2015

Feb25

I looked at this week a couple months ago and I was really bummed that two races I like were opting for the same date. Race for the Place (RFTP) is a super competitive, flat and fast rectangle in Shandon. Its always a challenge to even place in my age group there, but I love the ceramic tile awards. I”ve run it every year since it began in 2011. The March for Meals (MFM) used to be run at Riverbanks Zoo, and was the site of my very first age group trophy in 2009 – a gateway drug into a full blown racing addiction.

I had been slack in signing up, but I went ahead and registered for RFTP on Thursday afternoon. I figured this would be my best opportunity for a sub 19 – the course was super flat and I’d have some competition to help me pace. Once committed to RFTP, I was curious about the course at MFM since they were scrapping the old venue for a new course on the Timmerman trail in Cayce. Just as I was about to log off I noticed the 9 am start. Wait a second…

Sure enough, RFTP started at 8 am. Some quick google mapping and mental arithmetic yielded this – I needed 19 minutes for RFTP and 15 minutes for travel. If everything went right, this would be a very doable double dip. I was in.

Of course, the one hour double dip is not for the newbie nor the faint of heart. First, you better hope the second race has early packet pick up. If it’s going to be tight you don’t want to be standing in line sweating it out to get your bib. Luckily, MFM had this at Strictly Running on Friday. Second – car parking is key. You need to make sure you have an easy getaway. Nothing’s worse than mistakenly parking on the race course and being unable to move your car. Third – mental preparation. The whole point is gunning for as many Tour de Columbia points as possible, so taking it easy in one or both races isn’t going to work. You have to be willing to jump in the pain cave, come out, and get pushed right back in…probably further the next time.

But, having learned under the tutelage of legendary double dippers William Schmitz, John Gasque and Pete Poore, I had my strategy down pat. I was going to have to do this more often this year anyway, since Brandenburg has been scared to death of a Sasquatchian attack on his TDC Masters championship. I turn 40 on March 3. He has to train for the Kona Ironman later this year. One problem – he double dipped last week and had 6 races under his belt already. He had 50 something points to my zero heading into this weekend.

Race #1 Race for the Place

I got there an hour early, and had a perfect spot on Devine St, even pointing towards the next race. I laid out my second shirt and bib in the car while I went to get the RFTP bib. Awesome shirt this year, by the way – one I’ll actually wear instead of contributing to the ginormous pile in the corner of my bedroom. One mile to warm up in the brutal cold, then I run into Joyce and Code. Joyce is racing but the Code is still on injured reserve. We end up basically running the whole course before I realize a 4 mile warm up is probably not the brightest idea before a sub 19 attempt or a double dip. Also not a good idea – indulging in my mom’s chili and multiple beers at a family get together the night before. Yeah, don’t do that.

As expected, this place is crawling with racing studs. Bishop, OJ, Shawanna, MC, Luke Godwin, Justin Jones, Kenneth “Son of Beast” Vowles, Sarah and Eric Allers, – this was going to be brutal. Familiar faces and names included: Pete O’Boyle, Coke Mann, Arnold Floyd, Rafael Marquez, Angel, David Russell, Norm Ferris, Kris Litman-Koon, Brittany Robbins, Renee McCormick, Lois Leaburn, Teresa Harrington, Mickie Ishizue, Alsena Edwards, Tom Beattie, Gasque, Alex Ponamarev, Kate Ferlauto, Ron Hagell, Shirley Smith, Ken and Patti Lowden, Kat Hudgins, Sharon Sherbourne, Samuel Striggles, and Susannah Cole.

Oh, and lest I forget, Jeff Brandenburg. Like Fight Club, I guess the first rule about double dipping is “don’t talk about double dipping”. Not only was he here, but doing MFM as well. We are not helping the whole “psycho psychiatrist” stereotype.

The start is insane. So many beasts in this thing, its hard not to get caught in the stampede, especially with a downhill stretch to start. I’m hoping for a sub 6 first mile so I try to keep up. I’m used to the crowd thinning out pretty quick at this pace but a half mile in I’ve still got lots of company. Brandenburg, Shawanna and MC are just ahead of me and Luke Godwin is attached at my hip. Kris Litman Koon is also up in the mix, so I assume he’s been hitting the training pretty hard. A few soft rolling inclines and I am just not feeling it. Lots of wind suckage and fatigue, and I start cursing myself thinking how bad MFM is going to suck after this. But hey, maybe I’m rocking like a 5:50 or something. Uh, nope. 6:08 at Mile 1. This would be fine – a 6:07 will get you a 18:59. What’s not fine is me wanting to quit right there. Sure enough, I mentally and physically fade out for a bit and then realize Luke is dropping me and MC/Jeff/Shawanna are starting to gap me a bit too. Must. Keep. Up. It feels like forever but we finally hit the other side of the rectangle on Queen Street, and I’m hurting pretty bad. Angel has just been out for a training run and tells me to catch Brandenburg. I’m going to try my best. Mile 2 in 6:15. Not too bad, given my general feeling of death. I try to ramp it up, knowing I’ll need a sub 6 effort to get me in the 18’s. Lungs are definitely protesting the brain’s decision, unfortunately. Just cant get enough wind in me. What’s worse is that they are letting cars go behind me, so I feel like I’m dead last. We do a little squiggle from Wheat to Blossom, and I know its just a flat half mile to go. Adrenaline takes over and I start drawing nearer to the pack. I see Luke break from the front but JB, Shawanna and MC in are in a tight pack. For a moment I think I’m going to blast through the three of them in a headless chicken kick, but it was not to be. They all kicked in too, and they remained just out of reach. The last couple of blocks or so I see the clock and its already in the 18:50’s. Damn. No chance. I flop across the line in 19:17. I feel like remaining on the ground in the fetal position but then I realize I have to get the hell out of here. I take a few pics and try to tell Colleen to pick up my AG award, though I’m still panting like a banshee and my heart is beating like an Avett Brothers kick drum. Plus, I’ve gotten beat by so many people I dont even know if I placed.

Luckily OJ won the race, taking him out of the AG and giving me the consolation 3rd place. Man this AG sucks. 15th overall. Behind OJ was Justin Bishop, finishing 2nd in 16:20. Justin Jones finished 3rd, just a step ahead of Kenneth Vowles. In the women’s race, Caroline Peyton crushed the field in 18:09 followed by Shawanna and MC a few seconds over 19. Team Allers cleaned up the masters division with wins by Eric (17:58) and Sarah (20:33). Age group honor roll: Samuel Striggles placed 2nd in the 2-14. Kenneth crushed a 17:26 but just had to show up to claim his 15-19 age group of one. Brittany Robbins eked out a 20 minute win in the girls 15-19. Team Utopia’s David Russell ran 6 flat pace and claimed first in the 25-29. Kris Litman-Koon hung on for a strong 20:06 and 2nd in the 30-34, with Rafael Marquez 3rd in 21:39. Luke Godwin got his sub 19 with an 18:58 and 2nd in the 35-39 AG, Kate Ferlauto placed 3rd on the women’s side. Coke Mann rocked his 621 ninja custom shoes and claimed first in the 40-44. Some psycho psychiatrist took 1st in the 45-49, we wont mention his name. In the 45-49 women, Joyce rocked a new PR 22:12, followed by Sandra Ricciuto and race director Missy Caughman (great job Missy!). Tom Beattie placed 3rd in the 50-54 in a definitely-faster-than-Wes-Spratt time of 24:01. Renee McCormick took first in the women’s 50-54, ahead of Melanie Davega and tri addict Marlena Crovatt-Bagwell. Alsena Edwards, Lois Leaburn and Shirley Smith swept the 55-59, with Pete O’Boyle and John Gasque claiming 1st and 3rd on the men’s side. Sharon Sherbourne was the champion of the 60-64. Norm Ferris, Alex Ponamarev and Ron Hagell swept a brutal 65-69 category, with Patti Lowden and Brigitte Smith going 1-2 among the women. Arnold Floyd crushed the 70+ division as always.

http://www.strictlyrunning.com/RESULTS/15RACE4PLACE.TXT

https://connect.garmin.com/activity/703907867

Race #2 March for Meals “Wild” Run 5k

OK, so Google Maps had a 14 minute drive from St Joseph’s church (site of RFTP) and the Timmerman Trail. I must have thought I was still racing because I made it there in ten. In keeping with the theme of the day, I arrived just seconds after Brandenburg. We did a half mile or so of warmup, but when you’ve just finished a hard 5k fifteen minutes ago, it didnt take long.

March for Meals was decidedly less competitive, as expected, though they had a good crowd. Heavy on the race shirt wearing variety. Plexico seems to win this race every year, and sure enough he came out to defend his title. I swear he’s won it every time I’ve run. Will Brumbach and Micah Simonsen were there, proving I can’t catch a break in my age group. Other familiar faces were Brie McGrievy (with daughter Sabine), Jennifer Reeves, Dina Mauldin, Pam Inman, Lucia Velicu, Jeff Smith, Steve Rudnicki, Cheryl and Tommy Outlaw + Gizmo, Sue Porter, Barbara Brandenburg , Rocky Soderberg and Paul Bates. The Chick Fil A cow was there, so I made sure I got my mascot fetish pic in. It was cool to see Dawn Staley, USC women’s basketball coach (26-1, #2 in the country) there to start the race.

The start felt like crap, as my legs and lungs were wondering why the hell I was abusing them twice in one morning. First quarter mile is on a dirt road before entering the trail, which is a winding concrete route through the forest. Plex doesnt take long to leave us all in the dust, but JB and a handful of kids surge to the front of the non-Lightning pack. Brumbach jumps in front of me along with Micah, so here I am in the top 8 or so and already running 3rd in age group. We hit the concrete trail and I ride Micah like an overgrown gorilla before he eventually relents and lets me pass. My legs are trashed but one saving grace is that this race is flat as a pancake. Literally no hills. It’s still not a super fast route, because I’m having to engage some of my new found Make-My-Day trail agility to round all these twists and turns. JB and Brumbach have left me for dead but I make sure to keep at least a visual on them up ahead. I dont even worry about Garmin splits since I figure they’re probably useless out here in the forest with a million turns. I’d probably be too depressed to see my pace too, because its a hell of a lot slower.

About a mile and a half in, we jump out of the woods onto the dirt Old State Rd, which oddly enough I’ve run before on leg 2 of the Palmetto 200. This little part sucks because it’s a short out and back, with the turnaround as a cone in the middle of the narrow road. Bringing my tractor trailer -like physique into a hairpin turn around this cone brings me to a complete stop, and it about kills me to get back up to 5k pace. No more stealth with JB and Brumbach since they obviously see me on the turnaround. I see Micah right on my tail too.

We head back towards the finish road and I get all excited because I’m more than ready to get this thing over with. I’ve managed to pass a couple more people and its just me, a random kid, JB and Will. I finally break my Garmin blindness and see my watch not even on 2.5 miles, and sure enough they’re directing us away from the finish. Looks like I’ll be riding this out on fumes, because I’ve got about nothing left. One more loop through the forest and we come back out on the finish road. I figure this time its for real. I try to kick it in but JB and the kid are too far ahead. Brumbach has burned us all and takes second place. As we hit the final paved stretch, the kid pulls a page from the Blue Shoe book and blasts by JB on his right. JB notices at the last second and they both sprint to a photo finish. I see the clock around 19:30 and I about give up a lung to break 20, finishing in 19:49. 2nd in AG (behind Will) and 5th overall. Happy to get two sub 20’s in less than an hour, though since my goal for this year is a sub 40 10k, I better be able to do this. Between missing the sub 19 at RFTP, getting viciously double Brandenburged, and scoring all of 10 TDC points, its hard to call this morning a big success. Cool races though.

As predicted, Plex cruised to the easy win in 17:37. Will got second in 19:24 with the kid (Mike Schrum, actually age 25) edging JB out by a microsecond for third. Poor Jeff. This race is perennially a women’s trophy hunt for some reason. Gina Campbell took the win in 23:02, followed by Barb Brandenburg and Mikayla Morales.

AG honors: Sabine McGrievy, age 6, rocked a 35:23 and third in the 2-10 age group. Ryan Sacko won the 30-34 men. Micah placed third in our brutal 35-39 and 7th overall. JB took the 45-49 with Steve Hunter 3rd. Barb won the 45-49 women followed by Palmetto Runners’ Pam Inman and Jennifer Reeves. Jeff Smith finished 2nd in the 50-54. Sue Porter and Cheryl Outlaw placed 1st and 3rd in the 55-59, while Steve Rudnicki and Tommy Outlaw topped the men’s division. Jan Hardwick claimed the 65-69 men, while Rocky Soderberg took 2nd in the 70+.

http://www.strictlyrunning.com/RESULTS/15MARCHFORMEALS.TXT

Make My Day 12k – Harbison State Forest – Columbia,SC – 2/14/15

Feb19

Make my Day is a trail 5k and 12k, now in its 6th year, run in Harbison State Forest. It’s run by Half Moon Outfitters and proceeds go directly to benefit the park. Being a trail race, I didnt give it a try at first, but between the awesome shirts, pistol awards and major race swag, I finally gave it a go in 2013. I don’t remember a whole lot about that race, other than it being brutal and getting a beatdown by Charley and his dog Winston. Last year it was snowy and I was still recovering from the cliff dive, so I opted for the 5k. For some reason, the 5k became an epic cluster and people were running anywhere from 2 to 7 miles. I was upset since I thought I’d finally secured my age group pistol. Alas, they scrapped all the awards and I went home grumpy again. Never get between the Sasquatch and his shiny trinkets.

But I’m back to my pre-cliff self now, so I was going to give it another try, this time back in the 12k. Its one of the more competitive trail races, so I’d have my work cut out for me.

Trails and I have a love/hate relationship. I live a half mile from Sesquicentennial State Park, aka Jeff Brandenburg’s backyard. I do the trails there all the time, enjoying the soft mountain bike route and brutalizing myself on the mountain of the entrance road there. So training off-road has never been a problem. Racing, on the other hand, has been a whole ball of suck. I’m like twice the size of runners with similar ability. Put me on some winding single track and it’s more like an elephant stampede through the jungle. Also, I’m a faller, in case you didnt realize. You dont have to throw a 20 foot Hawaiian cliff in front of me – I busted my ass 2 weekends ago over the rugged terrain of a Devine Street sidewalk. Get me on the Harbison trails and you can pretty much bet I’ll be crashing down at some point. But at least I’m not like the Vowles clan. Ken (i.e. the Pale Beast, aka the Pointsmaster) and Colleen have both been bloodied by Harbison, and their son Kenneth had to go to the ER after an epic wipeout at Xterra last year. Yikes.

So it was not without trepidation that I showed up at Harbison for my first trail race since Climb the Clay last May. Like the Long Run, it is cold as balls again. Around thirty degrees, though at least its sunny. Its been pretty dry recently so the trails are in great condition. Warmed up about a half mile with James Hicks. All the trail beasts are on board, i.e. the Harbison Trail Runners. Rick Stroud has brought all his South Carolina Runners of Trails and Ultra Marathons (SCROTUM, the best running group name ever) to this thing, and they look ready to claim the home team advantage. Brian “El Capitan” Clyburn and wife Jen, Eric Bopp, Craig Wlaschin, Jay Hammond, Yerg, Drew Williams, Bill Siebers, Dean Schuster, Winston Holliday were out wearing the gray “Blood Chit” shirts and representing. CRC brought out our trail warriors with Geary McAlister, Larry Bates and Dina Mauldin from last year’s trail series championship. Other familiar faces included Micah Simonsen, Jason Thompson, Jeremy Becraft, Lorand Batten, Pete O’ Boyle, David Johnson, Joe and Luke Naylor, Sandra Ricciuto, Mark/Sherry/Alex Robertson, Teresa Harrington, Lois Leaburn, Greta Dobe, Sheila Subbarao and Paige Tyler in the 12k. In the 5k, Meg Weis appeared to have the easy win. Ian Clawson, James Hicks, Jennifer Conrick. Heath/Brady Ward, Arnold Floyd, and Stephanie “Stevie Dee” Dukes were also on hand.

With the start I apparently had too much caffeine because I took off like a bat out of hell. I think somehow I had a completely ridiculous thought I would run this at 6:30ish pace like a flat road 12k. Um, wrong answer. The race starts on an incline and then splits the 5k and 12k at the top. Entering the first section of trail, I am rudely awakened to the fact that a) this is definitely not like the roads and b) this sure as hell isn’t Sesqui. Roots, switchbacks, sudden inclines, crevices, logs – I feel completely out of control rumbling through this course and I’m firing all kinds of muscles I never use. I’m not more than a half mile in before Clyburn and his dog start what will be a virtual conga line of people passing me. After the Clyburn pass, I try and speed up but I feel like there’s a rabid bear chasing me down every step. Turns out this rabid bear is named Drew Williams, who passes me like I’m standing still. Man this sucks. I can feel the lactic acid and feeling of impending bonktastrophe overcoming me already. Here comes Bill, Bopp, Dean and Winston leapfrogging over me over the course of the next mile or so as I start entering full on Debbie Downer mode.

I have no sense of where I am, despite the number of times I’ve run Harbison, because in racing the course I’ve spent almost all my time looking at the ground, desperately trying not to fall. Not that I haven’t tried, as I’d already had 2 near wipeouts by the time I’ve reached the Midlands Mountain trail. At least I’m keeping up with the back of the 5 person Dean train ahead of me.

Midlands Mountain is aptly named. My legs, already burning from the abuse of the first few miles, trudge up a hellacious climb and I’m reduced to nearly a walk. Luckily everybody else is dying too. We pass a group from Kore fitness with Jenny Prather and David Nance, with Jenny telling me “Looking good!”. I didn’t know she was capable of such lies. I’m just about cashed – I had momentarily caught Winston when he stopped for water, but he’s passed and dropped me again. Another nasty incline with switchbacks, and my caboose to this train is about off the tracks. I’m losing sight of the guys in front of me, and my brain is begging me to just mail in the rest.

But all of a sudden we start hitting some flat stretches. Gloriously flat and straight. My legs, fried from all the lateral movement and climbing, can finally stride out. I wouldn’t say I felt good again, but at least I wasnt crumpled over in pain. I start making some serious headway on the guys in front of me and I eventually catch up to Winston and a younger guy. My Garmin suddenly beeps and I realize I’ve been ignoring it the whole time. I look down for my 4 mile split and it gives me like a 7:50, which is probably useless with all the hills and forest. But just as I put my arm down the split time goes away and I do a double take…holy crap its for five miles. Somehow with all the shoegazing I mentally missed a whole mile. Sweet – lets get this thing done.

A long slightly uphill, but straight, stretch opens up. Winston passes the other dude and I follow suit. Dean’s about 50 meters ahead. I start recognizing some of the finishing stretch of Rudolphs rampage and Xterra, so I know we are getting close. And thats enough to start throwing down. Knowing Dean probably could navigate Harbison in the dark, I take aim at him and start chasing. One problem, he’s speeding up too. Over a couple of logs, then a short water crossing. Like a steeplechase from hell. I’m redlining it pretty bad and not making a lot of headway, sort of a slow creep. I know there’s one brutal hill to go, and I’ve drawn pretty close as it comes into view.

I attack the hill as hard as I can go, figuring this is my chance. I can’t fly gracefully over technical singletrack, but I can get my sasquatch ass up a hill. My neighborhood is a freaking mountain range and I make Jeff Brandenburg’s Sesqui sand hell part of my weekly routine. About three quarters up I finally catch Dean. I’d like to say it was a triumphant pass. But it was decidedly less so with both of us barely moving and sucking wind like two grandmas out for a mall walk. As soon as I reach the top I headless chicken it. Hard as I can go. I keep worrying that I’m at very high risk for falling now, but I’m dead set on getting this thing done. I know Yerg hasnt passed me, so I think I might have an outside chance at some age group glory. Finally I hit the last stretch and almost catch a kid as I flop over the line in 56 minutes and change. I barely turn around and Dean finishes just a couple seconds behind me. Good thing I didn’t look back!

56:47 officially, and 2nd in age group! First time I’ve placed in this race, though technically 1st (Tim Gibbons) and 2nd (Jeremy Becraft) are in my AG too, so I’ll claim all of 4th place and 3 points on the Tour de Columbia on this one. It was a good trail effort for me, and I’m very happy to finish even in the middle of the pack of Harbison runners. I was initially disappointed they scrapped the awesome pistol awards this year (it was their signature), but the sponsors went nuts on the swag. Besides the medal, 2nd place got me a pair of 65 dollar shoes from Half Moon. Very nice. Drew got first and got a 100 dollar gift card and a hat. Pretty sweet for an overall, much less an age group.

Speaking of overall 12k, Tim Gibbons won in 50:13, followed by Jeremy Becraft and Christopher Powell. In the women’s race, Jani Linde took the win in 1:00:36, followed by Emily Morrow and Shamia Thompson. 12k AG honor roll: Luke Naylor took home the 1-12 win, with Alex Robertson claiming 2nd in the 13-19. Micah Simonsen finished about 30 seconds behind me to claim 3rd in my AG, with Jason Thompson right behind him. I better watch my back. The 40-49 group was just insane with all 3 under 56 minutes: Eric Bopp, Brian Clyburn and John Gibbons. The 50-59 wasn’t much easier with Jay Hammond winning over Geary McAlister and Larry Bates – all three under an hour. Harry Strick took the 60+.

Jen “She Hulk” Clyburn won the 30-39 women. She doubled up with the Polar Bear challenge at Lake Murray later. #hardcore status earned. CRC’s Lana Morrison took 2nd in the 40-44, with tri beast Lisa Powell winning the 50-59. Brigitte Smith was champion of the 60+.

In the 5k, Brian Carrington took home the win in 21:34 followed by Chris Hill and Ryan Gadow. As predicted, Meg Weis easily took the women’s win followed by Sarah French and Jennifer Conrick. In the age groups, Brady “Junior Diesel” Ward placed 2nd and Tyler Robertson 3rd in the 1-12. Ian Clawson claimed 2nd in the 13-19. James Hicks trophy hunted well in the 30-39, taking 1st. CRC went 1-2 in the 40-44 women with Stephanie Dukes and Tracy Tisdale-Williams taking home some swag. Roy Shelley placed 3rd in the brutal men’s 40-49. Arnold Floyd had a tough competitior (Donald Cline) in the 60+ but held him off for the win.

http://go-greenevents.com/resultsdetail/id/3217

MGC Long Run 15k – Columbia,SC – 2/7/15

Feb8

15k’s , like their brethren the 10 miler and the 12k, are the red headed stepchildren of the distance racing world. They’re pretty tough to find, and no one knows how to pace them. I figure I’ve run a couple hundred road races by now, and exactly two of them are the oddball 9.3 mile distance.

My first attempt was in 2009 at the now defunct Labor Day Fitness Festival 15k. This is when I was just starting out and my main concern was my ability to actually run the whole distance. I set a distance PR at that race, managing to avoid the walksies and even push the pace in the last 2 miles to finish in 1:16. My only other attempt at the distance was in 2012 at the also now-defunct (do I sense a pattern?) Wildewood Fitness Festival 15k, which ranks as one of my most miserable performances of all time. I ran the race at an all out effort but managed to only pull marathon pace, slogging through in 1:10 and change (7:35 pace). https://tourdeblueshoes.com/2012/05/06/wildewood-fitness-festival-15k-and-4-miler-ne-columbia-sc-5512/ So, to say my 15k PR is a little soft would be a bit of an understatement.

I had planned to exact my revenge on the 15k last year at the debut of this race, but my wonky achilles at the time decided to make me a scratch just before the race day. I was bummed because reportedly there was some serious race swag in the packet. I ended up showing up and just taking pics at that race. Everyone seemed happy with the new event, save for a brutal course, so I definitely planned to make it back in 2015. This year there was also a course revision to take out a few hills – awesome.

Heading into this race I was feeling pretty good about the training. I’ve still struggled on some long runs since Kiawah but the 5k speed is coming back quickly. Pacing for the 15k would be a bit of a challenge. One good thing about being a total racing freak is there’s plenty of recent data to help. Half marathon in Savannah (totally flat and a huge PR) was like 6:44 pace, the Red Shoe 10k 2 weeks ago (also flat) was 6:34. Since the 15k falls almost right between the two distances, I decided to shoot for 6:40 – though I figured I’d probably skew more towards the half marathon pace with the hills.

I show up at the race, and the first thing I notice (other than freezing my nuts off in the 30 degrees +wind) is that this place is teeming with road racing studs. I think I’ve stumbled upon the absolute antithesis of the trophy hunt. The Strictly Red Storm front has apparently moved in, because all of them are out in force, even their ultimate ringer, Michael Banks from Charleston. Coach B has his elite ladies (except for injured Shannon) with Kenzie, MC, Erin, Jen and Linn. Coach B is running the 5k, and Ryan Plexico, Jeff Brandenburg, Jeff Godby, Luke Godwin and Jonathan Kinsey are also in tow. Palmetto Runners fielded Meme Spurgeon, Lucia Velicu, and Angel Manuel. Eric Ashton was on board himself, with his ladies team ( Excellent Athletics) of Alyssa Bloomquist and Heather Costello. And lets not forget the Black and Gold. Coach Bishop, Colleen, Michael Nance, Mike Compton, Chris Fawver, Ashley Horton, Eliere and Ivanka Tolan, Lorikay Keinzle, Julia Early, Daniel Patrick , Brittany Robbins and myself were representing from Team Utopia South.

Other Columbia Running Club peeps, in addition to many of the above, were Scott Flicker (also with Columbia Christian Runners), Larry Jourdain, Howie Phan, Winston Holliday, Geary McAlister, Jeff Burgess, Larry Bates, Trophy Mcgaha, Jamey Wilson, Joe Roff, Mary Howk, Rick Gibbons, Rafael Marquez, Coleen Strasburger, Mark Robertson, Kathryn Ryan, James Hicks, Jenn Covington, Mike Griffin, Michael Jensen, James Lichty, Lana Morrison, Lisa King, Harry Strick, Lynn Grimes, Wes and Rhea Spratt, Chris Vokaty, Teresa Harrington, Donna Freeman, Sandra Ricciuto, Renee McCormick, April Hutto, Tommy Outlaw, Paige Tyler, Ken Lowden, Pam Griffin, Lisa Smarr, Jim Manning, Brandi Bradley, Sherry Robertson, Jennifer Reeves, Birgit Spann, Barbara Brandenburg, Tom Beattie, Arnold Floyd, John Gasque, Pete Poore, Derek and daughter Madelyn Gomez, Chip Lupo, Rocky Soderberg, Patti Lowden, Henry Holt, Melinda Petruzzi, Sharon Sherbourne, and Sandra Manning.

Other familiar faces Heather and Will Brumbach (621 ninjas), Lee Moore and Robbie “O.G.”McClendon (Fitness World Running Club), Whitney Keen, Kristin Cattieu, Paul Drohomirecky, Hou-Yin Chang, Dawn Woodrow, Dolly Rodgers, Gregory Jones, Albert Anderson, Jason Lockhart.

So, yeah, everyone and their mom turned up for this one. The Code , Joyce, Tracy and Stephanie were doing the Save the Light Half down in Folly though. They certainly got the flatter course, and got to meet blog celebrity Amy “The Tiny Terror” Scott-Lundy.

I did less than a mile warmup with Trophy and Jamey, and its just freaking freezing. 28 degrees according to my Garmin. Thankfully they have the First Citizens building open, where I weaseled my way into an executive level bathroom. Certainly beats the frozen portapotties.

After the national anthem and an all-important mascot photo with Cocky, we were off. I was told the first few miles are flat and downhill, and they are as advertised. It includes a good bit of the Bunny Hop course. In the first half mile I’m running with Geary and Robbie and Geary starts “shaming” me that I’m running too slow. Whatever dude – you’ve smoked me plenty of times before. The first mile feels pretty brisk, and sure enough comes back at 6:26. I can see Flicker and Angel up ahead running beside an unknown girl in blue, and I try to focus on keeping them in range. I try to tell myself to slow down but someone is using me as a human windshield. I finally turn around and see that its Howie tucking behind my significant wake. Given my sasquatchity, I hardly blame him. Another flat mile for number 2 at almost the same pace. Mile 3 is deceptive because its actually a slow incline up to Gervais street, and I’m already feeling winded. This cant be good. It’s definitely a relief to finally hit Gervais, where it levels out again. Angel mysteriously drops out at this point, though says he’s ok. I hate to see people drop, but my evil maniacal trophy hunting dark side gives me the idea that maybe I can sneak in an age group placement now. Bwa ha ha ha. Mile 3 has a clock and I pass it right around 19:50. Just in front of the state house begins the very long, wonderful downhill into the vista. Man it was sweet. Its at a perfect decline to maintain your pace without feeling like you have to brake. Totally recovered from that first 5k. I know I would need it.

Up ahead, girl in blue is just killing it and has dropped Flicker like a bad habit. I finally catch up with Scott on the Gervais st bridge, having kicked it in a bit to lose my Howie shadow. Just after the bridge is the beginning of the pain. First a nasty little incline up to State Street which I hadnt even thought about. Bailing out to Cafe Strudel at this point sounds pretty good, especially seeing warm people sipping coffee and eating breakfast. But hey, wouldnt you rather be out in the 30 degree weather testing the limits of your pain tolerance? Yeah, I’m that sick bastard.

We do a weird turn on C avenue then right back on B avenue, infamous as the Ray Tanner 12k hill. Born from the diabolical dark side of Ken Lowden, B avenue is gradual and endless. Any good feelings from the flight down Gervais are way out the window by the time I’m halfway up. What’s worse, is the 15k course goes up a whole other block from the Ray Tanner turn off. I do manage to lose Flicker at this point and by the time I’m at the top I’m completely alone. There’s a nice flat stretch on 10th, E Ave and 9th , the entirety of which I use to stop sucking wind like a rabid polar bear in heat. The 2 mile slog up from the Vista has blown up my pace to 6:40 and 6:56 for miles 5 and 6.

The turn on to Knox Abbott is like heaven. A whole mile of downhill opens up and my lungs finally recover from their beatdown. I start getting grandiose and thinking about crushing the last 5k to get near an hour. I can actually see blue girl and another guy up ahead now, but it feels like I’m getting a police escorted training run, since they are letting cars go ahead and behind me. Mile 7 in 6:29. I start getting mentally prepared for climbing the Blossom Street hill. But as I cross the flat bridge, I realize I forgot about the damn overpass. Yes, again Ken Lowden has forsaken me. The overpass over the railroad on Blossom is the first nasty hill of the Ray Tanner 12k and it kills me every time. Today is no different. All the euphoria of Knox Abbott is blasted out of my lungs, and my legs are also beginning to complain about the abuse.

With the overpass punch to the gut still leaving me reeling, I get maybe a quarter mile of flat before Mount Blossom starts. Oh and it sucks. The part before Assembly is rough, but the area between Assembly and Main make me want to cry for my mommy. In the middle of my Price is Right hillclimber slog, a car full of sorority girls mockingly scream at me. I give them a full Ric Flair style “Woooo” before nearly collapsing into a walk. Whats worse is the turn on Main leaves a little more meat on the Blossom st bone, an agonizing additional incline that makes me want to crawl into the fetal position. Finally I make it to the back of the State house and its flat again. I’m trying to mount a kick but I am pretty much toast. I dont even look at the mile 9 split (6:57) but once I hear it I empty whatever I have left in the tank. I start hitting the back of the pack 5kers at this point but luckily they’re pretty sparse (this is like 40+ minutes after their start). I’ve actually closed on blue girl and the other guy but I’m too far behind to catch them. On the last straight I make out the clock around 1:01:30 and sprint it out to get under 1:02. 1:01:51 officially. 19th overall and agonizingly 4th in age group. Yes, the dude who covets his trophies most is the first person left out. I would have won the 40-44 if I was one month older, and would have placed in any of the other age groups. You 35-39 guys are killing me.

In the overall 15k, Michael Banks just missed resetting the state record set last year by Kimutai Cheruiyot, taking the race in 45:49. Unlike last year, where Cheruiyot was seven minutes ahead of the field, Banks had company with Chapel Hill’s Hillary Too. Too finished just 6 seconds behind in 45:56. Both around 4:55 minute pace – incredible. Oh, and Too is 35, so I cleared one measly Tour de Columbia point. 40 cant come soon enough. You can tell I’m not bitter though. Brett Morley finished 3rd in 49:31. C’mon Brett, 5:19 pace? So weak.

In the women’s race Zipporah Chebet (53:55) won by a minute over EA’s Alyssa Bloomquist (54:57), with SR’s Kenzie Riddle (57:56) placing third. All smokin’ fast as well.

In masters, Ashton claimed first and 4th overall. You know you’ve got an absolute beast of a field when Eric doesnt get top 3. Linn Hall claimed female masters.

Age group honor roll: Brittany Robbins took 3rd in the 15-19, while TUS also scored in the 25-29 with 2nd place Daniel Patrick. Jennnifer Lybrand finished 2nd in the 25-29. Justin Bishop had to resort to a rare age group, winning the 30-34 with Jonathan Kinsey 2nd. Kristin Cattieu and Jamey Wilson went 1-2 in the women’s 30-34. Erin Miller won the 35-39 with “the blue girl” Heather Brumbach placing 2nd. I would have recognized Heather but she so rudely never let me catch her. Lee Moore decided to go ahead and turn 35 and win my age group, with Michael Nance a second behind. Third place went to Toby Selix, who was about 45 seconds in front of me. Doh! Some familiar names in the 40-44 with Colleen Vowles, Jennifer Conrick and Julia Early taking the women’s division, and Scott Flicker , Jeff Godby and Whitney Keen in the men. Winston Holliday, Jeff Burgess and Paul Drohomirecky won the 45-49. Jenn Covington doesnt race much but apparently has gotten blazing fast of late, taking down the speedy Dawndy Plank in the 45-49 women. Larry Jourdain and Howie Phan went 1-2 in the 50-54. Chantal Faure and Coleen Strasburger won the 50-54 women. Beasts Geary McAlister, Larry Bates and the OG swept the 55-59. Lorikay Keinzle, Alsena Edwards and Donna Freeman clamed an also very competitive 55-59 women. Mike Compton, Jack Kuenzie and Harry Strick swept the 60-64 men. Mary Howk continues to amaze with a 1:13 in the 60-64 women that would have also beat all the guys. Her 85 percent age grade would place her 5th overall among all men and women in this race. Lynn Grimes took 3rd. Shawn Chillag and Ken Lowden went 1-2 in the 65-69, while Brigitte Smith took 2nd among the women.

Let’s not forget all the trophy hunters in the undercard 5k. FYI, though the 15k has its mountains, the 5k is a blazing flat and fast course. Jud Brooker took the overall win with Plexico second. 15 year old Johnny Clemens placed third. EA’s Heather Costello took the women’s win in 18:58 followed by SR’s MC Cox and Theresa Penney. Sadly I missed the epic battle of masters beasts with Jeff Brandenburg just edging Mark Bedenbaugh 18:51 to 18:55 to place 4th and 5th overall. Birgit Spann won female masters.

Age groups: Madelyn Gomez is apparently as talented as her dad, blazing to a 29:06 at age 9 and taking the 2-10 division. Ashley Horton took 2nd in the 25-29. The 35-39 was no joke in the 5k either, with Luke Godwin blazing a 19:02 and Will Brumbach 2nd in 19:21. Lucia Velicu placed third among the 35-39 women. Meme Spurgeon took a break from receiving CRC and Palmetto grand Prix accolades this week and easily won the 40-44. Barbara Brandenburg won the 45-49. Gregory Jones smoked a 19:18 and crushed the 55-59, with John Gasque 2nd. Melinda Petruzzi has adopted a Blue Shoes style racing schedule and won the women’s 55-59. Pete Poore took the 60-64 with Sharon Sherbourne taking 2nd among the women. Albert Anderson and Ron Hagell wwent 1-2 in the 65-69. Patti Lowden won the women’s 65-69. Arnold Floyd and Rocky Soderberg went 1-2 in the 70-74, with Henry Holy taking the 75+.

http://www.strictlyrunning.com/RESULTS/15LONGRUN.TXT

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/692258704

Dutch Fork Be a Fan 5k – Irmo, SC – 1/31/15

Feb3

I have a confession to make – I was supposed to be a Dutch Fork Silver Fox. In 1991, Irmo High had grown to the population of a small city and Lex-Rich Dist. 5 decided to break down and finally build a new high school. Set out in the middle of the forest near Kennerly road, this new school was pretty sweet – brand new modern facilities and everything. With the school opening up in August 1992, they actually gave incoming seniors (i.e. me) a choice – stay at old Irmo or jump ship to the new school. I did have early thoughts of trophy hunting in the new tiny inaugural class. I thought of finally getting on the tennis team, being editor of the school paper, captaining the quiz team – my nerd dreams soared high. But ultimately none of my friends were zoned for Dutch Fork, so I stayed put. I do have an affinity for their cross country and track teams though, since my brother Ben competed for them for the next 2 years, and I occasionally got a chance to come out and see his meets.

So I was definitely in to do this race, which is run completely on the Dutch Fork High and now Middle School campuses. Kimberly Taylor, one of our CRC members, was race director too. Plus a lot of the Dutch Fork kids run our Tour de Columbia races, so there were plenty of reasons to support the race, which goes to fund their program for special needs students. One cool element was the inclusion of a team format. Anyone knows I love my relays and running teams, so I recruited Trophy, Code and Ted Hewitt to join Columbia Running Club -Team Blue Shoes in their men’s four man division. You still got to compete for individual glory while doing the team event, which was nice. Critical for my precious TDC points too.

I showed up my customary hour early and there’s already a nice crowd. Kimberly had mentioned over 200 registered, which is phenomenal for a first year event. I knew she had directed a few races down in Charleston so she definitely knew what she was doing. I didn’t know how this course would work, though. I knew Ken Lowden had certified it, so at least the distance would be good. However, routing 3.1 miles entirely on campus meant running a lot of parking lot loops and turnarounds. Though the elevation map looked pretty flat, it didn’t look good for speed, especially when youre a less than agile sasquatch.

My original thought was that this would be a little of an age group trophy hunt – I was sure some of the kids would come out and take the overall but I figured Red Shoe and next week’s Long run might siphon off some of the ever present stealth superfit 35-39 soccer dads. I was actually going to take it easy, maybe even wear my go pro nerd vest to film the course. Then Brandenburg and the Pale Beast show up. Ruh Roh. No fooling around now. These guys were surely out for Blue Shoe blood. Plus there was the team element – I was going to have to pull some weight with Trophy falling into Blackjack mode and Code always hurting with something. At least I was confident Ted could pull off something sub 22. None of the other usual 35-39 competition showed up, so I guess I was right about that. Jason Dimery and Kenneth “Son of Beast” Vowles were there to make sure I didnt have any greater aspirations than my age group.

We had a pretty big CRC contingent – Rocky Soderberg, Peter Mugglestone, Pete Poore, Alex Ponamarev, John Gasque, Stephanie “Stevie Dee” Dukes, Brie McGrievy, Both Brandenburgs, Bri Hartley, Marie Demetriades, Colleen “Evil eye” Vowles, new member Roy Shelley, Harry Strick, Leeds Barroll, Bob, Melinda and Reese Petruzzi, Jennifer Reeves, Tom Beattie, Joyce Welch, Sue Porter, Dimery, Code, Trophy , Ted and myself. 27 by my count. Really good to see everyone coming out to support a CRC member directed race.

The start was a total stampede since there were quite a few kids and the initial 100 meters is slightly downhill. A lap around the large student parking lot separates out the crowd pretty quickly. Kenneth and Dimery are clearly in the lead, with a couple of Dutch Fork kids, then Brandenburg and myself. I decide to latch on JB like white on rice, though we are both blazing it for this early in the race. I figure this may work to my advantage though, since I must break the Beast’s spirit early on (a la Resurrection Run) to avoid his devastating kick (i.e. Shandon Turkey Trot). Sure enough, we come out of another parking lot loop and the Garmin spits out a 5:59. Yikes. The third loop actually involves a dip then climb, and I power up the go go gadget quads and draw even with JB. Again no air for snarky comments but as soon as I pass him I can hear him using me as a human wind shield. A long slight downhill ensues and I’m trying hard to avoid my usual flopping around that ends up actually slowing me down. We take a turn back up the hill, which I think is the long out and back section I saw on the map. Nope. As soon as I’m done powering up the hill, I can see Kenneth and Dimery on the other side of the fence coming right back up. Damn this is going to hurt. Mile 2 in 6 flat, thought I didnt look at the time. After a quick decline I’m right where I saw the other two a moment before, slogging up the longest incline on the course. I decide to go all in at this point. Knowing the finish is in the stadium, I’ve got all my chips on the course not taking any more uphills. So I burn it up the hill pretty much as hard as I can go, sucking all the wind in the greater Irmo area in the process. I’m about dead on the turnaround at the top but damned if the Beast is still on my tail. I must break him.

I fly down the hill trying to harness all my substantial gravity into speed, and trying not to fall on my ass in the process. Looks like I lost my bet because there’s yet another loop with a slight incline. I’m hating life pretty bad, but I still see Vowles trying to track me down as I exit the loop. Finally I can see we’re headed for the stadium. I take a few more steps into the pain cave. I finally pass Dutch Fork’s top girl Anna Johnson and another Dutch Fork guy (later identified as Mark Bradley)as we approach the stadium. I’m in a world of hurt but I know I have to be flirting with the sub 19. Its crushing but we have to do a full half lap on the track before the finish on the infield. Sure enough Bradley comes flying by me on the straightaway. I can see David He and a kid just ahead as I make the last turn. Already in the 18:50’s and no chance to get sub 19. I still burn whatever fumes I’ve got left and almost get David at the line, finishing in 19:08. 6th overall, 1st in AG. My Garmin had 3.25 miles and a 5:54 overall pace, which I assume is a combination of not running the 50 tangents on the course well and the watch not reading all the tight turns accurately.

Kenneth Vowles held off Dimery for the win 17:50 to 18:10. Painfully, he had to give back his 50 bucks to keep his “amateur status”. Mark Bradley, the kid who unceremoniously Blue Shoed me on the track, finished 3rd in 19:02. Turns out he’s an 800 meter specialist and 17 years old, so that helps soothe my pride injury. On the women’s side, Anna Johnson took the win in 19:27, followed by Emily Letts and Bri Hartley, still just 13 years old (seems like she’s been racing forever).

Age group honor roll: David He outstepped me at the line (19:08.18 to 19:08.41) and took his brutally competitive age group of one in the 25-29. In my age group, Pale Beast got his sub 20 in 19:59.36 and took 2nd. Trophy trimmed 40 seconds off last week and finished in 21:06 (2nd for Team Blue Shoes) Code mailed in a 24 minute 5k to make sure we didnt get DQ’d. In the 40-44, Eric Stamey got his sub 30 and just missed out on some bling, finishing 4th. The 45-49 was won by JB in 19:36 with Ted Hewitt 3rd in 21:29 (3rd on Team Blue Shoes). Roy Shelley had a 23:46 and finished 6th in this tough group. Tom Beattie crushed the 50-54 in 24:20 for the win, easily beating Wes Spratt’s last time. John Gasque took the 55-59, with Bob Petruzzi 3rd and Paul Bates 4th. A CRC sweep in the 60-64 with Harry Strick, Pete Poore and Leeds Barroll taking the category. CRC also cleaned up the 65-69 with Alex Ponamarev and Peter Mugglestone and 70+ with Rocky Soderberg.

Among the women (Run Hard’s Jaguar timing separates gender completely) Marie Demetriades (Kimberly’s daughter) made mom proud with a 23:55 3rd in 15-18 AG, blasting a blue shoe style kick. Rachel Tracy (J-Reeves’ daughter) took 2nd in the 19-24. Brie McGrievy has blue shoe level trophy hunting skills and took 1st in the 35-39 AG. Colleen Vowles may have been running miles 17-20 for the day and still took first in AG. Heather Alexander took 2nd. Stephanie “Stevie Dee” Dukes scored a huge PR with a 27:56. Barbara Brandenburg, Joyce Welch (also tacking on the 5k at the end of a long run) and Jennifer Reeves swept the 45-49. Sue Porter won the 55-59 with Melinda Petruzzi capturing yet more TDC points with a 3rd in her 3rd race of the month.

And let us not forget the teams! In the coed “Dutch Duo”, “Beauty and the Pale Beast” (Colleen and Ken) are listed as winners, but I believe another team may have actually beat them out since they didnt get the award. Marie and Bri’s team “The Bad Abs” totally kicked some Abs and won the female “Fantastic Four”. Team Blue Shoes did pick up the male “Fantastic Four” over two teams from the Dutch Fork baseball team. Turns out even the gimp Code beat all these guys, so we didn’t need to try so hard after all. A successful trophy hunt ( valentine’s chocolates and Dick’s gift certificates) nonetheless!

Click to access be-a-fan-overall.pdf

Click to access be-a-fan-age.pdf

Click to access be-a-fan-team.pdf

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/686937465

Red Shoe Run 5k/10k- Columbia, SC – 1/24/15

Jan25

The Red Shoe Run is a 5k and 10k that has been around since the mid 2000’s and goes to benefit the Ronald McDonald House. It was previously known as the “Red Nose Run” but got a name change when the circus decided to bow out as a sponsor. Now its name references Ronald McDonald, a distant relative who shares my alabaster skin tone and maniacal grin.

One awesome thing about the circus dumping the race was a change in venue. We used to have to start and end at the Colonial Center, which sits at the bottom of a quad-busting, lung destroying mountain of a hill. Oh and the 10k made you do it twice. Not fun. And since the race is held in January, it has been plagued by terrible weather – it was around 10 degrees in 2009, and 34 degrees and raining the next year. 2014’s race was 17 degrees at the start. I still have this lovely gem of a photo from my 2009 5k, my second race in Columbia. I was certainly less than the model of fitness at the time, but three layers of sweatshirts and a blue shoe finish make me look like I’m 300 pounds. And that was for a 25:39. Sexxxy.

Wearing my kindergartener’s spider man gloves and clutching my wife’s sky blue hat. So stylish.

The change last year let the race move to Shandon, which, though certainly lacking in variety, is gloriously flat. The 10k is still 2 loops, but hey, no mountain.

I missed the 2014 race nursing an achilles injury but I planned to give it a shot in the 10k this year. My original thought was making a run for the sub 40 in this race, but between post marathon recovery, the holidays and getting sidelined with whatever virus Polo road elementary decided to send my way…I was less than optimally trained. Did I mention no speedwork? Yeah, that too. Still, all that Kiawah mileage was still paying dividends, and I was pretty happy with the 19:19 at MLK 5k the week before.

I was slack getting to the race and I’m amazed how many people are at this thing when I pulled up about 30 minutes to race time. The Hand middle parking lot is completely full and there are blazing fast people everywhere. I know it had been a bit of a arm twist to get the new race director to put this on the Tour de Columbia, but there are probably 50 Columbia Running Club peeps there. That might have offset the 75 buck fee.

I already knew from facebook that TEam Utopia would be decending on this race in force. Justin, Drew, Joyce, Kris, Kana, Che, David, Michael Nance, Mrs. Beast Colleen Vowles, Ashley “Bud Light Lime” Horton, Ivanka and Eliere Tolan, Tracy Tisdale-Williams, Ian Clawson and Brittany Robbins all turned up. There was a Red Storm front moving in as well with the SR crew more than well represented – Coach B, Lightning Plexico, Shannon, Jeff “the pose” Godby, Jennifer “6:02 first mile” Lybrand, Jason Dimery, Steven Johnson, and Justin Jones. Palmetto Runners fielded Pam Inman, Jeff Smith, Lucia Velicu, Angel, Cait Costello and Laurin Long. Other CRC peeps included Pam ad Mike Griffin, James Hicks, Rocky Soderbeg, Alex Ponomarev, John Gasque, Pete Poore, Lisa Smarr, Janice Addison, Arnold Floyd, Travis Cowan, Caprice Poore, Chip Lupo, Jennifer Reeves, Paul Bates, Melinda and Reese and Bob Petruzzi, Randy “the H is silent” Hrechko, Rafael Marquez, the Robertson clan, and Brigitte Smith. Familar faces included Kristen Cattieu, Anita Recchio ,Kyle “Ghost Rider” Addy. Oh and the Trophy. I told him he was not to slip into Blackjack (i.e. 21 minute) territory in the 5k. More on that later. Code has been an orthopedic train wreck of late but he did show up to watch. Ditto the Pale Beast.

I did a mile with trophy and Jamey. Felt kind of like crap, but what else is new. The Friday night at the Tilted Kilt didnt help with my morning hydration status.

The 10k starts 15 minutes before the 5k, so I was able to size up my age group at the start. Thankfully Angel and Drew were undercarding it in the 5k. Nance was doing the 10k and would smoke me for sure. No one else stood out, but the 35-39 is always rife with the sforementioned super fit soccer dads. I was glad to see my marathon doppelganger Shannon Iriel and track suit aficionado Jeff Godbee , as they could provide some pacing. I blasted out of the start like Jen Lybrand on crack….except she was still ahead of me. She must have done a better grade cocaine. Iriel’s got her side to side elbow metronomes going and is already leaving me for dead. No way, chicas. The first mile is a lot of suckage. When you’ve been cruising around at 9 minute pace for weeks, trying to drop 6:30’s feels like complete ass. I try to focus on the TUS #nipstohips form mantra and drive from my hips instead of my sasquatch mall walker mom stride. I manage to pass the female Red Storm front and get a boost from the 5k crowd at after the first loop. Mile 1 is at 6:32 so not too bad. The rest of the first 5k loop is kind of a blur. I’m completely by myself, not in an elite-kicking-ass way but more of a slightly-above-average-no-one-else-is-there way. I focus on some F3 guy who looks suspiciously 35-39. He maintains about a 20 meter lead on me through the next two miles, both at kind of a mail-it-in 6:40 pace.

It’s such a psychological struggle with two loops, I just try to zone out and bide my time until I can get to the finishing 5k. I pass by the finish line at like 20:40 , which pretty much kills my spirit for the sub 40 – though I later find out its slightly past halfway. I’m deathly afraid of Shannon or Godby catching me at this point, but im still all alone. This doesnt last long, as soon as I hit Queen street I see the sag wagon police cruiser and a mob of walkers up ahead. The back of the 5k. Suddenly its a mob scene and I’m in a sea of walkers, narrowly missing a bus-like collision with me blasting through and around packs of people walking 3 and 4 abreast. My only focus was trying to keep up with F3 guy, who now was just ahead. I finally catch him around mile 4, though I’m starting to hurt pretty bad by this point. Only a Chuck Wollery-esque 2 and 2 to go. Thankfully I get through the walkers and start progressing through the 5k crowd. Once you get to people consistently running, the juking and dodging gets a lot easier. What’s not getting easier is this whole oxygen exchange thing. I’m sucking wind pretty bad. I hit mile 5 and I’m desperate to get this thing over. Man, I hate 10ks. Time to throw down, except my lungs doth protest too much. I finally make the last turn, except its almost a half mile to the finsih from there. Just painful to see the distant clock for so long. I catch up with Ms. Bud Light Lime and the Code pacing her, and I’m sure I look like death. All that form stuff has gone out the window, and I can feel an attack of headless chicken coming on. But there’s Justin running back towards the field, so I try to do #nipstohips for like three strides before relapsing into sasquatch mall walker. By the time I can see the clock , all I see is the 5k one, so I’m not sure where I stand. Finally I see the 10k at about 40:30. I sprint it out and hit the line in 40:47. Good enough for 12th overall (out of 186) and 2nd in AG. Not my sub 40, but not too bad. My 10k PR is a 40:38 so this is actually my 2nd fastest. I’ll take it.

No surprise that Justin “A Standard” Bishop crushed this race for first in under 35 minutes. High schooler Hunter Janus took 2nd in 37:41 and Ryan Strickler 3rd. SR swept the top 2 in the women’s race with Shannon taking 1st in 42:11 and Jen Lybrand scoring a PR 43:27 for 2nd. Cheri Lee from Fort Bragg took 3rd.

10K Age Group honor roll: Brittany Robbins (TUS) took 2nd in the 15-19, David Russell (TUS) won the 25-29. In the 30-34, Jason Dimery (SR) placed 1st with Kris Litman-Koon (TUS) taking 3rd. Jamey Wilson won the women’s 30-34. Nance easily won my age group, and frequent racer Mark Tibshrany placed 3rd. “She Hulk” Jen Clyburn won the 35-39. Godby (SR) won the 40-44 men while Colleen Vowles (TUS) and Kana Rahman (TUS) placed among the women. Matt Buffum and Randy Hrechko went 1-2 in the 45-49. Joyce and Pam Griffin did the same for the ladies. Janice Addison (TUS) and Anita Recchio destroyed the 50-54 competition. Some familiar faces int he 55-59 with Geary McAlister, Kyle Addy and Mike Griffin cleaning up the 55-59. Alsena Edwards and Lisa Smarr won the ladies 55-59. Harry Strick took 2nd int he 60-64, while Brigitte Smith won the 65-69.

In the 5k, Lightning struck and the Plex (SR) took the win in sub 17 (16:59). Justin Jones placed 3rd. Kristen Cattieu took a break from the yoga and won the women’s race in 21:23. Ivanka Tolan (TUS) took an impressive 3rd.

Age group honor roll: Ian Clawson and Alex Robertson took 1st and 3rd in the 11-14. The Budlight lime will flow tonight with Ashley Horton (TUS) winning 2nd in the 25-29, and Cait Costello (Palm) 3rd. TDC award winner Kathryn Ryan won the 30-34. Angel Manuel (Palm), Drew Williams(TUS) and yes, even Trophy swept the 35-39. Trophy had the shame of his 21:41 amplified by Joe Pinner yet again mangling his last name “Mc-GAY-ha”. Awesome. Steven Johnson won the 40-44 – better get ready for some Blue Shoes in 37 days, Steven. Tracy took 2nd in the 45-49 despite fighting off a GI bug this week. Coach B (SR) easily took the 50-54 with Eliere Tolan (TUS) and Travis Cowan behind him. Gregory Jones won the 55-59, still getting sub 20’s. Melinda Petruzzi continues to rack up TDC points with a 3rd in the 55-59. Pete Poore and Leeds Barroll are 3 for 3 in TDC events this year with a 1-2 in the 60-64. Albert Andersona nd Alex Ponomarev did the smae in a competitive 65-69. No surprise to see Arnold Floyd and Rocky Soderberg sweeping the 70+.

http://www.strictlyrunning.com/RESULTS/15REDSHOE.TXT

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/681607637

Martin Luther King 5k – Columbia, SC – 1/17/15

Jan19

The MLK 5k is a fairly small race that actually one of Columbia’s oldest, now in its 25th year. While small, the race has often been the first Columbia area race of the Palmetto Grand Prix, which typically brings out all the big dawgs looking for points. Its put on by Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity, with proceeds going to support their charity Bridging the Gap with Alpha.

It seems like a nice course on paper – most of it is in Shandon with the start and end fittingly at MLK park near 5 points. What the course map leaves out is the fact that MLK park sits in the valley of the little-known Old Shandon mountain range. Consequently, the first half mile in this race is spent climbing out of said valley before going on a relatively “flat and fast” Shandon loop, before cliff diving back into the park. Well, at least I have the cliff dive down pat.

I did my first MLK in 2010, when they had postponed the race from January to June. This was briefly after my first sub 20, and I had no idea about the opening climb. I sprinted up the mountain like a boss, only to die a thousand deaths the rest of the course, producing one of my early race faces – see here:

Head to one side, arms locked in pain, grimace/scowl from hell. Yep, that’s me. It looks like I got shot in the back attempting to do the twist. Beautiful. It didnt help it was like 90 degrees either. I missed the race with an achilles injury last year, but 2013 was my course record, a 19:15. But that time was when I was doing sub 19’s in prime 5k shape. The last month has been a mixed bag of marathon recovery, post-Christmas snot fest and basically no speed work (other than races of course). So, no idea what to expect this time. On the plus side, the mucinex guy has left my lungs, allowing for adequate oxygen exchange again. That tends to help with running. On the negative, running in my old new balance minimus shoes to avoid getting my precious blues wet left me recovering from a sore heel this week and fretting about the evil plantar fasciitis. But hey, racing down a mountain at 5k speed is good for PF, right?

Right. Anyway, I figured this might be a relative trophy hunt this year. The Grand Prix isnt happening in ’15, and though this is on the Tour de Columbia, it seems a lot of people are focusing on next week’s flat Red Shoe Run 5k/10k. My archnemesis, the Pale Beast, is sadly on injured reserve, as is the Code. Angel does this race sometimes, but he’s just been a spectator or pacing Meme the last few years. None of the other 35-39 rivals have done this race, though that doesn’t mean there wouldn’t be a random Brumbach sighting or one of the stealth superfit soccer dads ready to crash my hunt.

Got there an hour early and the registration table is already set up and ready to go. Most races I show up and they can’t believe some freak is already here. Pretty on point for a bunch of college guys.

I’m not there more than a few minutes before I see my trophy chances getting a lot slimmer. OJ Striggles, Plex and Brandenburg are all on board. Yeah, the holy grail (i.e. the overall win) was not to be had at this one. Plenty of familiar faces in the small crowd. James Hicks was ready to pick up some 35-39 points, since none of the other regular age groupers were there (though I keep forgetting OJ is in our group – doh!). Thomas Beattie was replacing Wes Spratt in JB’s tri entourage, with Barb filling out Team Brandenburg. Albert Anderson and Arnold Floyd were sure to make the 65 and 70 year age groups faster than almost everyone else. Pete Poore was out for his 25th consecutive MLK – now that deserves a trophy. His main rival, Alex P., has now aged up to the 65’s, but still ready for a Poore/Ponomarev showdown. Eric McMichael was ready to test his new masters wheels (just turned 40). John Gasque, Lisa Smarr and Rocky Soderberg were representing just a few years of CRC membership. Newly minted CRC member Leeds Barroll was out to add to his 2015 TDC point collection, having already started at Resolution run. Laurie Royson is grooming a next generation CRC/TUS member with son Cotes. Dutch Fork’s Anna Johnson was there for an easy win.

I did a mile or so warmup , jogging up the hill, which reinforced in my mind what I already knew: this was going to suck. I was breathing hard doing 9 minute pace. Ruh Roh.

And suck it did. The start gives you zero flat time to warm up – just straight up the face of Mount Preston Road. I hate slogging up hills, so I try and attack it the best I can. Yes, the hill is getting done quicker but my lungs are getting the beatdown of their life. Two weeks of easy running did not prepare me for 5k pace+mountain. As soon as I reach the summit I’m relieved, with a turn on King, but sucking this much wind less than a half mile in cant be good. JB comes up from behind and passes the gasping Saquatch like I’m standing still. Not two races in a row. I make a point to keep him in range. Anna J, who I’m sure is quite literally half my weight, is using me like a giant windscreen. I’m sure I’m good at that. There’s another nasty slog up the incline right before Hand Middle School. OJ and Plexico are already in another zip code but there’s one random in between. I have a sixth sense about detecting 35-39 year olds but I decide he’s a good bit younger. He starts to fade almost immediately though and we pass him in front of the school.

The lungs are still complaining about all the previous climbing and I’m not even a mile in. Briefly I contemplate mailing in the rest of the race since there’s no further age group glory to be had. But its Saturday and I have a bib on, and my giant melon will have none of that. JB has gapped me by about 20 meters and Anna is on my shoulder, like a 90 pound monkey on my back. She keeps surging ahead, engaging in Billy Tisdale-esque psychological warfare. First mile was like 6:27, which isnt too bad considering the climb. That’s right on 20 minute pace, one that I had ingrained in my memory in my 18 month pursuit of the 19:59. Unfortunately the lungs will not have any ramping up of pace.

After a long slog on Heyward, the turnaround is on Sims. About this point is when I realized that my lungs had finally calmed down and things felt a little easier. And hold the phone..is JB getting closer?? I managed to pass Anna at some point on the return on Wheat and hit mile 2 in like 6:24, which is irritating since I guess it was all recovery from that first climb. Time to throw down. Wheat is pretty nice and flat and once I make out Woodrow st up ahead I decide to basically empty the tank. Right at the Woodrow crossing is when I finally catch JB. I would have liked to make a snarky comment but there was no air, and plus, he might catch me. With the turn on to King again I’m in full-on headless chicken mode, which isnt particularly good because the finish is over a half mile away. At the Devine street crossing, Jordan is screaming at me at the top of his lungs something about “this is what you live to write about!” just before he screams at JB about getting blue shoed.

One more incline on King about kills me, but then you get dumped off onto Preston for the cliff dive down to MLK park. I cant imagine the ugliness of my form on the way down, but I’m sure there was a lot of flailing limbs and head bobbing. Thank God gravity is my friend because I was on fumes. I kept waiting to hear Brandenburg footsteps. One last turn to a straightaway in front of the park and I can see the clock. Red digital numbers apparently cause me to go into convulsions because I find another gear and sprint like there’s no tomorrow to the line. Crossed in 19:19 , 3rd overall. Last mile: 5:52. I crash out like I usually do at the finish, and damned if JB is just now making the turn. His spirit must have been broken. I can barely move from sucking so much wind, but I manage to pull out the iphone just in time:

It would be more triumphant if I wasn’t on the ground from all the effort, but I’ll take it. My JB victories are few and far between.

OJ crushed a 16:36 for the win, which is a smoking fast time for this course. Plex also recorded a blazing 17:22. JB placed 4th in 19:40, with Anna just behind in 19:45. Barbara took 2nd overall female in 23:46, with Vernell Rixner trophy hunting it for third in 26 minutes.

Age group glory: Cotes Royson blazed a 25:42 and a new PR to take second in his age group. Kyzer “A.J.” Garrick completed his first 5k in 29:33, being paced in by Lisa Smarr. Both got first in age group for their efforts. James Hicks took home the 35-39. Eric “King of the Quarter” McMichael took 2nd in the 40-44. Tom Beattie won the 50-54, while John Gasque did the same in the 55-59. Pete Poore and Leeds Barroll took 1st and 3rd in the 60-64. Albert Anderson and Alex Ponomarev went 1-2 in a super competitive 65-69, with Brigitte Smith taking the women’s division. Arnold Floyd (72) continues to make runners half his age look bad in winning the 70+, with Rocky Soderberg placing 2nd with his patented 1966 SEC mile champion kick.

http://www.columbiarunningclub.com/2015-results.html

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/675774275

New Year’s Resolution 5k – Columbia, SC – 1/3/15

Jan8

It’s the new year, so what’s my resolution? More trophy hunting!! Duh. I turn the big 4-0 this year in March, so while other people worry about getting old, I get all giddy as a schoolgirl thinking about being a masters (40+) runner. Being 40 is awesome because you’re still young enough to still go for open overall wins, but there’s also masters glory to shoot for if some high cross country dude decides to show up and kick your tail. This sounds great in theory, but there’s plenty of masters beasts out there too. I only need to think back to September when a 60 year old (Dave Geer) smoked me by four minutes in a 10k.

OK, so this race was not a great choice to try and win. It being the first race of the year, and first on the Tour de Columbia, it kind of stands out. Still, some part of me wondered if all the competitive guys had done Cold Winters Day and Main Street Crit, leaving this little nugget for a trophy starved Albino Sasquatch.

Um… not so much. I’m not there more than a couple of minutes and I see Jordan Lybrand, Brandenburg and John Charlton doing warmups. I can only beat JB when he’s either injured or coming back from an Ironman. I think I have one win over Jordan at the IOP beach run two years ago – in the interim he’s running 17 minute 5ks and not even in my zip code. Charlton has been crushing elite level 5k times for 30 years and I’ve only seen him finish when I was spectating. So yeah, the overall holy grail would have to wait.

But there’s always the age group. Quick check yielded none of my usual nemeses. No Angel, Code, Pale Beast, Derek, Yerg or Drew to be found. Trophy continues to be MIA. James Hicks was on board but I didn’t see any other 35-39ers. No shock to see Jen Lybrand there – an expert level (and much more successful, I might add) trophy hunter herself. Kris Litman-Koon was the sole other Utopian. Barb Brandenburg, John Gasque, Arnold Floyd, Peter Mugglestone, Lynn Grimes, Leeds Barroll, and Brigitte Smith rounded out a roster of some seriously hardcore racers. Hrechko was taking a break from his body pumping to try and get his speed back. Wes and Rhea Spratt have now turned into serial road racers. Newly minted CRCers Melinda, Bob and Reese Petruzzi were on hand to start their 2015 Tour de Columbia point hunting.

This year the crowd was a little smaller than the inaugural event in 2014, probably because WACH TV bowed out as a sponsor. Still, Columbia Boot Camp did an awesome job picking up the slack and there was probably 100 people there (99 by check of the results).

The course was one used in the past by the Colorectal 5k from my March 2013 birthday triple dip – you know, the one where I beat a fresh legged Trophy in my third 5k in 2 hours – yeah, that one. Pretty decent course for speed. You have one nasty climb at the end of mile 1 on Blossom street that lasts a few blocks, the same one that you go up at Get to the Green. Once on top of that hill, you’re golden – virtually all flat and downhill from there. Turnaround is on Capitol street, comeback on Wheat, right turn to plummet down Harden then a left on Blossom to the finish.

The start separated out the crowd pretty quickly. Jen had talked about showing some restraint but she was leaving me and Brandenburg in the dust in the first half mile. As expected, Charlton and Jordan were in another zip code right off the bat. There was an unknown dude just ahead of JB. First half mile is flat through 5 points on Blossom. After you cross Harden is the start of the long incline to King, and doesnt level out until Woodrow. I finally caught Jen on the hill and I tucked in behind JB. Unfortunately, Brandenburg has like 2 percent body fat, so not much of a wind shield. Legs were feeling the other 2 races in the last 7 days, so I was surprised I was keeping up with JB pretty easily. Once I hit the mile 1 mark I saw why – 6:30. JB was slacking big time and I was apparently more than ready to follow him to a crap race.

JB must have seen the split too because he started ramping it up. I tried to do the same but legs were cashed from the long climb, and lungs were still not 100 percent. We turned around on Capitol street and JB and random guy gapped me some. I was pretty much all alone on Wheat street on the way back. Way up ahead I could see Charlton and Jordan locked in an epic battle. JB and random were also running stride for stride. I hit mile 2 in 6:20 something, so I was way slower than I hoped. I was going to have to throw down quite a bit to even break 20. I kicked it up a notch as we started the descent past Hand Middle. I was drawing pretty close to JB and random but they gapped me again on the sharp decline on the turn to Harden. I remember that Jordan said that the finish seemed a lot further than it looked once you got back on Blossom, and he wasn’t kidding. I thought for awhile I was going to catch JB and random guy and epically blue shoe them both, but my lungs didnt get the memo. They were still working on hacking up whatever plague had been living in my respiratory tract for the past week. I was able to make out the clock from pretty far out and saw low 19’s. It took an eternity, but eventually I mustered a weak kick and crossed the line in 19:45. 5th overall, 1st in AG. Not thrilled with the time, but I cant expect too much with the way I’ve been feeling. Hopefully I can get back to 100 percent soon.

It turns out Jordan won the battle of the beasts in 17:38 and took the overall win, which is damn impressive to beat a guy like Charlton. Third place went to the aforementioned “random”, who turns out is 37 year old Tony Marshall from San Francisco, who usually does ultras. Tony will now undoubtedly take his 10 Tour de Columbia age group points back to California, leaving me with 7 (they went three deep in overall so he got removed from the 35-39). Damn him. Good job keeping JB away from the podium though.

Among the women, Jennifer completed the sweep for Team Lybrand for an impressive start to 2015, taking the win in 21:09. Hopefully she and Jordan will be spared being called twins in the newspaper again. Barbara Brandenburg and Christina Marshall (wife of Tony Marshall from above) finished 2nd and 3rd, so apparently it was a good day for husband/wife teams.

Age group honor roll: Reese Petruzzi claimed 1st in the 2-14, though had to endure the shame of an excited grandmother. Hey, I take any attention I can get. Kris Litman-Koon made Team Utopia proud with a win in the 30-34. James Hicks took 3rd in the 35-39. JB took 4th overall and 1st in the 45-49, with Randy Hrechko finishing 2nd. Rhea Spratt won third in the 50-54 while husband Wes had to endure JB mocking him all the way down the home stretch. He did get 3rd in the 55-59 for his troubles. John Gasque held off Wes for 2nd in the AG. Dawn Galloway-Hale won the female 55-59, with Melinda Petruzzi placing 3rd to earn her first TDC points. The 60+ group was filled with some serious competition as Arnold Floyd, Peter Migglestone and Leeds Barroll swept the mens side, and Lynn Grimes, Brigitte Smith, and Dianne Jackson winning among the women.

Main Street Crit – Columbia, SC – 12/31/14

Jan6

The Main Street Crit is now in its 3rd year, this time with a big change by being held in the afternoon and attaching itself to the Famously Hot New Years party put on by the city of Columbia.

This is a really cool, unique event. I’m not sure its exact origins, but Steven Johnson and some of his fellow 621 ninjas thought of the idea to bring a criterium style race to downtown, hold it at night, and ramp up the excitement with an elite race after everyone finishes. I had a blast in the first two years – I never get a chance to see pro runners live, and apparently pounding 3 or 4 post race beers makes me a very vocal spectator.

As anyone who’s ever watched a road race knows, watching a regular road race is not super exciting. You basically get two chances to see who you came there for. A criterium involves multiple loops around a short course, so you get to see everyone every half mile or so. In the case of the Main Street Crit, 6 loops for the 5k, and 10 for the elite 8k.

No beer this year with the race in the afternoon, but the daylight would at least help with the runner traffic on the course. Plus, I needed to pace the alcohol anyway since it would be a long time ’til midnight on New Years Eve.

Unfortunately I was still riding the snot train that started the night before Cold Winter’s Day. Speaking of CWD, I was contacted by multiple people about my performance there, basically asking what the hell was wrong with me. Apparently I’m not allowed to go less than 100 percent or people think I’m dying.

So I was going to do my usual balls-to-the-wall 5k this time around, if anything to avoid all the faux concern and trash talk. I was hating my decision when I got there though, since I was still hacking like a pack-a-day Marlboro habit. I ended up getting there so late I really didn’t have any time (or motivation) to warm up other than a jog to and from my car. There was a decent crowd this year, about the same as last, but again packed with lots of road racing regulars. Most of the ninjas were pulling volunteer duty or racing, with my marathon twin Shannon Iriel race directing.

I tried desperately at the start to get a Garmin signal but I guess all the tall buildings were blocking the satellites. Alas, I would be running “naked”. You would think a 6 lap course with a time clock wouldn’t require a GPS device, but somehow I seem to believe the miles disappear if not fully recorded on Garmin Connect. At any rate, I kind of blasted out of the gate with all the fast peeps around and the pancake flat course. There was a band at one corner playing Rage Against the Machine, which was awesome since most race musical selections include
“Running on Empty”, “Born to Run” or any other song with “Run” in the title. The first lap is actually only a partial one, maybe 3/4 of the two blocks. I had already been running too fast,and the wall of noise and spectators as you cross the finish area didn’t help.

And that’s about the time I started feeling like death. Lungs just couldn’t get my usual breath and I had to hack up a lung a couple of times. This was going to hurt. Will Brumbach, (who hardly ever races but always gives me trouble when he does) comes flying by me and basically drops me right away. I hear Geary’s industrial machine breathing behind me tracking me down. I notice the back stretch is actually painfully a slight incline, which ends in a smoke haze of the Sumter city bus station. I’m in a world of trouble by lap 2 and I’m afraid I might have to drop. Everything feels slow and Geary eventually passes me.

The rest of the race is pretty much a haze. The next three laps, by Strictly’s record, have me running about the same pace, slowly bleeding a couple seconds. It was great to get some adrenaline in the finish area each lap because that was about the only thing keeping me going. Plus, I saw the Pale Beast had arrived to watch, so I couldn’t let him see me drop. The dude made it a point to beat me in the Tour de Columbia this year, and he had already clinched it . He may or may not have received this gift from his wife:

Somehow I passed Geary at some point but I could hear him close behind. I started to lose touch with the field with all the laps and I had to concentrate on not freight training people that I lapped. Speaking of lapped, OJ Striggles blasted by me on my lap 5 and cruised to the win in just over 16 minutes. It was painful to see him finish, but I had to put the jets on as not to also get lapped by Justin, who I could hear just behind me. I managed to avoid that by exactly one second. The last lap I threw down as hard as I could, which wasn’t a whole hell of a lot. I was making some ground on Brumbach but I had nothing left in the tank to do my usual headless chicken sprint to the finish. I somehow finished in 19:29, 2nd in AG behind Will. That’s not to say I didn’t finish ugly. You can count on that:

I rarely have felt that bad in a 5k so I was pretty thrilled with the time.

As noted, OJ and Justin took 1-2 in the overall with Adam Feigh taking third. Never seen him race before. Top 10 finishers included mini beast Kenneth Vowles in 17:58 for 4th and Jack Carmody, king of the Crooked Creek 5k, finishing 5th. Parker Roof continues to throw down some fast times, despite his Jennifer Lybrand style rocket fast starts. He finished 6th in 18:28. Jason Dimery took 9th.

Among the women, Erin Miller was disappointed with her time but still was good enough for the win in 19:06. MC Cox gave me the beat down and finished 2nd in 19:23. Anna Johnson of Dutch Fork also kicked my butt – I couldnt catch her in the home stretch and she took 3rd in 19:26. Female masters included Linn Hall taking the win, just outkicking Sarah Allers 20:13 to 20:17. Sarah turned in another 85+ percent age grade performance. Male masters was won by Jason Gibson, with Geary and Winston Holliday taking 2nd and 3rd.

Age group honor roll: Ian Clawson barely won the 11-14 by like 7 minutes. Brittany Robbins won the 15-19 girls. Samantha Yeoman won the 20-24. Marian Nanney took 2nd in the 35-39. Colleen Vowles claimed the 40-44 with Jennifer Glass 3rd. A trio of familiar faces in the 45-49 with Randy “don’t pronounce the H” Hrechko , Jim Fadel and Tim Hewitt rounding out the category. Jennifer “JR” Reeves finished 2nd in AG despite me catching her with the walksies. Joe Roof and Phil Togneri had a photo finish (same time) in the 45-49 but Joe must have outleaned him to bring home the win. Anita Recchio, Jeanna Moffett and Lisa King swept a very competitive 50-54. Likewise with Pete O’Boyle, Kyle “Ghost Rider”, and Larry Bates in the 55-59, all just over 21 minutes. Dolly Rodgers took 3rd in the female division. Mary Howk threw down an incredible 23:23 at age 63 to take the win in her AG, while Pete Poore and Leeds Barroll won the men’s 60-64. Alex Ponamarev won the 65-69.

Other finishers included Andrew Touzel, making a return to the racing scene. CRC officers Sheila Subbarao (on a comeback, now down to 28:11) and John Gasque.

The elite 8k was awesome to watch after the open 5k, even while completely sober. Kipkoech Ruto crushed the competition for the win in 22:52 (4:36 pace) and just missed the state record set last year at this race. CWD winner Adam Freudenthal finished 6th in 23:27, just ahead of Running Times cover guy Matthew Elliott. Ricky Flynn took 9th. Eric Ashton and Tim Jeffries were locked in a brutal one-on-one battle the whole way, with Eric outkicking Tim in the last lap for the win. The women’s race was also hotly contested, with a large pack separating only in the last lap. Kimberly Ruck took the win in 26:32 ahead of Alyssa McKaig and Charlotte’s Caitlin Bullock. Major props go out to Shawanna White for breaking the 30 minute barrier and claiming a new PR in 29:49.

Mere mortals: http://www.strictlyrunning.com/RESULTS/14CRIT_O.TXT

Elite: http://www.strictlyrunning.com/RESULTS/14CRIT.TXT

Cold Winter’s Day – Columbia, SC -12/27/14

Dec30

This is where it all began. In Columbia, at least. I did three 5k’s while I was in Charleston in 2007 and became so obsessed that I promptly got shin splints so bad that I couldn’t run until late 2008. Cold Winter’s Day was the first race I could find when I finally could run injury-free again. I knew it was a Strictly Running race and figured I owed them a debt of gratitude for fitting me for some “real” running shoes – I had been training in yardwork-weary asics gels that I think I might have bought in college. I showed up at that race not knowing a soul and scared of what was still a new experience for me. I bonked hard at about 2.5 miles when I misjudged the finish (these were my pre-garmin days) and about donated breakfast en route to a 23:59. The ugly race face was also born:

CWD 2008

Since then I’ve always used CWD as a bench mark for my 5k race fitness. I managed to improve every year, culminating in one of my best races ever, an 18:52 in 2012. The cliff dive reset my expectations last year, though I did manage a 20:09 on a gimp toe and couch surfing fatness on roughly the same effort as the year before. So I wanted to crush this one to make up for it, though the chip on my shoulder about Hawaii recovery had largely been removed by the Savannah half PR and the Kiawah BQ. The marathon was only 2 weeks ago, but I had gotten some decent runs in since then. I’ve read somewhere that you need a recovery day for each mile of the race you’ve run, though for me you might switch that to hours. I lasted until Tuesday. (Still better than some – cough- Joyce – cough that had to run the next morning.)

CWD 2013 – the Walking Dead. Some road kill behind me.

CWD 2009 – Inconceivably, upping the ugly from ’08

CWD 2011 – thug life

CWD 2012 – Beauty and the Beast

I have to admit, the marathon took a lot out of me. Although a freak sasquatch on the outside, apparently I do actually have normal human physiology internally. Still, I was able to put in a couple of 35 mile weeks. Then my three disease vectors, I mean beautiful loving children, decided to conspire against me and throw a heinous cold virus my way. Twenty four hours before race time I started riding the snot train and I was wiped out. Thanks guys.

Still, this was CWD, and I had to keep the six year streak alive. Since doing my best was not in the cards, I figured I could at least show up and jog the course. The following near-sleepless night looking like an extra in a Vicks commercial had me second guessing that idea too.

I got there thirty minutes ahead of time and figured I would keep my running to a minimum – just cross the line and get in the results. I ran a mile with Tigs, which was nice since I haven’t seen her most of the year with her Reckless Running schedule taking her out of area. This race usually brings out everyone, and its usually one of the most competitive 5ks of the year. There was a time bounty for sub 14:30 and sub 14:00, which was disappointing since if I had been well that would’ve been easy money. Still, this year seemed a little less elite than most. I saw the SR crew with Jeff, Shannon, Kenzie, MC, Linn and Jen. CRC standbys Geary, Alex Ponamarev, Diesel/Brady/Jennifer/Brooke Ward, Brie McGrievy, Henry Holt, Lisa and Jesse Smarr, Larry Bates, John Gasque, Pam and Mike Griffin, Debbie McCauley, Sharon Sherbourne, Jim and Sandra Manning, Jim Fadel, Lisa King, Lois Leaburn, Shirley Smith, Teresa Harrington, Mike Wainscott were on hand. TUS’ Carol Wallace, Brittany Robbins, Drew Williams (w/ stepson Ian Clawson), Stephanie Dukes, Sheila Subbarao, Kana Rahman and Chris Fawver showed up, with Justin doing pacing duty. Pam Inman, Tracy Tisdale-Williams and Coleen Strasburger were doing spectating duty. Special shout out to TDBS reader Eric Stamey, who I met at the race. Notably absent was the Trophy. C’mon Lady McGaha, where are you?? At least Code and Pale Beast have injury excuses.

I lined up several rows back this time in what I hoped would be a calming influence. Anyone who knows me knows I am ridiculously, maniacally competitive when it comes to racing. I spend 99 percent of my time being very laid back, but once I get that racing bib, its on like freaking Donkey Kong. I make it about 7 steps before I cant take being in this sardine can start, so I break to the outside like Connor Shaw on an end around and about trample the Diesel in the process. OK hero…slow down – you’re supposed to take this one easy, remember? I do manage to rein it in and settle into what feels like my Kiawah marathon pace (or at least the pace before I wanted to crawl into a corner and cry for my mommy). First quarter mile is a nasty uphill on Trenholm Rd before the first turn to the right. Long downhill on Spring Lake followed by another up and down in the first mile. As I’ve mentioned many times before, the tagline for this race “flat and fast” is a total myth. Especially the first mile, which has exactly zero flat parts and is always my slowest. I’m proud of myself as I approach the first mile clock, hitting about 7:17, more than a minute slower than 100 percent. I even let myself get strollered. Strollered! Do you realize how much stress that puts on my fragile ego?? It was tough but I remained true to my goal of taking it easy. Plus, what maniac goes seven minute pace with a toddler in tow? (Actually I would.) Just as I start to enjoy the fact that I’m not sucking wind, some kid starts stomping behind me and passes me on the ensuing downhill past the mile marker. I swear my eyes start turning green like David Banner, but I let him go. I’ll just pick it up a little though.

Mile 2 actually does have a little flatness in the first part, which includes 2 bridges. I’ve settled into a slightly faster pace, a little slower than half marathon now. Jordan is manning a water stop and requests a race selfie (I’m carrying my phone since I couldnt find my dorky fanny pack spibelt). To make up for the lost dork factor I do attempt the extremely dorky race selfie but all I can see is my giant forehead eclipsing everything. I even race ugly going easy. About 1.5 miles in is the hill of death, which usually makes we want to cry. It’s not super steep, but just long. A girl in front of me catches a case of the walksies. After the death hill is a fairly steep decline which ends right around the mile 2 marker. Split was 6:49.

And then it happened. A 20 something kid pulls up alongside and gives me a pseudo-encouraging “only a mile to go” and passes me. Oh, hell no. I catch up to the kid who is probably wondering what got into this pasty ass clydesdalish old dude. We go along for awhile pretty much side by side until I finally lose self control and start launching into actual 5k pace about a half mile from the finish (the right turn which I bonked at in 2008). It turns out 5k pace is pretty easy to hold when all you have is 800 meters. Kid gets dropped big time. I can even see Jen Lybrand up ahead, so clearly I’m coming in a bit faster than my 23 minute projected time. I told Tracy at the start that I would try and throw down a good blue shoe kick for the finish line pics, so with about 200 meters left I pretty much empty the tank. With all the extra energy and the downhill finish, it turns into a scary albino runaway freight train . The Garmin shows mid 4 minute pace for the last stretch, where I unceremoniously, and completely unnecessarily, wickedly blue shoed a guy about 10 meters from the finish. And completely eclipsed him in the finish line photos. Sorry, Mr. Glenn Robinette, take solace in knowing that at least I’m aware of being a complete jackass. Crossed in 21:27. What kills me is that my age group, without Code, Angel, Steven Johnson or Gomez on board, is super weak this year and mid 20 would have scored me a trophy. Damn you, sinuses.

There’s nothing I can do..total eclipse of the Glenn. CWD 2014

The top three of this race was all-beast. Spartanburg’s Adam Fruedenthal took home the win in 14:47, though missed out on the time bounties. If only I had been healthy to challenge him. Graham Tribble, who I remember won my inaugural CWD in 2008, placed second in 15:20, with Eric Ashton taking 3rd in 16 flat. New Columbian and first year CRC member Shawanna White rocked the women’s field with an 18:17, edging out Brooke Grice for the win. SR’s Kenzie Riddle placed third.

Age group honor roll: Brady “mini Diesel” Ward won 3rd in a tough 2-10 category. Dutch Fork’s Anna Jenkins, who brutally blue shoed me at Run Red Bank, won the 11-13 by a mere 7 minutes. Parker Roof placed second in the 14-16, while Brittany Robbins took 3rd in the female division. Dutch Fork claimed more glory with Anna Johnson’s 2nd in the 17-19. Eddie Lopez took 2nd in the 20-24, just missing out on a sub 17. Jen Lybrand capped off a huge 2014 for her with another 1st in AG in the 25-29 and winning the overall Palmetto Grand Prix. Calhoun Hipp has apparently turned into a total beast since moving from Columbia, winning the 30-34 in 17:45. Jason Dimery placed third. Drew Williams claimed 2nd in the 35-39. EA’s Heather Costello and SR’s MC Cox went 1-2 in the women’s 35-39. Strictly’s Shannon Iriel and Linn Hall took top two in the 40-44, while Jeff Godby and Coke Mann did the same among the men. Matt Buffum took 2nd in the 45-49, with Glenn Robinette stepping out of my shadow and claiming 3rd. Sarah Allers, Chantal Faure and Lisa King swept a very competitive 50-54. Phil Togneri placed 2nd in the men’s division. CRC swept the 55-59 men, with Geary McAlister, Pete O’Boyle and Larry Bates taking home the glory. Carol Wallace, Alsena Edwards and Lisa Smarr won among the women in another tough division. Rob Kriegshaber and Harry Strick went 1-2 in the 60-64, while Lynn Grimes easily won the women’s division. Ageless Albert Anderson and Brigitte Smith claimed the 65-69, while Arnold Floyd took the 70-74 by only 18 minutes. Henry Holt and Jesse Smarr were champs of the 75-79.

http://www.strictlyrunning.com/results/14cwd.txt

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/658206999

Kiawah Marathon – Kiawah Island, SC – 12/13/14

Dec17

Photo Credit: Pat Norcia

So this is it. Somehow I got suckered into signing up for the Kiawah Marathon about nine months ago. My mind was already made up – this would be a year to get healthy and maybe, just maybe, get somewhere near where I was before my Hawaii debacle in July 2013. But everyone was planning for a fall marathon then, and my 5k speed was picking up, so somehow I developed the twisted notion to do Kiawah.

And this wasn’t going to be for grins and giggles. Oh no, if I was going to do another 26.2, it was going to be for all the marbles – the elusive Boston qualifier. The big BQ. Sure, the longest run I had done since my cliff dive was 13.1 at the Newberry Half, and nine minutes slower than my PR. But my melon head has no limit to its grandiosity, and I was in.

One problem – I suck at marathons. I’m all 5k – 20 minutes of cathartic pain and frenzy is my thing. Carefully measured pacing and restraint is not. And the marathon has been a brutal mistress. She left me wrecked on the side of the road in Richmond at mile 18. I got way dehydrated at Jacksonville and was saved by a random stranger with a water bottle. Richmond part II brought me to a crawl past mile 22.

And this whole BQ thing. Fortunately my advanced age bought me 5 extra minutes. I turn 40 in March so I could get in with a 3:15. That’s great and all, but my marathon PR was a 3:20:44 in Jacksonville which I thought I ran almost perfectly (save for the guardian angel with the critical water bottle at mile 12). I was going to have to shave at least 5 minutes. “At least”, because even those who qualified last year got screwed when the race filled up before those that were close to their qualifying times could register. Just ask Randy Hrechko or Jeff Godby about that. Brutal.

So I was probably looking at more like 3:13 to be sure. That’s around 7:20 pace. Just a 22 minute 5k….eight and a half times in a row. No sweat, right? Yeah.

To be honest, I had very little confidence going into my training. But Justin drew up the TUS workout schedule (on a monthly basis, as not to scare us for the horrors to come) and I drank the yellow and black kool-aid. No messing around this time. Sure, I switched some days so I could do my ridiculous racing schedule, but I made sure I did every key workout.

I’m pretty sure Justin did some time at Guantanamo Bay before coming to SC, because this plan was insane. I was doing mid week 10 milers, crazy long speedwork, marathon pace intervals in long runs. It beat me up pretty bad. Luckily the Pale Beast agreed to be my company for the Sunday long run misery, so that helped. I finally came up for air for a couple of days to test myself at the Savannah half last month. It was total Mr Miyagi paint-the-fence/wash-the-car/sand-the-floor. Totally stunned with a 1:28 – a 2 minute PR. Not post-cliff, but all time. I was convinced.

Flash forward five more weeks. Three more killer 20+ milers. Tapered for about a week and a half. I was scared to death of every little twinge and tingle but managed to make it to the starting line healthy. Code, Joyce, Justin and I rented a condo on the island, just a short walk from the start. Definitely the way to go. Doubly nice was not having to share a bed with the Code, though our sleeping accommodations were better suited as military barracks for children. Plus Darrell likes to keep the condo at below 60 degrees to help him sleep. As if you didn’t know he’s a freak already.

But you couldn’t argue with the condo location. I got to desecrate an actual bathroom instead of the portapotty nightmare. Sweet. We were able to leave at about 7:40 for an 8 am start. Everyone and their mom from Columbia was here. Meme Spurgeon, Pam Inman, Angel and Laurin Long (running the half post chemo – total beast mode) were there for Palmetto Runners. The Strictly “Red Storm” featured Erin Miller, Linn Hall, Jennifer and Jordan Lybrand and MC Cox. Pete O’Boyle, Karen Manning, Geary McAlister, Howie Phan, Mike and Kat Hudgins, Coleen Strasburger, Ken and Patti Lowden, Sheila Subbarao, Shufy Rowe, Lee Walker, Jennifer and Mario Tudor were some familiar faces. TUS fielded myself, the Code, Coach Bishop, Lorikay Keinzle, Carol Wallace, Julia Early, Joyce, Ivanka Tolan, the Yerg (running the half with Laurin). Jessica was running with Marathon Man. In a great coincidence, my high school friend Cole Smith was running the marathon with the same BQ goal, and Emily Granberry , my original running partner, was visiting from San Antonio to do the half. Temps were cold and little to no wind or humidity. Time to put up or shutup.

I was nervous as hell at the start but I had Cole and the Code to form a mini 3:10 pace group. I had gone back and forth as to what I would try to do, but I figured 3:10/7:15 pace gave me the optimal speed with room for error. Main goal: Anything under 3:13. Reach goal was to go sub 3:10. B standard: 3:14:59. Nice on paper, though I knew all was theoretical since nothing prepares you fully for the actual race.

Click to access 2012-full-marathonmap.pdf

With the start there was a lot of jockeying for position, but we were finally able to settle into a nice groove. We rattled off a bunch of sub 7:10 miles. It felt pretty crappy early on. Just none of the light, euphoric feeling from Savannah. I kept trying to block out the mental magnitude of the 26 miles. Luckily we had Superman in our pace group – also known as Joe Wilson from Atlanta. He helped keep us occupied on something other than the long miles ahead of us and gave us a mini history of running in Columbia in the early 2000’s when he lived there. He even knew Brandenberg and how he’s a beast on the bike. Great – as if JB’s ego needs any boosting. Pace was dialed in pretty well, if maybe a touch fast. I figured it might be good to have a little time in the bank anyway. Yeah – we’ll get back to that.

Kiawah no longer has a two loop course, which is nice, though one must realize its a pretty small island. Solution: run down every cul de sac and road in the whole place. The majority of the distance was four out-and-back “fingers” which took you out to the north end of the island and back. The first finger (miles 5-9) was nice – it felt good to be out in the sun and you could start to see the race unfolding ahead of you. Eric Ashton and the two other half leaders came blowing by us on the way back at some insane speed, and I thought for a second Kiawah had added a 5k. Nope, just some low 5 minute half marathon pace. Holy crap. Joe and I had separated a bit from Cole and Darrell at this point, which I knew meant bad news for the Code, since his half PR is three minutes faster than mine. This was his first marathon though. Popped the first espresso love GU as planned just before the turnaround at mile 7. The way back probably made my race. So much support from all the other Columbia runners, even some people I didnt even know were there. Its easy to stand out when your 6’3″, in a black singlet, and have the complexion of Edward Scissorhands. I even saw Emily out on the course for the first time in 5 years – that was pretty cool. I got a little speedy but made sure to tell myself to not be an idiot and trash my race by getting too excitable. Yeah – we’ll get back to that too.

A whiter shade of pale

Once the first finger was done, more flat shady miles in the main part of the island. Kiawah is kind of like Hilton Head – everything is kind of understated and everything pretty much looks the same, so I had no idea where we were. Some girl, who I assume was doing the half, was getting it and using me as a human wind shield (FYI, if there’s one thing I’m good at its blocking wind). She was sucking air like it was going out of style and I felt like I was being chased by a rabid hyena for at least a half mile. I guess we all get a dose of our own medicine at some point. Joe sped up a lot on the way back and gapped me quite a bit. Suddenly Cole comes back into the picture, and it was just us for a while. Neither one of us were runners or athletes in high school, so I kept thinking how improbable this moment would have been to our 1993 selves. All of a sudden the half and full separate at about 11.5 miles. I am mercifully relieved of hyena girl and it gets dead quiet. There’s like one guy ahead of us, and he’s the only thing separating this race from a glorified training run at this point. I had been feeling pretty good up to this point, but there was a little belly churning going on and I was fearful of having a Code Brown signature moment. Thankfully it subsided. Hit the half at 1:34 – a little quick but basically right where I wanted to be. Second finger was miles 14-15. I was feeling a little tired, but GU number two gave me a jolt of energy. I ended up leaving Cole and passing Joe and I felt pretty good.

Then I broke the first rule of marathoning – respect the distance. I admit, the head started to swell and I started thinking about rocking the crap out of this race. I was going to be a bad ass and pull off some ridiculous 3:05 or something. I hit mile 15 in 6:57 and kept going. Another 6:57 at mile 16. I was feeling great. Only ten miles to go – how hard could it be?? Third finger was miles 16-20. It just went on forever. I saw Robby walking and I was crushed, since we had done a lot of the Team Utopia speed sessions together. Still, he was on his way back so he was probably at least a mile ahead of me. Angel was also on his way back and looking strong. It felt like we running halfway to Charleston (at one point you could even see the Cooper river bridge) but eventually the turnaround came. On the way back things started to take a slight turn for the worse. I was still hitting the 7:10ish pace but I was laboring a bit more. I saw Larry and Joyce looking good on my way back in. Finishing the out and back was the 20 mile mark. I forget the exact time but I was way ahead of Justin’s 20 mile Boston threshold of 2:29. I got a slight jolt of adrenaline but my great feeling of miles 15-17 was definitely gone.

You get dumped right back into the out and back of finger four for miles 20-22. Things were going south in a hurry – certainly the fatigue but also a subtle mental fogginess too. Ruh roh. The mile markers seemed to be taking a lot longer to appear. I hit mile 20 in 7:18, which was my first one slower than goal pace. This scared me a bit so I think I pushed it a bit in the next mile, bringing it only down to 7:14. I finally took a sharp right and I knew it headed back to the finish. All of a sudden I hear a cop shouting me down on the road and I realize I’m supposed to be on the damn paved trail. Turning around and having to go backward was pretty crushing. Mile 22 was in 7:23 and I started getting really scared. I felt like complete death. I put the blinders on and just tried to focus on whatever I could see ahead of me.

At the mile 24 mark I knew I was in a world of trouble. I was still on the paved trail, now dodging three hour plus halfers. A few times I stepped off the path and felt my leg start to crumple beneath me. I wasnt familiar with that, but I figured it was decidedly bad. I finally hit mile 25 after an eternity and I didnt dare look at my Garmin. At this point I was dangerously close to having to hit the med tent. Just totally in a fog, nauseated, legs like jello. One mile to go – even with the death march going on I knew I had enough banked time if I could just get my Sasquatch ass across the finish line. I summoned all the demons of the past 16 months to help me – the pain and frustration of Kauai, the walking on the side of the road in near tears when my toe hurt too bad to run, the months of couch surfing. I kept screaming to myself “IT’S JUST ONE FREAKING MILE!! YOU CAN DO THIS!! “. That , and a new world record for F bombs. Finally, finally, I “saw the light” and people turning towards it. Either I was about to die or this was the finish. I was ready for either. Luckily, it was the latter. Justin caught me at the turn and said “You’re going to Boston!!” and I made out 3:10’s on the clock. I got a jolt of adrenaline and tried to muster a kick and instead got brutally blue shoed by a woman half my size (wow, after rabid hyena, that’s karma payback number two for this race). Hit the tape at 3:11:16. Nine minute PR and a BQ by almost four minutes. Completely blown away. In my mind I had envisioned some triumphant, epic finish to BQ, but at this point I was complete and utter toast. I sat down on one of the chairs and had to wait about 5 minutes to make sure I was a) not going to puke and b) not going to pass out when I stood up. So it wasn’t glamorous… but damn was it sweet. This guy gives it a big thumbs up:

Lots of people to list here thanks to our huge Columbia contingent. Coach Justin was a little underwhelmed by his performance but still grabbed third overall in 2:44. I do owe him a huge debt of gratitude for getting me to Kiawah perfectly trained and injury fee – thanks dude! Maybe I’ll take it easy on you in our next Sega NHL 95 showdown.

Team Utopia BQ’ers also included Lorikay Keinzle (who also got 2nd grandmasters in 3:44), Joyce (3:38) and Julia (3:48). Robby, Cole and Code had a tough day but its only a matter a time before they will join the 2016 class. Mike Hudgins had a big PR with a 4:30.

Others included Angel rocking a 3:06 to qualify for Boston again. Karen Manning rocked a 3:28 (BQ), Jennifer Lybrand 3:33 ( a big PR and new BQ), Larry Bates 3:35 (BQ), Wendy Hart 3:46, Hal Ray 3:54, Laurie Royson 4:02, Meme Spurgeon 4:06 (first marathon) Ivanka Tolan 4:11 (first marathon) , Alexandra Rippy 4:18, Lorand Batten 4:19 Pam Inman 4:24, Mike Hudgins 4:30 , Jessica Workman 5:41, Hou-Yin Chang 6:05, Jennifer Tudor 6:16, Mario Tudor 6:16,

In the half, Caroline Peyton finished 3rd in 1:22, with Erin Miller just behind in 5th in 1:23. Eric Ashton placed 3rd in 1:11. Linn Hall took 3rd female master in 1:32. Irv Batten blazed to first in male masters in 1:17, while Marc Embler set a pending age group record with a 1:19 at age 57. Wow. David Quick placed 3rd grandmasters in 1:24. MC Cox took 3rd in the brutal 35-39 age group. A quick scan of the results: Jordan Lybrand 1:31, Geary McAlister 1:32 (3rd in AG) Howie Phan 1:33, Pete O’Boyle 1:34 (4th in AG), Leyden Hane 1:42, Lee Walker 1:44, Carol Wallace 1:51, Coleen Strasburger 1:51, Sue Porter 1:57, Kana Rahman 1:59, Renee McCormick 1:59, Sandy Smith 1:59, Heather Alexander 2:04, Peter Mugglestone 2:04, Emily Granberry 2:07, Mike Wainscott 2:08, Teresa Harrington 2:08, Ken Lowden 2:12, Jeff Smith 2:17, Sheila Subbarao 2:21, Patti Lowden 2:25 Kat Hudgins 2:49, Rob Yerger and Laurin Long 3:13. Sorry if I missed anybody.