’s field, with Hannah Hilal 3^rd. Shawanna scored 1^st female masters while Kirkwood won among the men. 

Age group honor roll: Pippa Kenagy and Lauren Carpenter took top 2 in the 11-20. Artis Love was 2^nd in the 21-30 men. Sellers Valimohamed (nee Williamson) returned to racing with 1^st in the 21-30 women. Ivery Baldwin was 3^rdin the 41-50 men.  Shawanna White, Merritt McNeely, and Ashleigh Carpenter won the 41-50 among the women.  Joyce Welch and Lynda Leonardi took top 2 in the 51-60 women. Legends Jerry Rich, Alex Ponomarev and Pete Poore swept the 70+.