Because of the Blue Ridge Relay, I had to miss the Dam Run 10k this year. I ran this race the last 2 years and PR’d there both times, though since the course is point to point and net downhill, I guess there should be an asterisk. Like Trophy last year, I went out in a ridiculous pace and ended up with the worst bonk ever in Saluda Shoals. Wanted to crawl in the fetal position and cry by the finish. Here is his report:

This is my second year doing the Dam Run 10K.  Last year I ran it for the first time and set my 10K PR.  This year I was out to beat that.  The race usually garners between 400 and 500 runners.  The course was originally much hillier, but was changed a few years back.  According to the flyer this was the 25^th anniversary of the race. The beginning is on the Lexington side of the dam and now ends in Saluda Shoals Park .  It is considered a downhill course and is PR friendly.

I arrived around 6:30, planning to do a couple miles beforehand with Diesel and Buckle Up. It was probably high 60’s and felt pretty good. Being who I am, I would have preferred a little cooler. But I was happy with the temperature.  Diesel and Buckle Up wanted to check out the quaint bathroom facilities. If I have a complaint about this race, it would be lack of restrooms.  The women appeared to have a good 20 minute wait up until race time.

Note: Trophy will complain about any conditions short of 50 degrees, sunny with no wind. 

Walking to the dam I surveyed the talent that was showing up.  I noticed a few faster guys and quickly surmised I would not be winning.  Daniel Smoak and a couple other fast looking guys were hanging around. We also noticed that the Ashtons were making an appearance.  Quite a few notables were absent, some due to the Blue Ridge Relay which was going on the same weekend.  At the time my age group appeared to be wide open.  More on that to come.

Note: Glad Trophy figured out that he wasnt going to outkick Ashton for the win. I was gone at the BRR, and Code Brown and Angel were MIA, so there was no excuse for him to not age group place…or so I thought.

My plan for this race was to start out conservatively and not bonk the last couple miles like last year.  I picked out a spot a few rows back next to Diesel and Buckle Up, the shirtless bandits. I noticed a kid who looked to be about 10 up on the front row.  Surely he would not beat me?

Note: I could make fun of Trophy possibly getting beat by a 10 year old, though I was destroyed by a 13 year old girl at Lexington RAH 10k.

We started and I had a hard time finding my pace.  I wanted to try to keep a 7:00 or a little lower for the first half of the race, hoping to come to life the last half and have a negative split.  The dam is very hard to pace on.  It’s very flat and there are a decent amount of faster runners, which both make it difficult to be conservative. It’s a great start to a race with the flat open space and the scenic view of the lake in the morning.  Mile 1 hit and I was right on pace, 6:53. A little bit of a gap was already opening up at that point. The elite runners were already nearing the end of the dam. The second mile is not long after you make the turn onto Bush River Road .  I checked my watch and hit that mile in 6:52. So far so good. Mile 3 does a loop through a neighborhood and is quite hilly. I found it harder to keep pace but tried to push through knowing I had some more flat terrain coming up.  Mile 3 in 6:59.  During mile 3 Jeff Burgess caught up with me, and subsequently passed me.  We turned back out onto Bush River Road and hit the halfway point of the race. 21:25  Was almost exactly what I wanted to do.  We hit a nice flat stretch and I sat back about 30 yards behind Jeff and tried to push it through this stretch without zapping all of my energy.  I was remembering all too well the way I felt the last 2 miles in 2010.  Mile 4 in 6:55.  Feeling pretty good at this point. We turned back into the neighborhood.  There were a couple small hills but also some downhill spots.  I think around mile 4.5 the nasty sun came out. There was one stretch where I don’t think I could see for at least a quarter mile. With the light came the heat. Not too bad, but did rise a few degrees for sure.  Was starting to feel some fatigue by mile 5.  Was keeping Jeff in sight and believe I passed a person during this stretch.  None of the bunch that had gone out ahead of me had faded at all. With a little bit of help from some downhill spots I finished mile 5 in 6:52.  So far the plan was working. I was feeling pretty good at this point. Unlike the Blue Shoes, I can not remember exactly what distances hit at what spot.  We were at the end of the neighborhood and hit a small steep hill. I crawled up it and knew we would soon be crossing over into Saluda Shoals. In the distance I saw Greg “Skirt Chaser” Howell and Jeff.  Jeff had tracked down Greg and was up with him now. I was probably no more than 50 yards behind and felt that I could catch up if I could put a good last mile in. With 1 mile to go I calculated that if I ran a sub 7 last mile I would break 43, which was my goal.  On target!  Was feeling pretty good and the last mile is not very bad.  I crossed into Saluda Shoals. About .2 into it though….disaster hit.  I all of the sudden felt like I was going to throw up…or gag…not really sure which.  Combination maybe?  I had to stop and proceeded to make 4 large gagging noises, dry heaves, on the side of the road. It felt like my lungs might come up. I gained my composure and started running again.  After about another quarter mile it hit again.  I again pulled to the side and made some hideous noises. Nothing was coming out though.  I started back running again and heard foot steps. An older man had caught me and I wasn’t sure I could hold him off.  We reached the 6 mile point (bridge) and I reluctantly let him pass me.  But soon after I felt better and felt Blue Shoes in my head telling me to burn it.  So…I did.  With a tenth of a mile left I did a Blue Shoes Jr kick.  Mile 5 I ran in 7:21 thanks to my stopping. Last .24 I clocked a 6:03 pace with a best of 4:40.  Ended up gapping the older guy and beating him by 5 seconds.  My time was 43:21, what I figured at the time to be a PR.  Ended up being a 2 second PR.  If not for my 20-30 seconds of heaving…..I would have met my goal of sub 43.  Oh well.  I still felt very good most of the race.

Note: I would have made Burgess do 20 intervals instead of 13 if he got Trophied again.  Nice kick though. Blue shoes props for burning by a guy 20 years your senior at the finish.

Diesel came through in 47:20, which I believe was close to a 1:30 minute PR.  Oddly enough he can run the same pace for a 10k as a 5K.  Buckle up came through shortly after in 48:26.  An obvious PR for the new runner.  A very good time in such a short time frame of training for him.  Mrs Diesel eventually came through as well.  No PR for her.

Note: Diesel clearly needs a race psychiatrist – he runs faster in training runs then he does in 5ks, and now runs a 10k at the same pace. I should slip him a valium.

Winning time was 31:14.  A 5.02 pace on a 10K. Wow.  I can only assume this was one of the guys hanging with Smoak before the race. He beat Ashton by 16 seconds. Amy managed to hold off Mrs Ashton to take overall female in 38:39.  I remember the days when Amy was in my sight during races.  Not so much anymore.  Great race for her.

Note: Other impressive times are Billy Tisdale and Megan Weis, both who rocked sub 40’s. Im about even with these guys in 5ks but they apparently would crush me in the 10. 

I ended up 38^th overall and 9^th in this atrocious age group.  Amazing considering OJ, DB, Angel, and Blue Shoes were all missing.

Note: I would like to make fun of Trophy and his 9th in AG finish, but I wouldnt have done much better. I dont know who any of the top 3 in our AG are.

The 10 year old I mentioned earlier must have run rogue according to the absence of a bib or time.  But his picture was well before when I came in.  Nice.

I would like to thank the Blue Shoes for his continued support (harassment) over the years and for being allowed to be a guest blogger.  I can only hope I provided as much detail and entertainment as he does.
Well done, Trophy.

http://www.strictlyrunning.com/results/11Dam.txt

Once at the Van exchange zone, we had several hours to kill before our van started again with my run estimated at about 830 or so.  In our first relay at the Palmetto 200 in 2010, we didnt eat well, fearing code browns and other GI disasters during the later legs. This led to me being half delirious and seeing spots during my last 7.5 mile leg there . We know now that the key was making sure you eat adequately, actually more than adequately to replace the thousands of calories burned. Hit up a Taco Bell/KFC and a McDonalds for the van. Felt good to get some food, as finding any restaurant out in the rural mountains was difficult. We had to basically follow the course exactly to make it to the next van exchange, where we passed our other van and runner in progress. It took forever with all the winding mountain roads. We soon realized that the hills we saw in the early going paled in comparison to the monsters we were now going to face. We got to our van exchange with about 3-4 hours to spare. Key relay task is to try to find some sleep if you can – just a half hour so will help. I walked out into a mountain field with my sleeping bag and was at least able to rest for a little bit, if not completely doze. The sun and hearing yells from the teams ahead of us entering the exchange zone didnt help.

We got the call from Brian in Van 2 that they were ahead of schedule, and now projecting as early as 6:45. I quickly got some GU, a few ibuprofen for the destroyed quads and got ready to run. Had to do the reflective vest for all the evening legs, as well as a headlamp, so I’m sure I looked super cool.  My second leg (leg 12 overall) was my longest at 7.9 miles and listed as “VERY HARD“.  Let me just say that the relay organizers do not joke around. The topographic map they attach to the leg description showed exactly what I was in for.  I was to go down into a valley, get on the blue ridge parkway, then go straight up a mountain and then another slightly higher mountain, then into a valley to the Tanger Outlet in Blowing Rock, NC.  This time it was me and one other guy. Rick handed off to me and I got to get out the hammer to my quads again on the descent, which felt wonderful. I  was all alone after the first quarter mile, couldnt hear the other guy anymore behind me. After cruising to a 715 on mile 1, I approached a nice size (by Columbia standards) hill, and thought this wasnt going to be so bad. Got a little winded but was able to maintain my pace. Then I turned the corner and let out the first of many obscenities for the rest of the race. That hill was the flat part of the topo map, this ahead of me was just unimaginable.  You know youve got a hard climb ahead when there’s a truck lane and you can hear the cars moaning in some low gear next to you.  And this was just the beginning – once i was all proud of myself for maintaining a good pace on Mt. Ridiculous, I realized it was just the first part of 2 miles of price-is-right mountain climber (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nvL5D5I0c8&feature=related) misery.  Pace dropped to 832, then 853. I was pretty much toast by the top, but the reward was unbelievable views of the mountains, riding the top of the blue ridge. My GU also finally kicked in at this point, and I was able to pick it up a bit, back into the low 8’s.  Still climbing hills, but these were only twice as worse as anything in Columbia rather than 10 times. Finally crested the second mountain with 2 miles to go. Went plunging into the valley again at breakneck speed , 657 split. Kept on thinking the other guy was behind me but it was just my ridiculous outfit with the blinky lights and vest. Veered off the blue ridge parkway into blowing rock but was surprised the tanger outlet wasnt right there. Started going up another hill. Some old guy and his wife slowed down to a crawl and shouted “You must be the front runner!”  Then I saw another relay van who honked at me and made some gesture, which I interpreted as “turn around”. Instantly I was seized with fear that I had “pulled a Dan” and ended up going the wrong way. I kept going though because I was almost sure I hadnt.  I still didnt see the outlet, and finally decided I would give it to the top of the next hill before turning back around. I almost sprinted up the hill with a horrible sense I had just botched the whole leg. I then saw the most glorious of sights, a small yellow BRR sign in the distance which meant a) I hadnt ruined the leg and b) I was finished. Blue shoed it to the sign and turned into the tanger outlet, which was perfectly positioned on the other side of the hill so I couldnt see it. Finished in 1:02, 750 average pace.

Dan’s next leg was through Blowing Rock, which is a cool little resort town. Lots of turns and brutal hills, but Dan appeared hell bent on crushing it to make up for his leg 1 hillbilly home visit. This time the van veered off course twice, and we almost ran over Mr Beard, who was now running with Dan since we were a man down. I was betting on Mr Beard to roadkill (relay term for passing another runner) us,  but Dan was bringing the Thunder and held him off.  Freight Train then had the unenviable task of a 10 miler up Grandfather Mtn, the relay’s longest leg. This was a ridiculous climb, made worse by the fact some of the elite teams were catching us and flying by in sub 6 pace. Jon was a trooper and rocked it in sub 9 pace I believe. I would have been walking half of it by then.  Garris and David then were lucky to draw two fairly easy 2.3 and 3.4 milers, which they rocked out at near 5k pace. After the 2nd van exchange we traveled the course again to the start of Leg 23, which was the site of my 3rd leg.  I was half asleep at this time, but we saw some horrific legs which didnt appear navigable by humans, much less those that were trying to run.  We reached the van exchange site around 1 am and I immediately grabbed my sleeping bag and pillow and tried to hide on the other side of the school that was there. Crashed out on the grass.  I tried to sleep but really didnt get much rest. I got bitten by an ant and there were so many vans parked there that inevitably someone had a case of loud talkeritis or decided it was OK to scream if their runner was coming in at 215 am. I did finally manage to conk out for a while when someone nudged me and I looked up and saw David and Dan standing above me. Apparently Van 2 had been so caught up in blazing through their part of the course that they were late in texting us and were about to arrive in less than 20 minutes. I jumped out of the bag in the 45 degree cold, pounded some gatorade and GU, fumbled to put on the whole vest/headlamp apparatus, downed a few advil, waited an excruciatingly long line to use the one bathroom, jogged up to the start and got there just as Rick was coming up the hill to the site.

3 o’ clock in the morning. Not a fun time to do anything that doesnt involve a bed, and certainly not a fun time to run. This leg was 5.6 miles and completely in the epicenter of nowhere. Snow Creek Rd in western NC for those interested. Kept hearing owls, maybe the occasional banjo hallucination. My Garmin was still on leg 2 so I had to start it again and couldnt get it to find a satelite for the first few minutes. Had a hard time fumbling with the watch as my leg quickly became gravel and down a mountain. Couldnt see a damn thing.  Started cursing for picking a 5 dollar headlamp that illuminated wonderfully…the 5 feet in front of me. I was so thankful for the other vans to come along so I could see where I was going. I finally saw a BRR sign, made the turn, and flew down the gravel road for a quarter mile…right to the front step of some North Carolina hillbilly. Bad time for a karma payback for making fun of Dan.  A van saw me and stopped to make sure I got back on track, but I was sprinting to avoid the possible shotgun blast I imagined. Finally got back on the course and soon the vans stopped and I was completely alone in the dark. I was half asleep and almost turned into the driveway for what I read as “Barking  Spider” Pottery, to which I was sure I was hallucinating, because this is the exact term I use to refer to farts with the kids.  I guess I was still awake: http://www.barkingspiderpottery.com/. Lets hope they make T shirts. Finally got out of the woods in the valley below and hit a stretch of desolate highway that was eerily lit up by an almost full moon. Very spooky. The last 2 miles of this most unpleasant romp in the middle of the night ever was pretty much straight up the mountain. Pace started fading again into the high 8’s but was trying to keep sub 9 as a goal on the hills. The last turn brought me to an excruciating half mile hill, but I was able to make out the faint lights of the next exchange zone.  Sucked wind like it was my last breath on earth during the last bit but made it without walking.

Dan was lucky to draw a 5k distance for his 4am leg, and Jon and Garris also had their shortest legs at this time.  Both continued to put us ahead of schedule. David was most unfortunate in drawing a hilly 9 miler at this time,  but most fortunate that he was the first runner to “miss out” on the 4th leg. We caught up with the majority of the slower teams at this point and David recorded some serious roadkill. The sun was coming up at 630 as he finished and we again handed off to Van 2. The rest of us tried to ignore David and Garris at this point, because they were home free and could relax. We again traveled the course to the next and final van exchange, a baseball park south of Barnardsville. We got our first look at the “mountain goat hard” legs, which were exactly as advertised. Saw a lot of walkers on those. By the time we got to the baseball park, I was completely wrecked.  The lack of sleep had really caught up to me and one side of my legs were destroyed from the downslopes, the other from the climbs. I tried to zonk out in the van for awhile but it wasnt really happening. Didnt help some super cool guy drove up blasting “Hey Ya” like he just discovered the song. For some reason we skipped the last available restaurant for miles in Barnardsville and we were all starving. David and Garris had some tuna and canned chicken which they graciously offered to the three four leggers in the van.  Best canned chicken breakfast ever.  Had a super long layover at this site as the other van had to tackle the most brutal part of the course. I could hardly walk , not from any injury, but just incredible stiffness and soreness. Tried to walk around as much as possible to keep loose but also tried to conserve energy at the same time.

My last leg was 4.4 miles, downhill and flat the first 2.4 miles, up a mountain the last 2. At this point it was all about survival. I had no idea if my legs would even let me run. Plus, the 45 degree chill had melted away into a blazing 80 degree sunny day. Rick showed up a little after 12 and seemed to be running strong despite completing the most brutal leg on the whole course. We were still way ahead of schedule. I took off on a mission to get this thing over with. The slight downhill helped a lot and some of the soreness gave way after a rough first quarter mile. Actually overtook a guy in the first mile in route to a 7:27 first mile. I started feeling better with the blood flowing, and continued to push the pace with another 7:27. Started hunting down another guy ahead, and was boosted by a crazy female team screaming at everybody on the course.  I was also afraid their runner might chick me, so I continued to push it in mile 3 with a 733 even with some hills starting. Overtook the second guy but looked back and saw an older guy tracking me down hardcore. About the end of mile 3 the mountain started and I might has well have run smack into it.  The legs apparently vetoed the decision the brain and heart had made.  Pace slowed to a near crawl on the steep inclines.  Older guy roadkilled me and left me for dead. I was pushing with 5k effort but getting about 9 min pace in return. With a quarter mile to go I saw the finish, and tried to kick, which translated to about 830 pace.  34:33, 750 pace average. Handed off to Dan and collapsed under a tree, just spent, total Hou Yin Chang style. Quickly had to jump back in the van and immediately felt sorry for Dan’s leg, which completed the mountain climb but 10 times worse in terms of incline. He finished surprisingly fast, though said he had to do hill intervals to get up the mountain. I would of had to walk the whole way. Finally passed off to Jon to do the 6.7 mile “glory leg”, a short incline then descent into Asheville for the finish. We arrived in the town square and met up with Van 2 and got to run with the Freight Train for the last 50 meters and across the finish.  Jon was spent and cramping but was a machine bringing it home.  We’ll see where we finished when they publish the results, but we were still an hour ahead of schedule.

Leg 1 (Overall leg 1): http://connect.garmin.com/activity/113368774

Leg 2 (Overall leg 12): http://connect.garmin.com/activity/113368766

Leg 3 (Overall leg 23): http://connect.garmin.com/activity/113368759

Leg 4 (Overall leg 34): http://connect.garmin.com/activity/113368753

2011 BRR results (preliminary)

The Blue Ridge Relay is a 208 mile running relay from Grayson Highlands, VA (a state park near the southern border)  to Asheville, NC.  I’ve been wanting to do this race for some time,  as it was the inspiration for the Palmetto 200 relay I’ve done the last two years. Luckily Brian,  our fearless captain and master organizer of the Palmetto team, felt the same way and decided to field a team for the BRR this year. Most of us have to depend on guys like Brian because the amount of organization and planning for these things far exceeds my ability.

For the uninitiated, this relay has the 208 miles divided into 36 sections, or legs.  The legs range anywhere from 2.4 -10 miles, and are classified to their level of difficulty. There are easy, moderate, hard, very hard and for 2 legs “mountain goat hard“.  The usual team is composed of 12 members, each running 3 legs a piece. Total mileage for an individual runner on a full team is anywhere from 13-24 miles. There are also “ultra” teams, where there are six or less team members, each cranking out crazy amounts of miles, 36-50 on average. On the website there is reference to one guy who actually did the thing solo, which is impressive, and also absolutely, completely insane.

Our team, “Van on the Run” was supposed to be 12 members but a guy I recruited bailed at the absolute last second, leaving us with 11 members. I offer an apology to my friends that I barraged with frantic phone calls the day before the race, offering everything short of my first born child in return for their participation.  My anxiety about this was also selfish. The relay runners run in a set order- if there is an injury or no-show the missing runner is skipped (with the next runner running his leg), leaving an extra leg for runner 1 to complete at the end. In this case, having a no-show at the beginning meant he would be skipped 3 times, and runners 1,2 and 3 doing an extra leg at the end.  Of course, I was runner number one.

So we 11 headed up to Grayson Highlands State Park on the day before the race in 2 fifteen passenger vans packed to the gills with clothes, water, food, gatorade and just about every kind of distance running equipment imaginable.  I love to camp, but hadnt done it in 20+ years. In hindsight, it probably would have been best for me to get a hotel, because sleep is like gold before a 26 hour race. I came prepared to camp, but between the scary animal noises and 45 degree night, I was tossing and turning quite a bit. Maybe got a couple of hours tops. Still havent figured out what that loud meowing was at 3 am.

I got up at 6:30, already too anxious/excited to start the race. Relays are generally non-competitive events, but I think the pressure to not let the team down is even worse than our own drive to do well individually. Had to wait what seemed like forever for our 10:30 start time (Start times were staggered from 6:30 (slowest) to 1:30 (fastest) ) Lots of nervous energy, and too afraid to warm up, given the 21+ mountainous miles ahead of me in the next 24 hrs.

It was fun being the first runner, as I got to line up at the start, and as Mrs Diesel says, be a photo hog. There were about 10 of us in our wave, and the first leg as classified as “easy”. Four miles straight down the mountain. There is a certain feeling that you are racing the other teams in your wave, so I wanted to do well in the first leg, but I also needed to remember I now had 4 legs to run, and a whole lot more miles than I had originally bargained for.  All of this careful strategizing and consideration went out the window as soon as the gun sounded. Some unassuming short bearded guy goes rocketing off and I follow him like a rabid bear in pursuit of its prey.  Downhill is really not the word to describe this leg,  uncontrolled freefall is probably closer to the truth.  True to Newtons laws, once 190 lbs of beastly runner jacked up on caffeine gets going,  he tends to keep moving. Actually accelerating. Form going all to hell,  jackhammering my quads all the way down. I had originally planned on 7:15ish pace on this leg. First split: 6:04.  Bearded guy must of been the ghost of Prefontaine, he was probably a minute ahead already at this point. I actually wasnt breathing that hard but having a hard time keeping limbs from flailing and trying not to pound my legs into submission.  This kept on the whole way down, and I was actually thankful for a few spots of flat and slight rise. Hit successive splits in 6:16, 6:14 and a 6:04 kicker at the end, 24:14 total, 2nd in the wave for the leg.  Way to conserve your energy cool guy. They told me Mr Beard finished in under 20 minutes.

Video of the start by team Dirtbaggers: https://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=1999892841321

The other van left with our other six members (Brian “El Capitan”, his wife Jen “She-Hulk”, Amy, Rick,  Joel “Honey Badger”, and Whitney “Big Sexy”), at this point, leaving the five of us in Van 1: myself,  Dan “Thunder Dan”, Jon “Freight Train”, Garris “G” and David “D-Mac”.  Dan, probably our strongest runner, took off in a blast.  Unfortunately,  Dan’s intensity in running does not match his attention to yellow relay direction signs. We drove halfway through his leg and waited for him, but started to worry when half the teams on our wave passed. Just when we were about to jump in the van and find him, he came through. Apparently he took the wrong turn and went a mile off course into the driveway of a Virginia hillbilly, had to turn around and come all the way back, possibly setting the BRR record for F bombs on the course.  To his credit, he still finished ahead of some other runners, on a very hilly “hard” leg.  Freight Train took off after this and continued to crush the pace, despite the fact that his 4 legs now totaled exactly 26.2 miles, a marathon in the mountains.  Garris and David also blasted their legs, where we got the second taste of a “hard” leg. These were already looking tough, much worse than anything in Columbia. Garris’ leg ended with a climb worse than two blossom st hills at the governors cup.  At the end of David’s leg we met up with Van 2, where we passed the baton bracelet to Amy and then had a chance to rest for a few hours. At the van exchange, we met up with a grandmasters all star team of the OG, Drew Walker and Geary. They were the only other team I recognized, and they also had 11 members.

This is the second year for this race to benefit the Blythewood middle and high school orchestra programs. I missed the race last year for some reason but I was psyched to run the new pretty flat 5k course they certified for this year. The 10k course is brutal, pretty much unrelenting hills. I’ve run it in training many times but opted not to suffer the course at race pace. I had an excuse of the Blue Ridge relay next weekend but I probably would have done the 5k regardless. Why is this? Because the Blue Shoes doctrine states that you should always run the “undercard” race in order to boost your fragile running ego, and possibly weasel your way into an overall placement. The holy grail of  Blue Shoes racing theory is to find the most rural, poorly attended race possible, and take home the overall win. The stars have aligned only once for this, a win at the Race to Read 8k in Lugoff last year, though this race did have at least 50 people. I also scored a second in the Lexington Kiwanis 5k last year with exactly 24 others racing.  Ive found you can also get away with doing the 5k in a race that also features a 10k.  All the really fast runners go for glory in the longer race, while, as a running friend recently told me, I go to battle against the “kids and old ladies”. The truth hurts.  That being said, I couldnt hang with the top 10 of the 10k runners in this race.  Some of the top road racers in the area showed up for this one:  OJ, Plexico, Angel, Anton, Kevin Kelley were all there, and all doing the 10k.

The 10k started first at 730, with the 5k ten minutes later. After watching the 10k start, I looked around and saw few familiar faces from the Tour. Conspicuously absent were Trophy and Captain Marathon, who both said they would race here. I was hoping for a possible battle, but I think Trophy saw a 10 percent chance of rain and got scared. Diesel was on daddy and photo duty so Mrs. Diesel could race. She was also following Blue Shoes tactics and doing the 5k. She was accompanied by the Race Whisperer, who shall remain nameless to protect his reckless banditing. I had a nervous few minutes thinking I may be forced to win this race, but luckily Team Allers showed up to crush any dreams of an overall win.  I felt pretty good at the start, despite waking up at 4 am and not being able to go back to sleep. Temps were in the 70’s but really humid. It actually rained most of the way en route to the race.

With the gun, two kids shot out like a cannon at about 4:30 pace, but soon crashed at about a tenth of a mile. I had a few steps of front runner glory before Eric Allers blew by me. I decided to at least keep him visible but he gapped me so bad it was really impossible to use him as a pacer. In the first half mile I heard footsteps and assumed it to be Tigs (aka Mrs. Allers)  but it was some very serious looking high school kid. He flew by me but then suddenly slowed and remained about 10 steps ahead for the whole first mile, split was 6:18. I thought I was going faster but the lack of any other runners around was making it very hard to gauge pace.  I was still feeling good until I saw the Gurgarious St sign and the ugly hill in front of it. It didnt seem so bad when I previewed the course yesterday at 930ish pace, but amping up the pace 3 minutes faster made me start sucking some serious wind.  Luckily the hill killed the kid too, and by the time I reached Langford Rd I was able to pass him.  Strangely, this course had 2 water stops at 1.3 and 1.7 miles, so I guess you cant blame dehydration if you suck.  Eric was getting pretty distant at this time, so I tried to push it after I hit mile 2 at 6:31,  over 20 min pace. The turn on to Trading Post was a welcome relief , as I knew it was all flat to downhill. Started dying after I surged in the first half of mile 3.  Cujo from yesterday had apparently just woken up and only weakly barked at me to let me know I was at 2.5 miles. Seemed like forever on this long straight road, but finally saw Eric turn way ahead on Round Top, and I followed about a minute behind. I was really hurting at this point, but I had no idea who was behind me, so I tried to blue shoe it the best I could. As I approached the last turn in the Blythewood middle entrance road, I let myself take a look back, and luckily no one was there. I relaxed for a second but then saw my sub 20 was getting away from me, so I burned the last 100 meters to get 19:52ish, 2nd place.  Eric won in 19:05 I think. Tigs won top female in 20 something. I didnt see where high school guy finished but he at least got passed by someone else.  Jen had the Race Whisperer guide her to a new PR in 25:20ish, though painfully missed out on the overall awards, finishing 4th female. After my race, it was nice to be able to watch the rest of the 5kers and the top 10kers start coming in. OJ blistered the field in 35 something, Plexico was second. Kevin Kelley and Anton Bodourov apparently had an epic home stretch, battling it out for the masters race, which Anton won.  Code Brown, OG and Greg all said the course was brutal and finished a few minutes off their typical road times, though they all placed in their age groups.

Awards were very nice, with medals that actually had the name of the race on them. Top winners got hand painted wooden violins and cash awards. I didnt get a violin but scored thirty bucks for the 2nd overall in the 5k. Not bad for a days work.

http://www.strictlyrunning.com/results/11Labor.txt

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/112123084

I decided on the 5k at the Blythewood Labor Day race tomorrow, and I wanted a short, easy day today to keep the rust off. I am very familiar with the 10k route, as my training group did it a million times last year prepping for the Richmond Marathon. That preview: constant rolling hills. The 5k route had some familiar parts but had a section I’d never run before.

The start is pretty far back on Longtown road east, at the first school speed limit sign coming out of the longtown loop. First quarter mile is almost flat on Longtown Road East, parallel to Blythewood middle. Then follows a turn on to Rimer Pond Rd for the next 0.75 miles, which is a slight incline, but not significant enough to slow you down too much. First mile mark is almost at the right hand turn onto Adams Rd, which contains the only real hills on the course. There’s a quick up and down hill in the first .25 of the second mile. At 1.33 there’s crazy road sign #1, Gurganious St, which is the cue for the pretty nasty quarter mile hill on Adams Rd. Finally levels out at crazy road sign #2, Lois Lookout Rd, around 1.53 miles. I kept looking for the right turn to Langford Rd after this, but there’s a fakeout intersection at Allen Kelly Ct. The eventual turn on to Langford is about 1.7 miles or so, and continues briefly on a flat stretch of Langford for about a quarter mile. Mile marker 2 is just before the right turn on to Trading Post. Trading Post Rd is mostly flat to a slight decline, which goes more downhill towards the end of the roughly 0.8 miles. Warning to Diesel, at 2.5 miles you will get barked at by Cujo and his vicious looking friend. Turn right onto Round Top Church Rd at 2.81 miles, and time for a blue shoes style kick. There’s a slight rise on the stretch of Round Top, which crosses over Rimer Pond again and takes you back to the parking lot of Blythewood Middle for the finish.

In all, a pretty PR friendly course. Just plan for the brutal Mt Gurganious-Lois Lookout. After that its all flat to downhill. For those that did the 5k course here last year, this new course is much easier.

Here’s the Garmin data , for Trophy to mock my blazing speed:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/111827657

This is my third year doing this race, a small 5k out at Crooked Creek park in Chapin, SC. Its definitely one of the most interesting courses on tour, leading you through soccer fields, paved trail, the perimeter of a baseball field, and 2 parking lot loops. Like a cross country course but about 2/3 of it is paved. Attendance is usually on the small side and is probably mostly local.  One thing hurting this race is competition from other labor day holiday activities and another race on Monday, the Blythewood Labor Day 10k/5k.  Also, it is the only race I run which still uses paper and snail mail entry, and has a non-electronic finish line (except for a digital clock).  I never remember to sign up and always end up paying the late fee. At least they have plenty of shirts for late registrants. Competition is always pretty sparse here too. I ran a 22 plus 5k in 2009 here and ended up taking 4th place overall. More of the same this year. Code Brown,  Plexico, Rocky Soderberg and a few other older Tour de Columbia age groupers were the only ones I recognized. Temps were back to being warm this week, mid 70′s and humid.  Sciatic pain has been slowly improving, didnt feel any twinges after a good warmup.

Course was marked throughout with orange paint, there were a confusing spots when I did the warmup with the Code.  With the gun start, I tried to start out fast, which felt pretty good, but I was definitely was not able to reach my usual first mile speed on the wet grassy field.  Shades of Springdale at Sunset. After a lap around the soccer field, we crossed a small parking lot and into the paved trail section. There were a fair amount of turns in this area, plus a few killer short inclines that slowed you down big time. I traded places with a guy in a white singlet for the first mile – I’d pass him on inclines but he’d overtake me on the downside. Finally gapped him a bit and never saw him again. First mile 6:21, which is pretty fast for this course for me. The Code was feeling it and had already left me in the dust. The top female was ahead of me but within sight, helping me follow the winding course. I think she was maybe 5 feet tall and probably 90 pounds. After 1.5 miles, there was a break out into the baseball field area with some nasty gravel and puddles, almost twisted my ankle on one of the turns but recovered.  There was a confusing part as you circled the ball field,  where the course suddenly turned back into the grass instead of going straight. I almost called out to the girl in front of me that she was going the wrong way, then I realized I was the one in the wrong.  Quickly darted back on course and went back into the paved trail area which overlapped part of the course we just ran.  Passed Rocky going the other way, who gave me a heads up I was running 5th overall. As we went back out into a quarter mile parking lot loop, all of a sudden about 20 people were right in front of me. Apparently from mid-pack on, everybody went straight were I almost went, and they had cut off probably a third or half a mile of course. I was starting to die a bit, so  I panicked a little , knowing I had to pass all these people to retake my position.  Second mile was considerably slower , 6:41. Tried to push it in the last mile, but was not feeling it. I was able to finally pass the last of the misdirected group with about .75 to go, and made up some ground on top female. We came back out into the field with  half mile to go, and had the painful feeling of having to pass the finish line before doing one more lap of the field.  The girl in front of me was fading a little but I wasnt able to gather the motivation to pass her. I thought I could catch her in the last quarter mile but she threw down a nice kick. Saw the 19′s fade away on the clock and finished in 20:16, a second slower than last year. Two seconds from 4th. Must of been the extra 100 pounds I was carrying around.  Plexico blew away the field with a high 17′s time, a guy named Jack finished second, never seen him race before. He was in the 18′s. Code finished in 19:24, a really strong time for this course.  Awards were surprisingly fast given the hand timing. Irmo-Chapin pint glasses. My second favorite pint glass award behind the ironic Dry Run beer glasses.  About 75 percent of the field ran about 2.7 miles with the misdirect. 3.11 by my Garmin. I’m not totally sure, because there was some confusion, but I think they only gave overall awards to the top 3 males, and not the females.  If thats true, thats really uncool. I’m positive they only gave out cash awards to the guys.  Please let me know if I’m wrong.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/111473888

Results to this race usually take several days to get posted.  Next up is the Blythewood Labor Day 10k/5k on Monday – still debating on which distance. Probably the 5k with the Blue Ridge Relay coming up next weekend.

It looks like I'm running fast...I wasn't

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/110911970
Run Wild is a cool event run by the Richland Northeast cross country team , and features an open 5k followed by varsity boys, varsity girls, JV boys and JV girls high school races. Ive run it the last two years and both efforts were some of my strongest performances of those years. I live only 2 miles from the start and run Sesqui all the time in training, so I know the course extremely well. Starts in a field near the lake, winds through a scout camping area thats pretty flat, then brings you up a long slow incline on the firebreak trail for the first mile.  Rolling hills on the firebreak trail in mile 2, then turns into the forest for single track trail for all of mile 3. Finish is flat right next to the lake.

I had a rough week this week, with a nasty cold and lingering sciatic pain. I had taken 2 days off from running before the race to try and get some energy back. It didn’t seem to help as I still felt like crap on the warmup, did 2 miles at warmup effort and ended up with a very slow 10:30 pace. Temps were OK, still high 70’s and humid, but a little breeze courtesy of Irene.

There was a huge crowd on site with all the high school teams, and a good bunch of the regulars: Team Howell and Ward, Meg, Rick, Code Brown, Burgess were all present. Trophy showed up as photographer, which he’s probably regretting right now, as he missed his big chance.

At the gun, everybody sprinted to avoid the bottleneck that happens at the end of the field. The flat areas around the cub scout camp werent too bad, but there was a lot of congestion and a bunch of turns to slow you down. I paced with Greg for awhile, but we both got beat down as soon as the hill started as we turned onto the firebreak. I think the sand on the trail was more packed last year, because I was constantly trying to avoid the beach like effect of all the soft stuff. Mile one wasnt even over and I was already beginning to die. Watched the Code and Meg slowly fade away, and my Palmetto 200 teammate David was also kicking my tail. Mile 1 split was 6:37, which wasnt too bad given the hill and all the sand, but you might as well of stuck a fork in me right there. I tried to speed up on the downhill at the beginning of the 2nd mile, but actually had to slow some just to catch some semblance of breathing back. No one was passing me though, so I guess the course was killing everybody else too. More beach like sand on the rolling hills of the firebreak trail. I think I reached a dark point here where I really thought about dropping out, which I’ve never done. Just felt really fatigued, like I was finishing a half marathon rather than 1.5 miles into a 5k. Suffered some more to a 6:56 split on mile 2, a good 30-40 seconds slower than usual. At this point sub 20 was way out the window, and I was looking at a tough chance even at breaking 21. Kept waiting to get Burgessed or Howelled. Mile 3 seemed to take forever – its all single track trail. I kept misreading the trail and thinking I was coming out to the finish, only to find another turn. Some nice surprise hills here too. Finally got to the lake and found absolutely zero in the tank for a kick. Looked back and thankfully there was no one there. I’m thinking it was bad karma to wear my red trail shoes, plus the “McAwesome” shirt is starting to have a curse too. I’m sure Trophy caught a beautiful race face pic on the last stretch.  I watched helplessly as the clock turned over to 21, strolled across the line in 21:09. 24th place. A minute and 25 seconds slower than last year. Probably would have gotten Trophied. By some stroke of luck, I managed to pull a 2nd in age group. Won a Run Wild plastic tumbler, which is a nice change from the medals.

http://www.strictlyrunning.com/RESULTS/11RUNWILD.TXT

OK, so I didnt run this race. I may be excessive and obsessive about racing, but 13.1 miles in the morning was enough for me today. Plus I had spent the previous 2 hours chasing 3 kids around Monkey Joes for my oldest’ 8th birthday party. This race has previously had beer at the end, but for some reason they nixed the cervesa this year. Good thing I brought my own.

I ran this race in 2009 and thought it would be perfect for PRs, because its run on a horse race course, and thus must be completely flat. It is flat, but unlike the Kentucky Derby dirt I had in mind, it has long grass instead. Long, momentum sucking dew-laden soft grass. Plus it was 94 degrees at race time that year. Basically it added up to a 23:45 5k in which I had to throw down a ridiculous (both in effort and in appearance) kick to beat a guy that had passed me a quarter of a mile back (later identified as Chad Long). Strictly Running had an 8 photo montage of our finish, complete with grimaces and my shirt riding up showing my white gut. Beautiful. http://sc.milesplit.com/meets/55153/results/93778

This year it was much cooler, probably low 80’s to maybe high 70’s. This race has really grown , now up to 199 runners this year. The race is pretty cool to watch, as you can see the whole course and race from the grandstand area. Mr and Mrs Diesel where also there spectating.  A 15 year old kid won this race, just destroying the field with a low 17 time, really impressive. Anton and Angel also had really fast times for this course, both breaking 19 minutes. Most people were 30 seconds off their road times with the grass. I do think theyve cut the grass a lot more than in 09 and of course the temps kept the times more respectable this year.

http://www.strictlyrunning.com/results/11SpringDale.txt

Pics are below:

Naomi's photo of the start

http://connect.garmin.com:80/activity/embed/107933836

After much internal debate, I decided to run the Gov Cup Half Marathon preview this morning. The William Wilson 5k was the same morning just down the road, but most people I knew were doing the preview run, and the prospect of then doing my long run solo on Sunday was not cool. It also helped that the preview run was free, so I didnt mind saving thirty bucks either. The actual race is Nov.5 (http://www.lexmed.com/calendar/special-events/governors-cup.aspx)

The last time I ran this race was in 2009, and it was my first half marathon. At that point I knew nothing about training for this kind of race, and my “long run” topped out at 9.3 miles at a 15k a month before. I ran that race with Trophy, starting at mid 8 pace and progressing to mid/high 7’s. Predictably, the wheels starting coming off about mile 10 and I was dead man (almost) walking down Devine St, not to mention the Blossom St hill. Trophy dropped me and will always hold this over my head. Savor the beauty below:

I should say that, despite feeling like total death, I was very happy with the time given my lack of training.

Anyway, this morning it seemed like every runner in Columbia was downtown – A Team in Training group, Strictly’s Long Distance group, the William Wilson 5k race and the 621 Ninjas were all out in the 5 points/Shandon area, in addition to the Preview runners (probably 50 or so?) . Most of our marathon training group, Ken aka “Captain Marathon” , Trophy, Diesel, Jon aka “Freight Train”. Spivey and myself showed up.

We ended up running this as a progression run, starting low 9 pace and ramping it up slowly. The course :

govcup_half_marathon_map

Mile 1: False sense of security as you start at the State House and go downhill on Gervais. Don’t worry, you’ll get to enjoy the flip side of this hill later. An incline as you pass Harden St and then another nice downhill to Millwood.

Mile 2: Pretty much a slow gradual incline through the sketchy parts of Millwood. Was either heckled or offered support by two women who were both still clutching a brown bag beverage. I’m sure it was milk or orange juice… Course does level out a bit as you approach Dreher High.

Miles 3, 4,5 : Pretty flat loop around Shandon and exiting into Lake Katherine/Heathwood area via Kilbourne. Not too bad.

MIles 6, 7 : Rolling hills but an overall descent into the Lake Katherine neighborhood. My favorite area for emergency bathroom breaks because rich people are always renovating, and construction crews mean porta-potties.

End of mile 7, Mile 8 and 9 – Beware the Shady Lane. Basically the start of a long slow incline back to Devine St. The turn back on to  Kilbourne has a disheartening view of the full 4 tiered monster hill, which I think is the hardest part of this course. The Blossom st hill gets all the attention, but at least its quick and its at the end. This is brutally long and youve still got almost 4 miles once youve scaled it. Diesel’s favorite part for sure.

Mile 10, 11, start of 12 – The rolling hills continue on Kilbourne but level out as you reenter Shandon. I have PTSD from mile 10 in 2009. Basically the Kilbourne hill sucked out my soul leaving the corpse you see in the picture above. Two years later I was sucking wind again. The fact that Capt. Marathon and Trophy decided to start rocking 730 pace didnt help.  The Captain had to make a detour at Earth Fare, but Trophy apparently did a line of coke before this run and he left me again on Devine, leaving me to my horrible flashbacks from 09. Diesel, Spivey and I were left in his dust.

Miles 12, 13 – A whole lot of suck. We passed the Wilson 5k finish line then proceeded up the infamous Blossom St hill. You know its bad when there’s steps at one point. Ive run this hill before on fresh legs, and its actually pretty short, though very steep. At mile 12.5 though, youre having to drag your cinder block quads up this monster. I didnt walk , but the Garmin shows I was crushing 9:58 pace at one point. Whats worse, is that the turn onto Sumter gives you another helping of hill that no one ever talks about. I also am forced to see the upscale hotel like dorm USC put up in place of the Towers on the left. You finally get a whole .05 miles of flat as the course ends in front of the Horseshoe.

All in all, not a bad training run. The Diesel and Spivey performed admirably and finished only about a minute behind. Trophy got his glory and blue shoed the blue shoes on the last 2 miles. Ken, feeling much lighter, finished just a couple minutes behind.

This is the second year for this 5k, organized by the RU running club (maybe Palmetto Running Club now) and directed by fellow age grouper Eric McMichael, aka “King of the Quarter”.  It had a small turnout last year, but it was put on the Palmetto Grand Prix in 2011, so I figured a larger crowd. I had to decide between this race and the Tour de Columbia “Silver Fox Trot 5k” in Saluda Shoals, which I had done the past two years. I decided to check out the Eagle 5k since I had never been to North and to support a fellow runner directing a race. I actually like the Silver Fox but its a race purely against the  rough XC course and the field, as times are usually 2-3 minutes slower than the roads. This has been a trying running week for me, as my last Dr Pain 400 interval session tweaked my sciatic nerve problems (piriformis syndrome), and I took 3 whole days off to give it some time to recover.

The trip to North was kind of nice, about 55 minutes on highway 321. Had to go through Gaston and Swansea, where I was looking for a monument honoring Trophy McGaha for his historic 5k win there in 2010. Decent crowd was on site for such a rural race, and a lot of the big dogs on the mens side were there for grand prix points. Did a 1.5 mile warmup with the OG and Anton. Sciatic was a little sore from the long ride but got progressively looser and pain free after the warmup. Temps were not too bad, mid 70’s, but sauna like humidity as usual. Crowd was abut 50. With the gun, I went out pretty fast, since the field was competitive and kind of drew you towards a quick pace. About half a mile in, a major mishap occurred – the lead cop car made a turn too early and then the lead runner turned the wrong way. The top 15 or so of us ended up veering off course. Eric ran part of the race and luckily brought us back to the rest of the course. The detour ended up cutting the course slightly short and of course slowed us down, as many of us came to a complete stop before we figured out what to do.  I got back on the course and passed a good number of people who didnt make the wrong turn. The lead runner, Chad Ware, blasted past me at sub 5 pace.  Angel , Anton, Omar and a few others did likewise. I settled into a small pack with Tigs, OG and Billy Tisdale. The legs felt pretty good, but motivation was pretty low, given that the detour killed any chance at a good time and I knew Angel would take my age group. First mile, even with the stop, came up about 6:20, so I must have been blazing before the wrong turn. Second mile slowed to a 6:30ish, mostly because I wasnt sure if I should save something in case the course was now long. There were some gradual inclines on this mile, but in all the course is pretty flat and fast. The OG faded a bit here – he’s still hurting, also with sciatic problems. Felt very strong at about 2 miles, so I picked up the pace and caught Tigs, who had gapped me pretty bad at one point. Tisdale was ahead but he seemed to be picking up steam instead of fading. I tried to catch him initially but saw it probably wasnt going to happen. Was basically all alone in the last stretch. I made out the clock turning over to the 19’s, which I figured probably meant a slightly short course (with the detour – actual course is certified) . Crossed in 19:34. Garmin read 3.05 miles. I was happy with the effort and time. Cooled down a half mile.  Awards were pretty nice – overall and masters all won trophies and cash, 10 year age groups three deep. I won 2nd in the 31-40 group, even picked up 2 grand prix points by finishing 10th overall, 9th male. Results were adjusted for 3 miles, though each us in the top 15 ran longer than this.

http://www.strictlyrunning.com/results/11eagles.txt

Still undecided about next week – there’s the gov cup half marathon preview run, the william wilson 5k in the am and the springdale 5k in the pm. I’ve never done the william wilson, but did springdale 2 years ago. Springdale is brutal with the heat and the long grass on the horse track, but they have BEER at the end. That may weigh into my decision making.