The Old Runner

When you think of Columbia, South Carolina, cold is not usually the first thing that comes to mind, but it was pretty chilly Down South for the Cold Winter’s Day 5k. Our last race in Columbia was the Hot Summer’s Night 5k back on August 1st, and let’s just say the 50-degree difference between the two races was definitely noticeable. It was actually a nice day for running though, and this was the final race of the season for the Palmetto Grand Prix and the final race of the year for me as well. The “off season” for me and Linda is short though — our first race of 2010 is at the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve. We were happy to meet up with some of the Charlotte runners who made it down — Tom and Lana Torkildsen and Bobby Aswell — and we were kind of surprised that more Charlotte runners didn’t show up since there were no Charlotte area races this weekend. I guess it’s that time of year when a lot of people are taking a little break. This race was touted as “flat and fast” and ...

This is ya big boy. North Carolina’s biggest racing event of the year. This year a total of over 10,000 runners ran in one of the three races (marathon, half marathon, and 5k), about a 30% increase over last year. I ran the half marathon again, as I did last year in  Race #14 , thinking that I would like to do better than I did in the 2008 Thunder Road Half, which was my first, and I’m happy to report that things went really well. Last year I finished 16th in my age group with a time of 2:01:05; not terrible, but of course one always wants to improve next time around. This year I finished in first place in the 55-59 age group with a time of 1:35:34, which is a new half marathon PR for me. I should also probably mention that it was the first time I finished ahead of Bob Nelson, who time after time throughout 2009 has managed to polish me off pretty good in every race. It was the first time I finished 1st in the 55-59 group and he finished 2nd, but I won’t gloat lest he goes ho...

Races are like pizza: when they’re good, they’re really good; when they’re bad, they’re still pretty good. We knew in advance that they were calling for lousy weather this Saturday morning, but as a card-carrying weenie when it comes to bad weather I know I have to get out occasionally in the elements and run, just so I won’t feel so out of my element when the time comes that I have to be out in the elements. Over the past week all of my runs were on the treadmill, and while I love basking in temperatures in the 70s while I run, this ain’t Florida, and the treadmill can get a little unrealistic in the middle of the winter. Thus I decided to run outside today come h-e-double-hockeysticks or high water. Last night’s hour-to-hour forecast called for about a 60-70% chance of rain at race time, but when I got up this morning and checked it the chance of rain had dropped to 10%, which was a welcome surprise. Linda and I ran this race last year and it was one of the coldest of the year, not ...