Main Street Crit is a new race that touts itself as one of the few running criterium races in the country. For those of you not named Jeff Brandenburg, a criterium is typically a short course (usually cycling) race with multiple laps.  The race is held at night in downtown Columbia, around two city blocks on Main street. In addition to a race for the mere mortals, Main Street Crit held an “elite” race with real pros for some serious cash (1500 for the winner). I just missed the cutoff time for that race by a mere 4 minutes in the 5k. So close.

Despite my hatred for multiple lap courses, I was pretty excited about this race, since it was so unique.  621 Ninjas Stephen Johnson and Amos Disasa were on the organizing committee for this race,  and Strictly was timing it, so I figured it would be well done. I have no idea what drove them to create this race, but its always cool to see someone doing something outside of the white cotton shirt loop course 5k.  Not that there’s anything wrong with that – I’ve done about 20 of them this year though. Course was eight 1k laps, almost completely flat. Basically a large outdoor street track.

This was the second part of my weekend double dip, having started with the Harborside Lights 5k the night before. Apparently in my zeal to catch up with the Brandenburg/Yerger combo, coupled with a  paralyzing fear of getting chicked by a thirteen year old girl, I had thoroughly kicked my own ass. Just sore all over.  I got there an hour early and was pretty tight from Friday night’s abuse.  My spirits were slightly boosted by the fact I stole a parking space from someone trying to the  “back in” parking thing in the garage. Awesome.

Not a huge crowd gathered, but a lot of pretty fast people.  The Code actually made an appearance, along with Angel and Will Brumbach, so I’d be hard pressed to get any age group glory. Barrett Boozer was also there and I incorrectly thought he was in my group too.  Schmitz was on hand, as well as Brandenburg again. JB is definitely whoring himself out for points late in the year. Who would do something like that?  Not me. Ted Hewitt, Jeanna Moffett, Hedgecock, Eddie Vergara, 621 red ninja Erin Miller, 2011 Palmetto 200 teammate Garris Haynes, Soon -to-be 2012 PGP champ Jennifer Lybrand, 621 master ninja Shufy Rowe, CRC’s Lindsey Byers , Jennifer Glass,  Michael Jensen, TdC director John Gasque,  Henry Holt, Rocky , Hou Yin Chang, Cheryl Vaught,  and Leighton Lord were some of the familiar names and faces. With 128 total runners, a pretty competitive pack.   Eric Ashton and John Charlton were on hand to compete in the masters division of the elite race.  I think Bishop could have qualified for the elite, but with former Olympians and 13 minute 5kers in the mix, the open elite division was a whole other level.

I had tried to rally my troops to sign up for the CRC team, though I was only sure that Code and Ted had joined. Schmitz and JB missed the multiple  newsletters , emails and facebook pleas.  My friends the Ferlautos had their own team along with CRC traitor Lorien Owens  in the team competition. Choosing family over the running club. Jeez.

I lined up first row at the start due to my photo and attention whore status and general grandiose tendencies. I led the race for a good 10 feet at the start before Vergara and about 20 people flew past me. Apparently lack of restraint is not only my problem. First lap feels great because its so nice and flat – no Lake Carolina mountains here.  Brumbach has already latched on my side and Boozer is right there too. JB is a few meters ahead. As we come up on the first lap, I see the clock just over 3 minutes. I don’t claim to be a math genius, but even my slightly addled race brain is confused. The race is billed as an 8k, and there’s 8 laps.  Granted, I went out a little speedy, but 24-25 minutes for an 8k is sub 5 minute pace. So already I know this thing is going to be crazy short.

Somehow with all the math I’ve slowed down and let Brumbach and Boozer put a gap on me. My legs are slightly cashed from all the Lake Carolina fun from last night, but I make an effort to at least keep these guys in striking distance. This becomes harder on the second, and especially the third lap, as we start catching the tail end of the race. Its nice to have some company, but some of these guys are running 2-3 abreast. I’m jumping on sidewalks and doing jukes and cutbacks to avoid some poor soul getting run over by a pale blue bus. With the traffic and darkness, its getting tougher to see where my competition is too. I knew I hit the first mile in 6:14, which is right on target…for a 5k. I decided to abandon the Garmin after this.

Four laps in and I’m basically by myself. More metaphorically by myself, because there are plenty of people around.  Will is really the only person I can see though thats actually racing the same lap as me.  I definitely faded a bit in pace in the middle..a little bit of post Harborside fatigue with a touch of boredom from so many laps and defeatism from getting dropped by the law firm of Brandenburg, Boozer and Brumbach.  Towards the end of lap 5 I started ramping up the pace to get this thing done.  Suddenly I see someone familiar ahead. It’s the Code! He’s looking rough, like someone shot him in the foot or something.  Sure enough, I catch him and he’s had a flare up of the arch pain he’s been dealing with. Normal people would stop, but not sick, sick bastards like us. Plus, he’s signed up for the Columbia Run Club team – personal pain be damned, take it for the team dude.  I pass him on lap 6 and start to really hammer it in lap 7. I barely miss getting lapped by Eddie, who wins the race a step behind me. By the start of the last lap Brumbach is suddenly in sight. Normal people try hard to beat people in their age group…I apparently will endure intolerable suffering for even the slimmest chance of pulling off my favorite maneuver: the Blue Shoe.  I start seeing some head bobbing or fatigue ahead of me and its like blood in the water. Mid lap 7 and I throw down hard. Will is still pushing some good pace but I’m catching up. Finally , on the second to last turn, I pass him,  sucking wind like its going out of style. Unfortunately theres a mob scene of runners just ahead. Luckily I suddenly develop the field vision of Marcus Lattimore and hit a seam, narrowly missing Ferlauto and some ladies doing 12 minute pace. The last straightaway is pure unadulterated sprint and all of a sudden Barrett comes into view. I blast it out but finish just a step behind him in 27:59. Tenth overall, 2nd in AG.

So yeah, just a touch short. Actually 4.37 miles by the Garmin, which I’m sure isnt completely accurate with all the tall buildings. One thing I’m more sure of is that its not the 4.96 miles of an 8k.  Actually another lap would have put it pretty close, though still a little short.  My pace was 6:24,   so would have been a nice PR. Oh well.

As mentioned, Eddie crushed the win even though he went out in an absolute sprint. Mike Hedgecock took an impressive third, behind Alejandro Arreola – a guy from Charlotte that comes down and does a fair amount of Columbia races. Meg Chieffe won the womens race. Angel finished 6th and Brandenburg 8th – only 10 seconds in front of me. Never saw him though. Barret finished a second ahead of me. Apparently I also blue shoed another guy who finished 3 seconds behind me (Matthew Smith), but I never saw him either. Will finished 12th, and the Code 13th, and then ran an extra lap (on an injured foot) because he lost count. I thought you were an engineer, Code – aren’t you guys good at math? 621 red ninja Erin Miller finished just behind the code to take 2nd overall female.

Brandenburg won 1st masters, with Schmitz winning 3rd, and Jeanna Moffett winning 1st female masters. Age groupers include Barrett winning the 30-34, Lorien Owens winning 3rd in the female 30-34,  Angel, myself and Will in the 35-39, Ted Hewitt 3rd in the 40-44. My Palmetto 200 temmate Garris Haynes took 2nd in the 45-49, with Cheryl Vaught finishing 2nd in the female division. Gasque took 3rd in the 50-54, and Shufy Rowe and Jack Kuenzie went 1-2 in the 55-59. WIS TV definitely wins fastest news team with Kuenzie and Dawndy. Rocky and Henry took the 70+ category.

The elite race was a blast to see. Ive never seen 4:30 pace up close and I assure you its impressive. The mens field included a couple of guys from the Olympic trials (Bobby Mack  – 10000m, Jeff See – 1500m) and 2 time Olympic steeplechaser (’04, ’08) Anthony Famiglietti. Winning the women’s race was 15:50ish 5ker Stephanie Pezzullo, who collapsed at the end, Blue Shoe style!  Eric Ashton and John Charlton represented Columbia well in the masters division, and Robert Razick and Tim Jeffreys in the open.

http://www.strictlyrunning.com/RESULTS/12MAINCRIT.TXT

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/250706615

https://www.facebook.com/alex.mcdonald.3139/photos

This is my first time doing this 5k, which  I think is at least in its 2nd year. The race is tied to the Harborside Lights Festival – a Christmas themed evening event at the Lake Carolina town center.

I admit I was a little wary of this race.  One, some “festival” races are like some afterthought someone on the event planning committee brought up. These are the ones where the course is uncertified and barely marked,  starts late,  lame awards, etc, etc. Luckily this was NOT one of those.

Two, Lake Carolina.  Its pretty much a mountain range. With lots of traffic. There’s no way to shut down the roads in the neighborhood because, well, people have to get home. So any race here is necessarily going to have open streets. Plus, texting soccer moms in SUVs will mow you down in a heartbeat. This race did a great job with the traffic from what I could see – which is amazing considering it was on a  Friday night, just after rush hour, in prime Christmas shopping season.

This is part I of my scheduled double dip for this weekend, with Main Street Crit tomorrow.  I came straight from work and showed up about an hour early. Ran the first loop of the course with Geary and Ted. This course is one I had never run before – it plunges downhill from the Town Center, all the way to the lake in Harborside. At the bottom of the hill, you go right back up the long incline, take a right and get a nice downhill again. This is only a brief respite, as you then have to scale a 3/4 mile mountain for the second loop. Finish is coming back down, but then you have that little downhill break in reverse right before the finish. I think the course is certified, but its certainly a bit long by Garmin (3.17 is even included in the course map)

Hard to get a read on the size of the race in the dark, but seemed like a decent crowd for a small race. Over 100 for sure. Brandenburg and Yerger showed up, giving me limited trophy chances. Ted, Henry Holt, Rocky, Colleen Vowles, J-Reeves, Valerie Selby, Ponamarev, Geary, Barb Brandenburg and Michael Jensen were some of the CRC peeps to show up. The Howells and Diesels were in attendance as spectators – weak!  No clear winner from what I could tell at the start, though there were quite a few high school kids that were wildcards.

Start was fast. I had lined up first row but was getting mobbed in the first 100 meters. Some guy even more Clydesdalish than myself comes barreling past me like its a 400 meter race.  So inevitably a half mile in there’s lots of roadkill to be had. Rob and JB are running together just ahead, so I surge a bit to put myself about 20 meters back.  First mile is mostly downhill to the lake, so I try my best not to flop all over the place like I usually do. Still feeling pretty good but dreading what I know is coming. First mile was in 5:59, smoking for me but mostly due to the downhill. We run a block by the lake then right back up the hill. Wind sucking commences. Ive freed myself from the main pack and had passed a bunch of high schoolers, but there’s still this tiny girl in front of me who is just crushing it. Turns out it may be easier to lift 90 pounds up a hill than 190.  Go figure.

I finally finish the harborside loop and im a little afraid to blast on to Lake Carolina drive. They have the intersection well blocked off, but there’s cars everywhere. Next is that brief freefall, which at least lets me breathe a little easier. Still about the same gap with Rob and JB.  Tiny girl still has a few steps on me too. The mountain sucked. Not terribly steep,  just long.  We turn into a subdivision for the end of the loop, which I think will be a break but its an extra BONUS hill. Awesome. By the top my heartrate’s like 2000 but at least the quads of steel are holding up. Mile 2 is like 6:30. I round the turn like I’m in Olympic stadium and start crushing the downhill. Halfway down I’m side by side with Tiny Girl but she is not giving up easily. We are right next to a long line of cars , and despite my natural tendency to want to pull a stiff arm and blast out in front, I figure that’s poor form with a middle school girl. I’m such a gentleman. After the bottleneck of cars I finally do get a chance to break free and chase the Yerger/JB tandem. Yerger is sensing the finish and has started to put the beatdown on the Brandenburg. Some volunteer guy suddenly starts running beside me and Seabiscuiting me to the finish.  I dont think I know him, but its dark and my brain is more focused on remaining conscious with such limited oxygen. Last hill is a killer but I’m starting to close on JB.  Last turn and I make out the clock at about 19:10 or so.  Time for some blue shoes. Ramped up some sub 5 pace and crossed in 19:35, five seconds behind JB and eleven behind the Yergs.  Good for 4th overall, 2nd in AG behind Rob. 3.17 miles on the Garmin. I’ll take it, especially with the hillfest and the long course.

Turns out we were all left in the dust by a high school guy Michael Egbert, who was so far ahead I never saw him past the first half mile. Second was Rob, Third JB. Fifth was the Tiny Girl, Claudia Cannon, who is all of 13. Yes, I nearly got chicked by a seventh grader. Nice work, Claudia. Geary finished 6th in a shade over 20. Ted and Michael Jensen went 1-2 in the 40-44 AG. Colleen Vowles, locked into an epic battle for the TdC 35-39 with Sarah Blackwell, scored a PR of 22:49 on this tough course and finished 2nd in  AG. Maybe a battle royale at Rudolph’s Rampage? The missus Brandenburg barely won her AG by five minutes in 23:23.  Valerie, Ponamarev, Henry and Rocky also all placed in AG.

http://www.strictlyrunning.com/RESULTS/12HSL.TXT

The Fitness Zone Jingle Bell 5k has been a Blue Shoes staple since 2009.  I first heard about it in my desperate attempt to break 20 minutes in the 5k  – it is known as one of the flattest courses in the Midlands. On top of the flat course,  it has that small town feel and relatively small crowd that I like…certainly for the trophy hunt aspect but also for other, non-maniacally competitive reasons.  The owner is always there and fully involved, the volunteers are super nice,  they have a timely award ceremony, and …hot chocolate. Best recovery drink on a cold day ever.

In reality the course is certified, but on the long side of the margin of error. I’ve consistently gotten 3.17ish on the Garmin, so probably not a perfect PR course.  Still, the gradual downhill in the whole last mile will definitely give you a fast finish if you’ve got anything left in the tank.  I ran one of my fastest races here last year, with a 5:54 final mile, though the 19:28 time doesn’t show it.

I got there this morning my customary hour early. There was a fair crowd already, so the race appears to be growing. We have it on the Tour de Columbia again this year after the Diesel’s successfully lobbied it to get on in 2011. Its also on Strictly’s Palmetto Grand Prix, so its drawn a pretty competitive top end in the past couple of years. This year, with a lot of the PGP regulars having already met their 21 race maximum, there was no clear pre-race favorite. Eric Allers was my early bet to win.  The Brandenburgs finally came back to race. All the grandmasters elites like Billy Tisdale, Geary, John Sneed, Arnold Floyd, Albert Anderson and Thomas Tapp were on hand.  Mr and Mrs Diesel were there to support the hometown event, though it should be noted that Jen was the only one with balls enough to race. Diesel himself was there to hide behind..I mean “coach” Brady.  Trophy actually showed up for the second week in a row.  I’m about to post a milk carton ad for Code though…he always does this race and was MIA. J-Reeves  was there to run what was her first 5k a couple years back. Kimi was there to take pics and hopefully capture some race face.  Brie McGrievy represented the CRC and was hoping to pick up some TdC points.  Tigs , Shannon Iriel and Sharon Cole appeared to be among the women’s favorites, and Jen Lybrand continued her relentless push to be PGP open female champion.

I had decided to try and run this hard from the start. I usually go out on the slow side, and pick it up gradually over the rest of the race, with the requisite headless chicken finish. I had planned to ride the Code, but in his absence I thought Billy would be a good substitute given his fast starts.

So with the start I tried to go a little out of my comfort zone and push it early.  Eric blasted out of the gate and left me for dead immediately, but  I settled in quickly with Billy, a few paces behind Brandenburg. Billy surged about a half mile in, and instead of letting him go, I latched on like a monkey on his back.  He settled down again and we were just a few paces behind JB at the mile mark. I didnt look at the Garmin, but thought we were doing very low 6 pace (though in reality 6:17 – there is a slow gradual incline on the way out).  Rocky , who was doing a spectating/racing double dip, blew our cover to JB at just over a mile in. JB had a kid on his tail the whole way, but he faded suddenly as we made a turn at 1.25.  We all passed him and then Billy decides to try and drop me again. I let him go just a little to try and go stealth. The one hill on the course is at a mile and a half, so in charging up the incline I caught up with Tisdale again.

There’s then a little patch on a more heavily traveled road, which you have to cross. Road is not closed so when I saw an opening I hit it, even though it was not a perfect tangent. I was too afraid of getting to the intersection and having to stop. By mile 2 JB had gapped us a bit and Billy had a couple steps on me. I heard someone on my tail, and by the industrial machine breathing I knew it had to be Geary.  I started ramping up the pace but just wasnt feeling as good as I had last week.  I threw a few surges at Billy but he was not going to let me have this easy. With all the jockeying for position we were actually gaining quite a bit on Brandenburg, who had now almost caught the guy in front of him (3rd place).  I made one last surge just before the 3 mile mark, but when Billy held me off I think my spirit was broken. I blasted to the finish as hard as I could go,  finishing in 19:34 – a half  step behind Billy and three seconds behind JB.

With Angel and Code sitting this one out (Angel did Jingle All the Way downtown, finishing 2nd) I won my age group. I finished 6th by my count but the results somehow have me over Billy with the same time.  Sounds like it was a slight difference in the read on the chip, but he definitely beat me.  Jaz Greene, the kid that won Springdale a year ago, won the overall, with Eric finishing second. A teenager took 3rd, just 7 seconds ahead of me – so close to a trophy! JB 4th.  Shannon Iriel took 1st overall female in a narrow win over Tigs (20:21 to 20:31).  Trophy won 2nd in our age group with a 21 flat. Blackjack!  Brigit Spann won 3rd overall female in 20:43 at age 57 – 88% age grade. Wow.  Albert Anderson finished just behind her at age 63. Hope I can be like them when I grow up. Speaking of more ageless performances, John Sneed and Arnold Floyd finished in  just over 23 minutes at age 69 and 70.  Jen Lybrand finished 7th overall female to add to her PGP lead. Barb Brandenburg finished 2nd in AG behind Sharon Cole. Brie McGrievy scored TdC points with a 3rd in age group. Billy and Geary each easily won their groups, with Thomas Tapp finishing a strong second behind Mr. Tisdale.  The Sneeds both won their age groups, and Arnold Floyd won the 70+ by about 25 minutes. Jen Ward (24:44) won the Diesel trophy over Brady’s strong 25:36, each winning 2nd in AG. J-Reeves ran her 2nd fastest 5k in 30:23, and blue shoed it to the finish. I was so proud.

The Sleigh Bell Trot is a 5k held in conjunction with the Saluda Shoals Park Christmas Lights exhibit, which is held the Tuesday night before Thanksgiving.

The race has always been a bit of a mixed bag for me.  The good – Christmas Lights, holiday cheer, etc. etc. The bad – the can’t see s$%t factor, the hairpin twists and turns factor, the running through mobs of people factor…all of which adds to the fear of busting my ass factor.

To be fair, that last thing has never actually happened. At least not in this race. I give credit to the race organizers because they have slowly improved on what was initially a bit of a cluster. Just ask Code – dude wont even mention this race without shuddering.  The first couple of Sleigh Bells were plagued by very late starts, inadequate bathrooms and just not enough space for so many people. There has also been some really bad weather, but they really cant control that.

The race grew so big, so fast, that the organizers very smartly chose to hold the walk and run on different nights in 2011. Previously the walk was free and bringing in so many people, strollers, pets, etc. that it was pretty ridiculous. This apparently helped things out a lot, so after staying home last year I decided to give this one another shot.

This was a good year for the race. About 800 runners, so this was still going to make it tight. There’s only so much space to run 3.1 miles in a relatively small paved area in the park. Thankfully they have altered the course to minimize the amount of back and forth traffic. In 2010 I came with my whole family and about took them out trying to blast through a horde of walkers in mile 3.  Weather was pretty nice too – cool but not too bad – low 50’s at the start.

A  huge crowd was there with quite a few familiar faces. Crazy Legs, Plexico, Teo, James Hicks, Geary, Rocky, Alex P, Sarah B, Burgess, Winston Holliday, Gasque, the Diesels, Gomez and his wife Jamie, Pete Poore and the Holts were all there.  Gomez assured me he was just running it “easy”, but since the dude can now do sub 18, I was probably looking at 2nd in AG at best.

I lined up first row at a start that was packed like sardines and just a narrow strip of road ahead of us.  Looking back, I couldnt see the end of the mob. There were a ton of high school and middle school kids there, who arent known for their restraint. Sure enough, the start was like the bulls in Pamplona. Total madhouse. I hauled ass to avoid being trampled by the stampede behind me.  Teo and Geary take off like Usain Bolt and leave me behind despite my 5 minute pace burst in the beginning.

As always, it is freaking dark. Forunately theyve lit up the speed bumps in the road this time, because they were always about to trip me up in years past. It takes a full half mile in to make the crowd a little more sparse. Its still crowded at times – Teo passed me back ona  downhill  and then I exchanged the favor at the next flat section. I was doing way too much dodging with what looked like an 8th grade girl in front of me. Damned if she wasnt throwing elbows and making it impossible to pass. Somehow I’m always getting into pissing matches with middle schoolers these days. Finally I find a seam and pull a Barry Sanders out into some freedom.  Hit the first mile in 6:20ish. I figure thats pretty decent pace – my PR on this tight and winding course is actually only 20:28 (2010).  Second mile is mostly by myself. I feel grateful for putting some distance on the field, because I can see some of the crazy crowds on the switchbacks. Despite being my third race in 4 days, I feel surprisingly good. Hard to figure out pace though with the dark and no one else near me. It also makes distance almost impossible to gauge. I hit the 2nd mile in an identical 6:20. About this time I see Winston up ahead. Winston was on my Blue Ridge team and was also my target in the Get in the Pink 10k . I start pushing the pace and start making slow gains on him.  A little over a half mile in I see Plex heading back my way to the finish for the win. Unfortunately I have no idea how long of a loop he’s just run so I dont quite kick it in yet.  I finally reach the apex of the last loop and start kicking. Its a shorter loop than I thought and although I’m closing fast on Winston, I’m running out of real estate too.  We hit the lighted 3 mile mark (6:09 split) and he starts sprinting it out. I ‘m so close but he holds me off and I finish 2 seconds behind, 19:46 , 12th overall, 2nd in AG behind Gomez’ walk in the park (19:10).

Definitely happy with the result. My Garmin had 3.17 miles and this was a full 44 seconds faster than 2 years ago.  Plex won the overall by 27 seconds, and Gomez, Winston and myself were the next 3 in the field who can drink a legal beer. Lots of high schoolers in this one. The little kids were super fast in this race too – the 2-14 AG was all under 21 for the boys and the slowest 2-14 girl was 22:09. Wow. Sarah B took second in AG, Winston 1st.  Burgess bitched and moaned about his injured ankle before the race and then ran a 20:16. Cry me a river JB!  Teo crushed his age group and Gasque managed a 3rd in a huge field. Geary won his age group by like seven minutes (20:03). They screwed the 60+ runners with a 60-98 group, but Rocky and Henry Holt still placed 2nd and 3rd. Pete missed out on the awards but was able to get them to change it next year.

Runway is now in its 3rd year – its a 5k held completely on the flat concrete of one of CAE’s runways. While it was initially held to celebrate the opening of the new runway, its been turned into an annual event. I think I can safely say the race will continue – I have never seen an explosion of a race like this one. Last year there 152 participants, but this year over 600 were signed up. Nuts.  Everybody and their mom showed up, sometimes literally. They had to park most of the cars on the grass.

This was the second of my first same-morning double dip. I had just come off an 8k PR at the Shandon Turkey Trot and jumped in the car almost right after to come to this race.  I actually had plenty of time to spare, showing up about 45 minutes before race time.  Which is still plenty of time for legs to get tight.  After picking up my packet I see Ken Calcutt, my training group leader. I thought I was having a hallucination at first because the guy hardly ever pins on a bib, and if he does its for longer distance. This was his first 5k since the 2011 Jailbreak last May.  Still, he can run sub 7 pace in his sleep, so he was shooting for a sub 22 on minimal training.  Schmitz, Teo, Rocky, James Hicks,  Katie Hines,  Steven Rudnicki, the Ashtons and Michael Ferlauto were some of the familiar faces. A vast majority of this race was unknown to me, looked to be a lot of first-timers and new runners, which is cool. Need to do some CRC recruiting!

I did a few laps around the plane that was parked near the start as a warmup. Temps were a little cold but not too bad. Wind sucked though – all swirly and in no particular direction. Having raced this last year, I knew the wind is the main factor in this event. No trees or anything to block it, so it just knocks you back with any gusts. On the flipside, its nice when its at your back.

I lined up 2nd row behind the Ashtons – I figured it was safe to say I wasnt beating either one of them.  The start took me by surprise and I was getting swarmed right off the bat. I think people in front were trying to avoid the cattle stampede effect of the 600 person field.  I ran the first 400 meters conservatively, as I was still a little tight from the Shandon race. However, Teo and Crazy Legs were already gapping me, and my fragile ego couldnt let that happen. I caught up to Schmitz about a half mile in, but I’ll be damned if Teo isnt just crushing it. Just after the mile mark I start to catch him. Mile 1 was 6:28 by the Garmin. Immediately I get hit by a hurricane gust in my face, and it basically makes you just jog in place. We do a loop at the end of the runway,  and I’m hoping to get some of the wind at my back, but its just not happening. On the plus side, I’m finally warmed up again. After passing Teo and a couple of others, a huge gap opens up. The next guy is like 50 meters ahead or more. But dude is adopting blue shoe style head flopping and has looked back a couple of times.  Looks like I’ve found a target. After the loop the course folds back on itself, and I’m left by myself running all alone alongside the huge midpack . Wind is annoying but I feel my speed picking up some and I’m starting to make up ground on the straggler. Hit mile 2 around the same 6:28ish – I guess the wind is taking its toll. Mile 2 marker means time to throw down. I start blasting whatever I’ve got left, which is not a whole lot.  You can see the finish from forever away, which helped me push a little. I near the straggler and dude is hurting, but still blasting some pretty good speed. He’s looking more suspiciously 35-39,  so I ratchet it up another notch and finally pass him with about a half mile to go. At about this time we start running into the kids run, which was a very poor timing decision. I’m having to do all kind of jukes to make sure I dont flatten some poor 6 year old. This is tough because my legs and lungs are starting to complain quite a bit about all the abuse, and I’m flopping around all over the place. I blue shoe it as hard as possible in the last stretch, fearful that guy is going to come back and catch me.  Hit the line at 19:46.

They didnt post age groups but I got 2nd in AG,  9th overall. Cool pair of custom socks. Nice change from generic medals. I’m not ashamed to say I got chicked by three fast women,  because that equates to 6th overall male and more open TDC points!  I’m very pleased with the result and time given the 8k finished less than 90 minutes before this race.  Eric Ashton took the overall win once again, I believe he’s won it all 3 years. Kathryn Ashton and a high school girl battled it out the whole race, but the girl , Brooke Grice,  was able to hold her off for the win. Looks like Teo, Schmitz, Ken, Katie Hines, Thomas Tapp and Steve Rudnicki all placed in their age groups. James Hicks just missed out on an age group placement by a whole second. Ouch.

http://runwayrun.com/2012overall.txt

The Shandon Turkey Trot is a 4k  and 8k run in its 31st year, hosted by the Shandon Neighborhood Association.  Pretty flat rectangular course in Shandon, one loop for the 4k and two for the 8k.  The 4k is timed but is essentially a fun run – I dont think they award any prizes.

I”ve run the 8k in ’09 and ’11, and despite my loathing of multiple loop courses, I’ve generally done pretty well here, PR’ing both times. The first year I automatically PR’d since it was my first 8k. Last year I had my shoe come untied,  and had a lousy race, until about a half mile to go. At that point I blasted out one of the hardest kicks I’ve ever thrown down to narrowly avoid getting Tiggered. I passed her with like 10 meters to go at about mach 5 pace. Yes, I am an ass.

My main motivation for running this race is  the awards. Trophies! With all these races giving out bags and certificates and generic medals, dont  they know we all want our trophies?? They dont call it paper certificate hunting now, do they?  But be forewarned, the top 2 get awesome crazy turkey trophies, 3rd place get some meh little running man.  My cherished second place from ’11 has a special place in my awards corner.  My then two year old son broke the running man 3rd place from ’09. Oh well, I tried not to be mad at him. Tried.

I should mention my original plan was to spectate this race and take pics, since I had already signed up for the Runway Run (10 am on the same morning).  Woke up, got there, and couldnt resist the double dip opportunity (turkey trot at 8 am, runway run at 10). Ran a couple of 1k loops with Poochapalooza champion and expert trophy hunter Geary McAlister, as well as Billy Tisdale. Code was nowhere to be seen, but Drew Williams showed up to wreck any chance I had at the glorious 1st place big turkey trophy. Angel was there to watch, which worked out well since I had left my phone pouch at home. He got some great action pics at the end of this post. Plexico , Aubrey Johnson, Ponamarev, Eddie Vergara, Colleen Vowles, Sarah Blackwell, Gasque, Valerie Selby, the Outlaws , Rocky and Pete Poore were on hand. Several other fastish looking people up front but didnt recognize them.

Not much to say about the race itself.  The crowd was mostly casual runners, so the front thinned out immediately.  After a quarter mile I settled in and tried not to let Billy gap me any worse than he already had. Drew was not too far ahead of him, and I saw Eddie trying to beat Plex.  I didnt see that lasting long, though Eddie is getting faster. About a half mile in, a short Indian guy with near knee high socks comes blasting by me.  I thought this dude was either crazy or doing the 4k, but damned if he wasnt kicking my ass and seemingly holding the pace.  I passed Aubrey about .75 miles in and wondered if I had gone out in some suicidal pace, but I got back a 6:20 split at the mile. A little speedy but in the ballpark of where I wanted to be.  Beyond this point I was completely alone. Cars were being let through the intersections behind me, and the rest of the pack was way ahead. I was slowly making some headway on the guy in front of me, but he looked back a few times and picked up the pace. Didnt see the Garmin split at mile 2, but the clock after loop 1 was about 16:20. Being completely by myself, I was wondering if it was worth it to push the pace given the 5k I was going to do in less than 2 hours. However, the straggler on the pack in front seemed awfully 35-39, so I figured I should at least make him earn that damn turkey.  Second loop was pretty steady, a couple more 6:30 something miles. The straggler had now picked up the pace and caught up to another guy, who appeared to be hurting. Indian guy had not only blasted by Billy but had laid waste to Drew as well.  Mr. Supratim Das Gupta, I salute you.  I was getting closer, but at about a half mile to go, it didnt look good to catch any of them. I was starting to die a bit myself.  Maybe it was racing those silly 26.2 miles a week ago. As i neared the last block, I could make out 32:15 or so.  Normal blue shoe kicks are ridiculous, but potential PR blue shoe kicks are just ugly. Exhibit A (Feb 2010 first sub 20 5k – actually shares the same finish line as the turkey trot)

I was seized by a jolt of adrenaline, knowing that 32:34 needed to go down. I blasted into some other alternate universe,  sucking as much wind as humanly possible, and laying down a patch of sub 4 pace. Hit the finish at 32:28 – a new 8k PR!  9th overall, 2nd in age group. Turns out the two guys in front of me were 31 and 40 – whew!  I hung around about 10 minutes to watch the finish and take some pics, but then took off to the airport to run the Runway 5k.

Plex crushed the field in 27:47, followed by Eddie and Bob Sams, whom I’ve seen race before.  Gupta finished 4th in just over 31 minutes, so I guess looks can be deceiving (cotton t-shirt and knee high socks??).   Drew and Billy finished just behind him in the mid-high 31’s.  Sarah and Colleen went 1-2 in the female 35-39,  Lisa Smarr, Geary and Cheryl Outlaw all won their age groups, Tommy Outlaw finished 2nd and Valerie Selby and Alex  Ponamarev captured 3rd place trophies. Rocky won his age group of one, and then also went to double dip!

Richmond.  Just the mere mention of the name still sends shudders down my spine. Dont get me wrong…I’m sure Virginia’s capital is a fine place, and it’s very pretty in November, but I will always equate the town with pain and suffering. Two years ago I chose Richmond as my first marathon and decided to go up there with the Strictly Running group. Being scared to death of the distance, I trained pretty hard..hard enough to pretty much destroy my IT band in the process. But instead of bagging the whole trip, I went anyway. The rest lives on in my memory…10 miles of great, 3 miles of OK, then 4 miles of wheels slowly falling off. The Lee bridge was the site of my demise, where I started walking at mile 17. Trophy dropped me, then pretty much everyone I knew on that trip got to witness my death march to the finish.  I have never felt worse in a race – I got completely dehydrated and had lightning shock cramps in my quads. By the time I finished I was half delirious, nauseated and limping, swearing I’d never do this again.

Yeah right. If there’s anything that motivates me, its wanting to redeem a complete failure. I pretty much made peace with Richmond last year, running Jacksonville in almost perfect even splits en route to a 32 minute PR. My decision to come back to Richmond this year was more about it being a nice marathon  – great crowd support, nice course, etc. But there was definitely an element of revenge as well.

This time it was just Trophy, Diesel and I running the full, with Mrs. Diesel aka Jen doing the half. Brad “Major” Marlow was also there with his family. I had a hard time deciding on a goal time, but I decided eventually to shoot for 3:15 (7:29 pace) . This would give me the best shot to be able to adjust toward the end – it gave me a cushion to PR if I was hurting and it would at least give me a chance to shoot for the 3:09:59 glory of a BQ if I was going strong.  Trophy decided he would forgo pacing altogether and use my melon head as a pace beacon. Diesel was trying to break 3:50, maybe get 3:45. Jen hoped to break her 1:59 PR from Jacksonville in the half.

We all drove up the night before and gathered at the Omni hotel before the start. I could tell right off the bat that it was considerably warmer than 2010. That worried me, since the blazing sun on the Lee bridge basically stuck a fork in me last time. About 40 something, no wind. The crowds were huge at the start. Canceling the NYC marathon last week led to over a thousand last second entries into Richmond. There were a lot of NYC bibs, and one guy had a course marker flag from New York as well. After Jen went off with the half start, Trophy and I suddenly found ourselves way back in the pack and we had to squeeze through a few hundred people to get in between the 3:15 and 3:30 pacers.

Soon we were off, and it was pretty tight with the record crowd. Kept having to pull  some running back cuts and jukes just to keep from getting boxed in.  After a while Trophy and I settled into a decent rhythm and we hit mile 1 at 7:36, right with the 3:15 pacers.  The pacers then surged ahead, so I figured I was already slacking, so I made a point to keep up. The next three miles I just zone out and follow the pace pack. It starts to feel a little brisk, but I’m so locked in to keeping up with the pacers that I dont bother to look at the Garmin.  Trophy is no longer beside me, but I figure he isn’t too far back.  I’m following my Team Schmitz race fueling plan, and I then panic for two reasons. One, I realize I’ve either lost or left 2 of my favored Espresso Love GUs behind, and two, is that really a freaking 7:04 for the last mile? Ehmergerd. I just figured I was being a wuss for thinking the 7:30 pace was too hard. As I let off the gas and let a little gap build , mile 5 comes back at 7:16, so I’m thinking these “pacers” are trying to run us all over a proverbial lactic acid cliff. Probably would have had 7  minutes flat for mile 5 if I hadn’t noticed.

This is when I dropped a few internal F bombs and decided to trust myself rather than commit group suicide with these guys. I drift back a bit and log several 7 20ish miles…not too bad.  Trophy has been long gone so I wonder if Ive already dropped him. About mile 8  I hear a “paging Dr Blue Shoes” and Brad catches up with me. He apparently got stuck back in the mob scene start and  had a couple of minutes before he even made the start mat.  We run for a while together and catch back up with the 3:15ers, who must have finally come to their senses. Brad then picks it up and I let him go, not knowing what super powers Jourdain’s A team may have bestowed upon him. We cross the James River and see that they’ve altered the course away from the riverside..so that we could have the pleasure of climbing a minor mountain. Nice.

Mile 10 and 11 are along the riverside and Trophy suddenly makes a reappearance. We run the next few miles together and damn it if I’m starting to feel like I may be pulling a repeat bonktastrophe. Its not for lack of hydration or electrolytes (Jen Hill plan). I carried a bottle of water with me just in case, but there seems to have been plenty of water/powerade at the aid stations. Plus, I had been double fisting the cups like a drunken sailor. I had taken 2 GUs and one salt tab. None of that seemed to make up for the beat down my neon shirted pace dudes had given me in the first 5 miles.

There is a long hill in the sun just before the half marker, and its feeling remarkably like 2010 all over again. Trophy and I hit the half at exactly 1:38 by the race clock, probably about 20-30 sec faster by our chip. Trophy made sure to surge right before the mat so “the people back home” tracking us would see he’s winning. He did beat me..by one second.  The whole 13-16 mile stretch starts to take on a pallor of suckage. I keep trying to remember its November, because its so freaking warm. Over 60 by this time.

Finally we reach the Lee bridge, which crosses over the James river back to downtown. The beginning of the end in 2010. The sun is blazing, but mercifully the brutal headwind from 2 years ago has not materialized. I don’t know whether its the adrenaline from race PTSD or maybe my last GU kicking in, but I feel a surge of energy and pick up the pace. Trophy fades a bit and for quite a while I’m zoned out and alone, eyes locked in to the incline on the other side where I caught a wicked case of the walksies last time. When I finally reach that area, I power through it on a mission. No way thats happening again. I hit a water stop and see Brad , but then he pulls off the course suddenly and I wonder if he’s dropping. I turn the corner, both literally and metaphorically, and reach a flat area downtown, which I distinctly remember strolling down in 2010. I try to focus on not doing that and blocking out the blaring Gangnam Style I’m hearing for like the 3rd time this morning.

I give myself 2 pats on the butt at mile 18 in memory of getting ass slapped by both Schmitzes at that point 2 years prior. I’m still feeling the groove until just before the mile 19 point, where those 7:04ish miles decide to take their toll.  I choke down a vanilla accel gel because they were giving them out at one of the aid stations, and my Espresso Love is long gone. Yeah, not working so much.  Things turned south in a hurry. Just no energy.  After this it was basically just an ongoing mental struggle. I had no idea what my pace was, and I was afraid to look at the Garmin to find out. Just before mile 21 there’s an overpass to climb, and every fiber of my being was screaming for a nice walk, but I told the fibers to go F** * themselves.  Some people dedicate the last miles to family members to inspire them, but I can’t say I was coherent enough to do this.  All I looked for was those big yellow mile markers. The pack had thinned out quite a bit my this point, and though I know my pace was crap, I was still passing people. I kept on getting jarred back to reality with a “go blue shoes” , forgetting I had the ridiculous name printed on my bib.  It was a war zone out there with the sun out in full force and temps pushing 70.  I did have a couple people finishing strong give me the beatdown, and every time I heard footsteps I was deathly afraid of getting Trophied. But it never materialized. I knew at the 20 mile marker I had to run a 50 minute 10k to break my 3:20 PR, something I probably do on most training runs.  Sadly, by mile 23, I was more concerned about getting my melon head over the finish line alive.  I dont remember much about the last miles, just that they really, really sucked. I was so relieved about the last half mile, because it was all screaming downhill. Actually managed a feeble kick, driven entirely by the desire to end this suffering. I was surprised to see the 3:22 on the clock when I rounded the last turn, and crossed just a shade over 3:23 by clock time, 3:22:46 official chip time.

OK, so it wasnt the glorious 3:09:59 I may have dreamed about or even a PR, but I was so glad to be done I didnt care. In hindsight, I’m sure I would have PR’d without chasing the ridiculous pacers. Jacksonville was much colder (held in late December) and much flatter than Richmond, so that’s another factor.  Either way, still a good half hour better than 2010, and no walksies, so I’ll take it. Speaking of PR’s , Trophy nearly caught me in his best marathon of 3:24:13. Brad did not drop, and recovered enough for a respectable 3:32. Diesel  had a very similar experience to my 2010 race, complete with walksies and 13 minute miles, en route to a 4:20. I feel your pain, dude. The winner for the day was definitely Jen, who crushed her half PR by six minutes with a 1:53.

https://www.raceit.com/results/default.aspx?event=7294&r=4088

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/242104074

So Richmond is next week,  and I am incapable of less than 105% with a bib on, so I signed up for the 8k instead of the half at Gov Cup. This is definitely one of Columbia’s coolest races, backed by 40 years of history, and it brings out almost every road racer in the area. I was a little sad not to run the half, but I was excited by the idea of doing the 8k for the first time. This was not a trophy hunt, but I was technically doing the undercard, one of trophy hunting’s most tried and true rules.

To be honest, I didnt even know the 8k course. I had done the half preview a couple of weeks earlier, but I recalled the 8k basically being a truncated version of that one. All I knew for sure would be the sharing of the Millwood hill and of course the infamous Blossom/Sumter mountain from hell at the finish.

I got to the start about an hour before my race, 30 minutes before the half went off. Did a couple of miles slow. Not a whole lot of people warming up with many getting set for way more mileage than me.  Pretty decent crowd, lots of familiar faces.  I had manned our expo booth for the Columbia Running Club the day before and saw almost the entire Columbia running community pass through getting their race packets.

Took a bunch of pics at the half start, which was fun but left me feeling like I had missed the party. I was basically done with the warmup I wanted to do and kind of just stewed in my own pre-race anxiety before the 8k went off.  The rest of my Richmond crew were taking it easy – Trophy was going to run the half easy, Diesel was running the 8k with his son, and the Major was taking the day off. As noted, there is no way I enter a race and do a tempo run. I pin that bib and it is freaking on like Donkey Kong. And forget cruising in to the finish. I see the clock and I start walking that fine line between strong finish and needing medical attention. Yes, I have a problem.

So needless to say, my complex and finely tuned strategy was to run very, very fast.  Well, fast by my standards at least.

The start was weird. They had us line up at the half start line and march as a group a whole city block to the Gervais/Sumter intersection.  Although the half had taken most of the super fast dudes, Jason Dimery, Angel , Kathryn Ashton, Mike Hedgecock and a couple of singlet wearing guys assured me I had zero chance of pulling off a miracle trophy.  Ty Thomas and the Ferlautos were a few of the familiar faces, though most people I knew were doing the half.

With the gun, I was surprised by the relative restraint of the field. We almost immediately separated out by ability level. I saw a couple of the singlet guys take the lead early, with Dimery giving chase, and then a pack with Angel and Kathryn and a few stragglers.  The first mile is largely downhill with a nasty incline right before the end of the mile. I passed a handful of guys on that hill and then found myself completely alone. First mile was about 6:27, right where I should be. Then came a rough stretch that probably had the worst effect on my time. Uphill on Millwood, not terribly steep, but just long. To make it worse, I was being blinded by the morning sun (forgot the sunglasses) and having nobody around me didnt help my pace.  I was desperate to have someone to pace off of, so I finally focused on tie-dye teen up ahead.  The hill seemed to be killing him worse than me, and by the time we turned onto the relatively flat Maple St, I was pretty close behind. Ironically, his shirt read “Hill yeah!” or something like that, on the back. After regaining some semblance of breathing, I caught Hills yeah right after Devine St. He didnt take too kindly to being passed by an aging melon-headed sasquatch, so he immediately surged back ahead. Oh hells no.  He got mid race blue shoed right after that, and pretty soon they were letting traffic behind me, so he must of fallen off big time. I didnt look at the mile 2 split, fearing the worst (sure enough 6:46 and a PR killer).  For most of the next two miles I might have been running by myself. The crowd support was great, so you could hear any time someone passed a spectator area. Not only was I far behind the next guy, but the next cheers were even further behind me. My biggest challenge the rest of the way out was trying to keep the 2 guys ahead of me in my line of sight and maintain my internal gauge of 6:30ish pace.  I was feeling OK leg wise, but inexplicably this cold I’ve been fighting for over a week was still trying to make itself known. Every time I tried to amp up my pace, I was hacking up all kind of nasty crud.

After a long slow descent into Five Points, I knew there was a mile left, but Blossom St had me scared to death. Climbing this monster is always a complete lung buster, but I’m used to doing it at end-of-half-marathon pace.  The second I hit the first incline,  I knew this was going to suck in all new kinds of ways. After feeling nice and in control for 4 miles, Blossom gave me a hard kick in the stomach…or maybe lower. Lungs reminded me they still had some nice mucus balls to present to me, one of which decided to deposit right back on my face. NICE. By the time I reached the final stretch, I wanted to crawl into the fetal position. And they decided to back up the finish line this year. Seriously, guys? Killing me. I manage a feeble kick on Sumter St, sucking more wind than I thought humanly possible.  As I near the finish I see mid 31’s. I get all jacked up and sprint across the line, thinking I PR’d. Turns out the clock was a minute off. Still got 32:46, 12 seconds off my 8k PR. 12th place, 2nd in age group. Not too bad, considering this brutal course. Still, 6:36 is the same pace I ran the Ray Tanner 12k three weeks earlier.

Turns out the 8k wasnt terribly competitive, though Jud Brooker turned in a nice 27 :01 to win. Dimery finished third and Angel fourth, right around 30 minutes. Kathryn placed 6th overall and took 1st female, while Hedgecock took masters and 8th overall. Diesel’s son Brady managed 3rd in the 14 and under category, despite being all of  8 years old. Bryn Schiele, Tim Tollason-Reese, Jessica Chiu, Steve Fink, Ty, former CRC prez Steven Rudnicki, Michael Ferlauto, Cheryl Outlaw, Alex Ponamarev, Del Soule all took home some age group glory. Prizes were plastic tumblers with the Gov Cup logo, which was cool instead of the medals or bags so many races give out.

In the half, a dude from Blowing Rock (Jesse Cherry) crushed an amazing 1:06 and beat multiple time champ Eric Ashton , who ran 1:11 at 44. Ashley Evens won the womens race, with Kenzie Riddle managing 3rd in 1:28. Larry Jourdain took male masters, while Birgit Spann and Robert Taylor won the grandmasters. Lynn Grimes took senior masters while Henry Holt won the Vet masters category.  Notable age groupers included Eddie Vergara, Tim “Timstrong”Jeffreys, Frank “Dr Chicago” Clark, Ryan “Lightning” Plexico, Justin “A Standard” Bishop, George Simpson, Kristin Schmitz (who also PR’d and broke 1:40) , the Code, Tracy McKinnon, Steven Johnson, Noel Schuch, Jennifer Clyburn,  Rick Weiner,  Hal Ray, Pete O’Boyle,  Carol Wallace, Shawn Chillag, Jan Hardwick and Jesse Smarr.  I did see Trophy lolly gagging to a 1:47 with Spence and Derek Gomez really slumming it behind him. Jim Lichty finished a strong 1:49 after running Baltimore just a couple weeks back. Mrs. Diesel ran a 2:02, just a couple minutes off her PR set in pancake flat Jacksonville.

Let me know of any other PR’s for next week’s CRC newsletter.

http://www.strictlyrunning.com/results/12GovCup.txt

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/239784783

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151245089825419.490406.777475418&type=1

This is my fourth year doing the Ray Tanner Home Run, which is one of my favorite races of the year. Its held in the middle of October, which is usually ideal running weather, the course is cool and nearly everybody who does road races in the area does this one.  It helps that Ken Lowden and a whole army of volunteers from the running community put on the race, because these guys actually know what they’re doing. Nice crowd support and an awesome downhill finish into Carolina Stadium make this a great event.

The Home Run is actually two huge races in one, a 5k and a 12k. A nice change this year was to space out the 5k  thirty minutes after the 12k, so that the first wave of 12kers arent dodging the 5k walkers – my only complaint about the race in years past. The race sold out this year so fast that there were no spots left in any of the races, even the kids runs.

This race has tended to be a good one for me. I started off in 2009 with a 55:55 (7:30 pace) which was smoking fast for me at the time. My 2010 race featured a mid race bonk but with enough recovery to almost break my goal of 50 minutes. I finished painfully close that year with a 50:09 (6:43) . Redemption was in store in 2011 where I threw down a complete headless chicken sprint in the stadium to take down the 50 minute barrier in 49:56 (6:41). One thing I had hoped for this year, in addition to breaking my course record, was to capture an age group placement. Like I mentioned above, everybody and their mom, sometimes literally, does this race – so the competition is steep. I finished 4th last year, so I hoped this might be my  time.  Yes, I realize my doing the 12k breaks one of the primary trophy hunting rules: go with the undercard. But its marathon training time, and I figured I could get more speedwork in with the longer race.

The 12k is a really cool course. You do a mile loop at the beginning near the stadium, where they have cheerleaders and all the 5k’ers screaming for you, basically assuring you that you’re going to run it way too freaking fast. After that flat mile is a lung busting climb over a railroad bridge and into the Greek Village at USC. The course then does a hilly loop right in front of the Colonial Center (USC’s basketball arena) , and takes you back over the bridge to where you started at about the 3 mile mark. Mile 4 is over the flat Blossom St bridge, up into Cayce and brings you to the bottom of the brutal Avenue B hill. It is nice they put a big cheering station (“Inspiration Station”) at the bottom of this thing, because it is a beast. Not particularly steep, just very long, most of mile 5. As soon as you reach the top, you do a one block lap, pass the 5 mile mark and head right back down. This is kind of nice, because while you are flying down this thing, you get see everybody behind you. Mile 6 is across the Gervais St bridge and up one last nasty incline to Huger St. Once you reach the apex of the hill on Huger, its one long downhill into the stadium for the last three quarters of a mile or so. Finish in the stadium at home plate.

I got to the stadium about an hour early,  did a warmup with the Code, Billy, Trophy, Rick, and Larry. I could attempt to name everyone that I saw at the race, but it would be easier to name who I didnt see from the Columbia running community.  I have a highly developed sixth sense for seeing 35-39 people, so I could tell it was going to be tough going age group wise. Angel wasnt there…so that was one “way too fast , no way in hell you’re going to beat that guy”  out of the way.  But..Newly 35 year old Drew Williams and Steven Johnson, along with the Code, basically c-blocked me out of a trophy before I stepped to the start line.  The Yerger was also there, but had done 11 miles already, and swore a tempo pace for the race. Which is still pretty fast.  And since this race is so big, there were sure to be randoms out there to take away my precious trinkets as well. Damn them.

Despite there being a start mat I basically lined up in front, because my delusions of running grandeur are out of control. Plus, it fulfills my insatiable need to see my melon headed self in pictures. I might of yielded some space to the A Standard at the last second, and with the start we all took off way too freaking fast. It took over a half mile for things to settle down as we did the initial mile loop. J-Lybrand must of took off like a banshee because I finally caught up to her 800 meters in.  I kept listening for Trophy’s clomping Kinvaras but I didnt hear them this time. I had no idea what pace I was doing. I could sense someone latched on to my side though, and it was Howie, who would probably be a good pacer for me anyway.  Also at the half mile mark, a tall pale blondish-brown haired dude with blue shoes passed me. For a second I thought i must have had an out of body experience, but then I realized his head was way too normal sized. We looped back around and again went way too fast as the crowd started cheering. I got a chance to pose for more pictures, so of course I was happy. Mile 1 in 6:33.  Yikes, a bit speedy.  I dont know if was the hills that followed or the fast pace of the first mile, but miles 2 and 3 on the USC campus sucked big time. Felt like I was working way too hard. Howie left me for dead, but I made sure to keep him in striking distance.  The long flat road from the Colonial center helped me recover some, and by the time I reached the railroad bridge again I felt I had fought off the bonkasaurus for the time being. As I crest the bridge, I hear clomping behind me, and I’m sure its Trophy, but instead its Greg Howell, who has been on injured reserve of a long time. He’s crushing it though, and actually starts to gap me a little. This makes me speed up and stay with him. We hit the 5k mark in about 21 minutes – I hadnt looked at Garmin splits for the last 2 miles, fearing the worst. I then see Howie has caught up with the Yerger just ahead, so I make an effort to catch them. Greg then falls off as we hit a nasty hill in Cayce. By the right turn across the bridge, I’ve caught up with Yerger and Howie and run with them for awhile. With the Avenue B beast just ahead, I decide to power up the go go gadget quads and make it or break it on this hill. I start blasting away at the hill, though its a little demotivational to see Bishop, some teenager , Plex  and Anton already flying down the thing. Then I see him…its normal head Blue Shoes! Oh he”s definitely going down.  I finally catch him at the very top, and he mentions “good pace on that hill”.  Does he have eyes on the back of his normal sized head? Probably just heard the elephant stampede of the sasquatch feet. We pass mile 5 and I decide its on like Donkey Kong. Dropped my twin and started flying down the backside of the beast. Got some great crowd support from friends on the way down, which fueled the downhill kick.  Near the bottom I saw Eric Allers in a lead pack of the 5k as our courses merged.  After being completely alone for half a mile, I’m suddenly in a very fast mini pack of 5kers. I’m starting to hurt a little, but I make a point of staying with these guys. I paced for much of the next mile across the bridge with a tall lanky kid (turns out to be Kenneth Vowles, son of Colleen and Ken).  I’m not sure what pace we’re doing, but it feels pretty freaking  fast, way faster than the early miles (turns out the last 2 whole miles were high 6:20s). I finally drop the 5k group on the climb up to Huger, thanks to freak quads. At the top of Huger I basically went all in and went into full bore blue shoe kick.  But its still more than half a mile, so I enter a whole new world of pain and suffering. I havent looked at my Garmin since the 5k , so I have no idea what my time is. I blast into the stadium and make out 48’s on the clock, which amps me up into 4 minute territory as my lungs and legs want to give in. Of course, this is exactly where all the finish pics are being taken, so the race face is in full effect.  I see the clock turn over to 49 and finish in 49:12,  chip time of 49:09. A 47 second PR!

I’m thrilled at the time, and figure this must of earned me some age group glory right? Nope. 8th. 23rd overall in a 600+ person race and its completely stacked with 35-39ers. Drew Williams took 1st, but I actually have never heard of 2nd and 3rd, and theyre from Columbia. Well played , Michael Beets and Robin Shooh.  Justin took 1st overall, with the kid (Jamie Sires) 2nd and Plex 3rd. 49 year old Jim Coombes crushed 4th place with Van on the Run teammate Andy McNiece in 5th. Bodourov Method in 6th,  Eddie Vergara in 7th, Drew finished 8th and Hedgecock in 9th.

Claudia Nunez-Lopez won the women’s race by about 2 minutes behind Caroline Peyton and Birgit Spann, neither of whom I’ve seen before either. Janice Addison took female masters with Jim Coombes of course taking male masters. Larry “A team” Jourdain  and Lorikay Keinzle took grandmasters.  Age groupers I recognize include Bryn Schiele, Frank Morris, J-Lybrand, Drew Soltau, Amanda Pierstorff, Sarah Blackwell, Jeff Burgess, Greg Howell, Sharon Cole,  Billy Tisdale, Howie Phan, Geary, Jack Kuenzie, Carol Wallace, Sue Porter, Daniel Brown, Nonie Hudnall,  John and Nancy Sneed,  Henry Holt and Jesse Smarr.

5k was won by Dimery in a return to his previous form, with Eric finishing 2nd.  I must have been racing with Will Brumbach but actually didnt recognize him in my delirium – he took first in 30-34. Womens race was won by Katie Wood of Virginia, with Erin Howie and Tigs finishing 2nd and 3rd.  Age groupers include Kenneth Vowles,  Katie Hines,  Ms. Diesel, Ken and Colleen Vowles,  Jeff Curran, Sandy Smith, Pete Poore, Margaret Holt and Rocky Soderberg.

http://www.strictlyrunning.com/results/12RayTanner.txt

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/233004514

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151211046335419.484906.777475418&type=1

Thanks to Erika Shaw , Jennifer and Brooke Ward and Milly Hough for some of these pics: