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!

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The Finish Line

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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...
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Race #572 -- Runway 5k -- Gastonia, NC -- 09/14/24

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With a couple of 5k races in the local race series over these two weeks and no nearby half marathons, I decided to take a little break from the longer races. I ran this same race last year and it's nice and flat(ish), so I was hoping to run a better time than in the hilly food truck races that I've done over the past few months. The result was that I did better (27:22), but nothing to jump up and down about. As much as I'd like to nudge back down into the 24- to 25-minute range in a 5k, that might not be happening for me. Just like last year, my main age group competitor was a local high school cross-country coach who is a couple years older than me. Also, just like last year, we jockeyed for position several times during the race, and I managed to squeak by him with about 20 seconds to spare.  Last year's race had some great free photographs that I didn't see until I registered for this year's race. Eight days after the race, there are still no photos on the we...
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Race #573 - Stampede for Student Success 5k - Dallas NC - 09/21/24

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Another local 5k, this one at Gaston College, was my 5th race in the series, for which I have to run six races to qualify for the end-of-season awards. There weren't any nearby half marathons, so it fit nicely into my schedule. Looking back at my races, I saw that I hadn't run this race since 2021 when I finished in 25:16, so it's unsurprising that I finished about 3 minutes slower 3 years later (28:11). Ouch. Losing about a minute per year in my 5k times. I probably shouldn't complain about being slower, though, and I should just be happy I can still run. Looking back at my Garmin data, I saw that I walked 18 times, which is a lot of walking for a 5k race. Still, the data shows that I only walked around 3 minutes total, so maybe it's not so bad. One bit of data that I haven't paid much attention to is my Heart Rate Zones (on the graph below). Seeing that 62% of my run was in Zone 5 (Maximum) makes me think that if I watched my heart rate and kept it in Zone 4 (...
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Race #571 - Eastbound Trail Half Marathon - Charlotte, NC - 09/07/24

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Lord knows I'm not a trail runner, although I've been trying to impersonate one for the last few months. In July, I ran the Harbison Trail Half Marathon, the first singletrack trail half marathon I've ever run. In retrospect, I kind of enjoyed it even though I was slow and spent most of the time just trying not to trip over a rock or a tree root. I did the same thing in this race; just hoping I didn't trip and break an ankle or do a faceplant. Luckily, I came out unscathed and didn't fall or twist anything that shouldn't be twisted.  The U.S. National Whitewater Center is about a 15-minute drive from my house. It has 50+ miles of trails, but I haven't been there in over 10 years because trails have never appealed to me. This week, they had the only half marathon within 100 miles, and since I'm trying to run every half marathon I can reasonably get to this year, I figured I'd give it a go.  From what I've heard, the trail races at the Whitewater C...
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Race #564 - RAD Half Marathon - Asheville NC - 06/09/24

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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...
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