The Springdale 5k has been a staple on the Blue Shoes calendar since 2009. The original race was held at night (“Springdale at Sunset”) in August, and was known for being absolutely, insanely hot, with ankle deep grass to boot. I ran a little over 23 minutes that year, https://www.athlinks.com/event/56284/results/Event/105455/Course/145081/Results?page=1, and about passed out at the finish. I really thought the event might be one-and-done affair, but they kept it going. I don’t think I ran it again until it was taken over by GRIT several years later. The new course was not exactly easy, but at least there were post-race waffles and trophies. The race proceeds benefit the Mobile Nutrition Center, a mobile food pantry that delivers healthy foods to sites located in rural Kershaw County, SC, through the United Way. Definitely a great cause.

 

Fast forward to this year, and it’s been, as Bananarama once said, a cruel summer. Tweaking my hip and high hamstring in February at Dam to Dam led to months of misery. Though to be fair, running a 50k and the Boston Marathon is not an effective treatment for this ailment. I eventually tossed in the towel on running for a while and threw together a physical therapy regimen to repair my literally broken ass. I figured if I did enough core/piriformis/hamstring/hip flexor exercises, something had to stick. In the past few weeks I actually ran several times, though starting an exercise regimen on August afternoons in Columbia is not something I recommend. Last week I threw my hat back in the ring in Rusty’s RCRC  race and slogged out a 23:25.  Four minutes slower than my usual, but better than fangirling CRC races on the sideline. So I decided to do Springdale too, because, let’s just pretend everything is all better immediately. But hey, realizing you’re a shadow of your former self at least gives you plenty of room for improvement. 

I got up super early on race day and I was pretty anxious about the whole thing. I mean, because there’s a lot riding on the athletic performance of random 51-year-old suburban dads in local 5ks. I did a modified version of my potpourri of physical therapy exercises and left even earlier than usual for the trek out to Camden. Of course, by the time I arrive, my colon is like, OH, WE ARE DOING THIS AGAIN? LETTTTS GOOO. Luckily Springdale is legendary for its primo portable bathrooms. I’m not going to lie though; the slow flush mechanism had me sweating bullets for a solid 30 seconds. Dear God, no one wants to see the aftermath of a Blue Shoes pre-race portapotty Chernobylization. I cranked out a solid half mile of warmup , because apparently I’ve regressed to where anything longer might wear me out.

 

At the start, there’s a pretty good CRC contingent, sporting the new club swag. I had my new sweet visor and liner-less shorts, ready to free ball a sub 23. Despite our significant representation, Camden Run Club is out in force in their new singlets. Sadly, they took the team win, but I guess this is their town. My main race thought this week was DON’T GO OUT TOO FAST. The course is pretty simple, 1.5 miles of gradual decline and 1.5 miles back up. The last mile plus on this course is notorious for inducing walksies even for the best of us. Of course, as soon as the race starts, I start careening down the hill at a pace that fat-and-slow Alex should not be attempting. At least I have more gravity on my side. Even with my “fast” pace, I am getting passed left and right. A literal child passes me and I’m like, damn even elementary schoolers kick my ass these days. We all flop down the long decline, passing some stables where the horses are in full panic seeing the human stampede. I hit mile one in 7:01, and based on last week’s race, this is probably a fatal error. Not to mention, it’s hot. Not like oh, it’s a little warm. It’s full-on hot wet blanket smothering your face misery. But at least my legs feel ok. I guess Alex’s grab bag of PT does pay some dividends. Some dude has been riding me like a monkey on my back, and I use the flat turnaround area to drop him a bit. We start the long haul back to the start and it starts to get ugly. I’m not exactly crushing it, but just maintaining pace is allowing me to reel the field back in a bit. A young guy in front of me starts a walk of shame pretty quick, one of the many victims of that downhill start. Mile 2 comes up in my Garmin, but I decide not to even bother looking. The rest of the course is a seemingly never-ending incline of turns through the aptly named Kirkwood Hills subdivision. Fortunately, I’ve probably run this race a dozen times, so I know the last turn is marked by one of those “little library” wooden boxes. There’s a long straight-ish stretch and I decide to kick it in a bit. I manage to catch Julia Keen, but unfortunately her dad Whitney is giving me a beatdown up ahead. Plus, there are a couple of others masters-looking dudes in my vicinity, and it appears I’m not going to catch them either. I finally see the library, but I’m too gassed to really throw down my usual headless chicken. I see the clock up ahead switch over to 22 minutes, so I do what I can, flopping across the line in 22:23. Not my finest performance, but hey, finishing a minute faster than last week and not hurting anywhere has me pretty jacked.  The pack of middle-aged dads narrowly beat me out for masters, but I did manage first in age group. I will most certainly take it.

 

In the overall, Ryan Schaffer took the men’s race in 18:28, followed by Nathan McKinney (20:29) and Graham Couch (20:48). Nora Dragovic took the women’s race in 18:51, followed by Jen Thomas and Ashley Graham. Whitney Keen took male masters, with Miguel Corona Gutierrez second and David Watkins third. Women’s masters was won by Megan Newbold, though CRC’s Melody Kreiling was a close second and Amy Tucci third.

Women’s age group honor roll: Julia Keen and Meg Hicks were 1-2 in the 25-29. Ashleigh Carpenter and Amanda Smyrl won the 40-44. Ronda Sanders was 1st in the 45-49. Rita Hipp was champ of the 50-54.  Lynda Leonardi won the 55-59. Kelly Danias was tops in the 60-64. Beverly Brauer and Mary Cassidy went 1-2 in the 65-69. Diane Feeman was 3rd in the 70-74. Martha Aultman was 2nd in the 75+.

Men’s age group honor roll: Michael Smyrl finished 2nd in the 50-54, while Joey Swearingen was champ of the 60-64. Jerry Rich placed 3rd in the 70-74. Bill Iskrzak was 3rd in the 75+.

Other notable finishers: Michael Beaudet, Gabby Swearingen, Calara Beaudet, Drew Dickerson, Rick Massimo, Gretchen Lambert, Dean Rennick. Pete Poore, Lauren Carpenter, Mary Cassidy, George Cassidy, Lorand Batten and Alex Ponomarev.