The Buzz Run is in its 5th year, with an Oktoberfest theme and held at Sumter Original Brewery. Proceeds go to fund United Ministries. I’m unsure of who exactly directs the race, but Sumter Pest Management seems to take a large role. The race is easily my favorite exterminator-led event on the Tour de Columbia and one of the best of the year.
Why? Let me count the ways: 1) PANCAKE FLAT COURSE – I mean not a hint of a hill. It makes Shandon look like a mountain range. They got it certified after a short course in year one, so now it’s perfect for a PR attempt. 2) BEER – Sumter Original Brewery is a gem. It’s on a corner lot in the downtown area of Sumter with an awesome rooftop deck, where they have an afterparty. Runners get one free beer, and their “Mr. Hops” is among my favorite local IPAs. 3) CHANCE TO COSPLAY – There is a mention of an Oktoberfest theme. I showed up at the first race in full lederhosen, and I may have been the only one. Totally a “I-thought-this- was-a-costume-party-but-it-really-isn’t “vibes. No matter, as I have zero shame and I’m always up for maximal attention. I just continued to wear it every other time I’ve raced it. Plus, the stupid costume usually gets me on their race flyer. The ego knows no bounds.
This year’s race looked iffy though. Hurricane Isaias was getting ready to make landfall and race day weather looked all kinds of terrible. Like wind, rain and maybe thunder. I half expected it to be canceled, and half wanted it to be, since it would probably effectively ruin the race and afterparty. But they were still on per their Friday night FB post. When I woke up on Saturday morning, I’m not going to lie, I thought about bailing. Rain was already pouring, and an hour drive in this slop was not looking too fun. I should also mention the potential backup race was in Sesqui, a mere 2 miles from my bed. But that would be wasting my registration AND my sweet new felt Oktoberfest hat. We can’t have that.
Left the house at 0700 and Isaias is in full effect. Had some torrential rain on 601. Nothing like a little hydroplaning on a narrow rural highway to wake you up in the morning. However, in a rare Oktoberfest miracle, the rain let up just as I was arriving in Sumter. The Strictly timer said the radar actually looked good for the next hour or so. NICE. Had a chance to do a full warmup in the lederhosen without getting wet and dropped off my own special brew at the taproom.
We had a pretty good CRC representation at the start, even with the weather and long drive from Columbia. I didn’t know what to expect, as I had not run much in the past couple of weeks since the med school race. As it turns out, my ass, quad and achilles decided to bring MY BACK into their special club of Things that destroy Alex’s fitness. Apparently, I hurt my back SLEEPING which is about as old-man an injury as I can imagine. It took me out of commission for the Jamie Scott race and tailgating for the Kentucky game. You know it’s serious if I can even drink beer sitting up.
But the back was better and I was just going to see what I could do. As noted, the course is a complete pool table, so I should be able to mount a steady hard effort. With the gun, I was a little excitable, but I tried to keep things in control. Again, my whole sense of pace is thrown off with my absolute trash fitness. We enter a nice neighborhood, akin to Sumter’s version of Shandon, and just rolled down the runway. I tried to keep Eric Masaitis, a long-time Blue Shoes rival, in sight. I mean I may be slowish right now, but the dude was pushing a stroller with a sizeable kid in tow, so maybe I could hang.
And yeah, that wasn’t happening. I was getting gapped and before long I was pretty much by myself. Mile one in 6:57, a good 40 seconds than my pre-injury pace, but I don’t dare go faster. We finally hit the turnaround, which is a few blocks. Mile 2 feels about the same pace, but damn I am definitely feeling the lack of endurance training. Sucking way more wind than I would like. As I approach the next mile marker, I hear footsteps, and some XC kid blows by me. Oh damn, the leaders must have gotten off course, because no way this guy was behind me. Mile 2 comes back in 6:59. Sure enough, Strictly’s Ryan Schaffer goes by me as well soon after, and I know for sure he was near the lead in the early going. Mile 3 gets really rough. I am starting to really labor, and the breathing is getting all ragged. Man this sucks. Finally, I see the turn towards downtown. What I seem to have forgotten is that there is probably still a half mile to go. I’m trying to mount a kick but my lungs are vetoing the decision. I start hearing footsteps AGAIN, but this time their pace seems similar to mine. Sure enough, Sean “F%^G” Higgins (Randy’s term of endearment) edges by me. I try overriding my engine but the fuel gauge is definitely on E. But, maybe I can still catch him! I’m blasting it out at 10000% for a bit, but then Mr. Stomach decides to join in on the fun. Total dry heave. YIKES, can’t be puking at the finish. That will definitely not be race flyer material. One last turn and I mail in the last bit to avoid a reversal of fortune. Total HYC flop in the finish chute, where I fight like hell to keep the coffee and Honey Bunches of Oats from making a repeat appearance. Finally, things settle down and I look at my watch. 21:23. Another post injury PR, but man is it humbling to nearly catch a case of the pukesies running a 5k at my old tempo pace. Still, good enough for 11th overall/2nd in AG, behind Higgins of course. I think the XC kid (Trip Hunt), Ryan and Visser all ran close to 4 miles.
But it did create a bit of karmic justice. Eric Masaitis was leading the 2021 Springdale 5k when he, Greer and Michael Nance got led off course. The beneficiary was me, winning the overall because of the misdirect. Masaitis was rightfully upset, though I have made sure to remind him about it from time to time, even before this race. And who won this race? Eric. He took the overall, stroller and all, for a redemption of sorts. I hate it when people go off course, but you have to like that.
Age group honor roll: Ryan Schaffer took 2nd in the 30-39, running 20:34 for 3.72 miles (5:31 pace), Kevin Costello took 3rd in the 50-59 behind me and Higgins. Joyce Welch was tops in the 50-59 women, with Lynda Leonardi 3rd. Billy Tisdale made a rare appearance (he was a regular on tour until about 2015 or so) and took 1st in the men’s 60-69. Mary Cassidy won in the women’s division. The male 70+ was swept by the CRC with Pete O’Boyle taking the win, George Cassidy 2nd and Pete Poore 3rd.
Notable finishers: Monica Stevenson, Drew Dickerson and Stevie Dee Dukes
Pics by Southern Lens Collective, montages from the CRC newsletter/Tracy Tisdale.
The Run with All Your Heart 5k is a race now in its 4th year (I think), put on by the Future Leaders in Medicine group at USC medical school. Proceeds go to benefit Curing Kids Cancer, which supports pediatric cancer research.
The race had been held at Segra Park, but fortunately for people who hate hills, it was relocated to the School of Medicine in 2025 when GRIT took over the event. The new course ran back into the neighborhood behind the VA and paralleled the Sweat it Out route, so actually flat and fast. Unfortunately, the second or third summer of 2025 marred last year’s event, which was a total sweat fest and produced some slower times despite the friendly course.
I’m still building back the machine, but I was glad to see we’d be greeted by first faux fall this year, with temps in the 50s or 60s. I had mustered a 22:25 two weeks earlier on the tough Springdale course, so I was going to try my best for a sub-22.
I arrived at the med school an hour early and the place was already crawling with people. Erin had mentioned about 400 were signed up, which is pretty incredible given the 3 other races on the tour Saturday. Although the campus of the med school is fairly unrecognizable 24 years after I was there, the race headquarters was in one of the original buildings. I had a chance to look at all the class photos and see chubby baby-facedmed student McDonald in all his glory. Believe me, that kid wasnot running any 5ks. I was worried about the restroom situation with only one toilet, but somehow I was blessed with a solo pressure-free pre-race indoor poo with no one waiting. Chef’s kiss.
I ran into Visser in the parking lot who invited me to warm up with him and Ashley. Note to self, I’m not 30 years old anymore. I did about three quarters of a mile with them but realized this “warm-up” pace was probably only a shade slower than “fat ass Alex race pace” so I bailed to slog back to the start. At least the hip wasn’t giving me any trouble. Maybe the grab bag of PT exercises was working.
Huge crowd at the start. Decent CRC showing but we were definitely all spread out with the other races going on. AshlieghCarpenter had done a mad dash double dip from Sole Stroll. There may have been other CRC doublers but there were a ton of people. The start is predictably crazy since the med school roads are pretty narrow. I may have gotten carried away and had a Brief Psychotic Disorder, where I thought I was somehow transported into 2022. Four years younger, 10 lbs lighter, sub 19 times and many VO2 max points higher. As it turns out, my current fitness is not quite on that level. Still, I felt obligated to chase Shannon and everyone else at 6:30ish pace in the opening half mile.
Result: I was sucking way too much wind by the time we left the VA parking lot. Most of the race is a straight out and back on Byron Rd with a little loop at the turnaround. I spent most of the first stretch on Byron trying to get my breath back. Yeah… as the kids say, I was COOKED. But at least it was flat and cool. I hit mile 1 around 6:51, which is pretty quick for me right now but was mostly an average of my over-excited start and subsequent implosion. I looked ahead and kept hoping I could see the turnaround, but even with the long flat stretch I wasn’t seeing it yet. Finally, we hit a left and start to loop back toward the start. This would be psychological lift, if it wasn’t for the extreme physiological distress I was in, i.e. sucking wind and heart rate jacked in the 160s. The way back is a bit of a blur. It seems it’s actually a slight incline back to the start, of which my wrecked body felt every bit. Mile 2 in 7:06. I try not to think I ran a couple miles at this pace in the Richmond marathon 22 months ago. Only having a mile to go should also be a boost, but I was on total fumes by this point. Somehow, I managed to pass a masters-ish guy, so maybe I had an outside chance in that category. Hitting the VA parking lot, I think about mustering a drive to the finish, but lungs and legs are absolute toast. My only attempt at a kick was when I could actually see the red numbers of the clock, already well into the 21s. One last blast on the med school campus and I crossed the line in 21:52. I’ll take it. Hip and hamstring were ok, ego slightly bruised, but happy to be racing again!
In the women’s race, Ivanka Tolan crushed a 19:08 , with Ashley Graham a strong second in 19:31. Carsan Wooten was 3rdin 20:35. The men’s race was a near photo finish, with Demetris McCray, Caedon Buchanan and Nick Onorato all crossing the line within three seconds of each other (17:51 to 17:53). In female masters, Shannon Godby took the win in 20:28 with Kelly Stein-Marcus 2nd and Kate Boyd 3rd. Male masters was won by Cosmin Buru, who beat me by 10 seconds for the win! Hayne McCall was 3rd in 22:13.
Female age group honor roll: Julia Hauser was 3rd in the 10-14 Sara Kozar was 2nd in the 30-34. Ashleigh Carpenter was 1st in the 40-44 on leg 2 of her eventual triple dip! Stefanie Hauser was 1st in the 45-49. Wendy Homeyer captured 3rd in the 50-54. Lynda Leonardi was 2nd in the 55-59. Mary Cassidy took 3rd in the 65-69. Betty Floyd was 2nd in the 70-74.
Male age group honor roll: The Michael “The V train” Visser won the 30-34 in 18:52. Fellow USC School of Medicine Class of 2002 alum Emmet Maas won the 50-54. Joey Swearingen took the 60-64. George Cassidy and Harry Strick went 2-3 in the 70-74. The 75-79 was won by former School of Medicine dean and one of my favorite professors Dr. Richard Hoppmann, with Rich Wright 2nd and Ken Lowden 3rd.
Other notable finishers: Pete Poore, Jenny Schneider, Rick Massimo, Joe Leonardi, Abby Leonardi, Benjamin Homeyer and Nick Hauser.
