Charlotte Observer Running Blog Features The Old Runner


If you’re a runner in the Charlotte area you most likely already know about the popular Charlotte Observer running blog, “Run, Theoden, Run,” which is written by local running enthusiast and Observer entertainment editor Theoden Janes.
Theoden was very kind in profiling me in his blog today and in case you missed it here’s a link so you can read it…
Thanks Theoden!

Comments

Post a Comment

Recent Popular Posts

Race #497 -- Racefest 10k -- Charlotte, NC -- 06/27/21

Image
Charlotte Racefest has been one of Charlotte's premier racing events for the past twenty years or so, long before I became a runner in 2008. It was virtual-only last year during the pandemic, and for some reason unknown to me it was moved from its usual location in the Southpark Mall area of Charlotte to the university area for this year only. According to the website, it'll be back at Southpark next year. Either location is fine with me and this year's race was outstanding, even though there were fewer runners than in previous years. Still, there were more than 700 finishers (469 in the half marathon and 264 in the 10k) so it's still one of the area's bigger races. Since I ran a half marathon the previous week and have another one coming up only two weeks from now, I chose the 10k option. Looking back at my past race results I was kind of surprised to see that I had run the Racefest Half Marathon six times in the past, but this was the first time I ran the 10k. I w...
Read more

Race #567 - Koala Bottle Harbison Half Marathon - Columbia, SC - 07/07/24

Image
Well, that was interesting. In my zeal to run at least 20 half marathons this year, I found this one at the last minute and signed up. It was only about 100 miles away, so I could click off another half marathon with just a couple hours of driving.  I signed up right away, not bothering to read the race description. The next day (the day before the race), I found out it was a singletrack trail complete with plenty of roots, rocks, and obstacles that a roadrunner like myself is not used to running.  It was hot and muggy, with a dew point of 75, although being a warm-weather runner, I'd prefer that over 40 degrees any day. Before hitting the actual trail, the race began on a dirt road, and I could have stopped to walk but decided to try to keep running until I saw someone else walking. The green lines on the graph below represent walk breaks, so you can see that I didn't take a walk break until I was more than 2 miles into the race. By about 5 miles into the race, I was done. I ...
Read more

Race #128 - Cotton Row Run 10k - Huntsville, Alabama - 05/30/11

Image
This Memorial Day we were back in Huntsville for the Cotton Row Run, the last stop for the Running Journal Grand Prix season. It was already hot and steamy at 7:30 a.m. for the start of the 10k, and the heat was even more oppressive for the 9:00 a.m. 5k start, which Linda ran. Not too far into the first mile I considered just dropping out since I had a lead in the 55-59 age group of more than 100 points in the Grand Prix, but I figured instead I'd just take it a little easy and walk all of the water stops, which is what I did. I think all of the walking might have helped my time since I ended up winning my age group in the race with a time of 44:42. It was a minute or so slower than last year's time when I finished 3rd in my division but the heat seemed to take a lot out of the other runners as well. The Cotton Row Run has been a Memorial Day fixture in Huntsville for more than 30 years and is one of Alabama's premier road races. With around 4,000 runners in the 10k and 5...
Read more

The Finish Line

Image
After 15 years of having fun (mostly) at the races, it's finally time for me to hang up my running shoes. The last race I blogged about was #574, but I ran two more after that: the Ocean Isle Beach Half Marathon on October 25, 2024, and the Police Donut 5k the following week on November 2, 2024. After the half marathon, I felt generally fine, but the following week, I began having some back pain. I managed to run the Donut 5k without too much of a problem and felt pretty good despite having to eat a half dozen donuts halfway through the race. The day after the donut race, I took the day off since my back was hurting, and my right leg had also become painful. To make a long story short, over the next couple of weeks, I became unable to walk or even stand without extreme pain. I ended up seeing an orthopedic surgeon, who did an MRI that revealed a stress fracture in my right tibia, and a spine doctor, whose MRI showed a severely pinched nerve at L4. I ended up in a wheelchair for the...
Read more

Race #564 - RAD Half Marathon - Asheville NC - 06/09/24

Image
Back during the years when I was doing my best running (2009-2017), the half marathon was my favorite race distance. During those years, I ran as many as 16 half marathons per year, and on an age-graded basis, the half marathon was my best distance. In more recent years I had trouble running long distances, so I cut the number of half marathons down and almost quit running them entirely. When my streak of 120 half marathons in a row under 2 hours ended in September 2022, I considered never running another half. It wasn't so much that finishing in over 2 hours was shameful, but I began having difficulty running the distance.  I turned 71 in February 2023 and had only run two 5k races after the previously mentioned September half marathon. Not being a cold weather runner anyway, I waited until April of 2023 to run another 5k, and by then my 5k times were slower than ever. I wasn't enjoying the races any longer, and when I began having a hard time keeping up with my younger runnin...
Read more