Race #217 - Cotton Row Run 10k - Huntsville, Alabama - 05/27/13

The Cotton Row Run marks the end of the Running Journal Grand Prix season. This is my fourth year competing in the Grand Prix and the fourth time we've traveled to Huntsville for this final race. It's been one of my favorites each year. On one hand it marks the beginning of the summer season, and since I love running in warm weather I'm always excited about that. On the other hand, for each of the four years it has marked the end of a successful season for me in the Running Journal Grand Prix. I was the Grand Masters Champion for two of those years, the 55-59 Age Group Champion one year, and this year I won the Senior Grand Masters Championship for the season. For me as a runner, winning the Running Journal has been my big goal of the year, and it's been a lot of fun but I've decided this would be my last year. Traveling to races all over the Southeastern United States gets expensive, and the older I get the less I like taking those long road trips. My wife's thrilled with that decision, and I'm happy with it too. With the exception of a handful of races outside our local area when visiting our kids we'll just run the races easy enough to drive to, which will be mostly small local races, and that suits me fine.

Anyhoo, speaking of the Cotton Row Run, it's quite the spectacle, drawing top runners from the region who want to stake their claim for the considerable prize money awarded to the top overall runners and masters runners (ages 40 and over). The prize money, of course, doesn't extend to the senior grand masters categories (ages 60 and up) unless they can outrun the fastest runners who are twenty years younger, and that hardly ever happens, so we're in it strictly for the sake of running and competing against some of our peers, which is fine with us although never very profitable.

There is an official video for this race on YouTube, much better and more professional than anything I can do with my video glasses, and I'll embed it here in my blog. It provides great commentary and stays with the lead runner throughout the race and shows the entire course, including the infamous Mountainwood Hill, which is the steepest hill I've ever tried to run up in a race (I actually walked most of it). Here's the official video...



I'm glad the official video worked out well because my glasses didn't do such a great job this time around. Before the race and until a minute or two into the race all of the video was messed up, possibly because of the glare of the early morning sun where the race started. In addition to that, the video battery conked out just after the 4-mile mark in the race so I entirely missed the last two miles, which is too bad since the race has such a great finish. It's kind of funny to compare my perspective in the race to the one on the official video that tracked the race winner. I wasn't that far back really, finishing in 120th place out of 2,105 runners, which is in the top 6 percent, but things are definitely different anywhere back in the pack. When you think about it, there are hundreds of little sub-races going on in addition to the overall race. I was hoping to beat the guys in my age group. Other people were doing that too, as well as rivalries from offices, families, neighbors, and people just trying to beat what their own times from last year. I guess that's part of what makes running so much fun.

Here's my race video, followed by a few photos taken along the course...



A quarter of a mile into the race I was already a considerable distance behind
the leaders and wasn't sure if there were some others in my age group that
were already ahead of me.

For the first mile and a half or so I chased George Sykes of Spartanburg,
South Carolina, who was this year's Grand Masters Champion of the
Running Journal Grand Prix. He's always a step ahead of me though and
finally left me behind. I finished just a little over a minute behind him and
he was 1st place in the 55-59 age group.

There were a lot of displays of patriotism for Memorial Day.

Of all the patriots I saw along the course, my favorite was this little girl
standing alone on a street corner waving a small flag.

I was right around 13:50 at the 2-mile mark, which is just about right for me.

Just past the 2-mile mark I was passed by 63-year-old Wayne Heckler of
Madison, Alabama, who would go on to win the 60-64 age group.

As we approached the big hill on Mountainwood my heart rate monitor said
I was already at 171 beats per minute. That's about 5 beats above my cruising
range so I knew I had to take the hill slowly to keep from imploding, even if
I felt like I could run it.

The pavement on the big hill is grooved so cars can get traction in bad weather.

I managed to run to the 3-mile marker, which was about halfway up the hill.
At that point I was exhausted and, as you can see, Wayne Heckler was leaving
me behind. I mostly walked the rest of the way up but did run a little bit of it.

I was still going up the hill when I caught this last glimpse of Wayne Heckler,
who had a huge lead on me by then. I finished 2nd in the age group, about
a minute and a half behind him, so I might have actually gained on him a little
after I finally reached the top of the hill.

Despite dying on the hill, I felt pretty good after reaching the top and
knowing the worst was behind me, and I was still with a group of fairly
strong, mostly young runners, which is a good sign that I'm still running okay.

I hit the 4-mile split at about 28:50, which was good to see after my
disastrous uphill climb.

As I mentioned previously, the battery in my video glasses died shortly after the 4-mile mark so I don't have any additional pictures or videos, which is too bad because the last quarter mile or so before the finish line is spectacular. I had known that my friend, Bob Nelson, who had also come from Charlotte to run, was probably close behind, but I didn't look back until around a half mile from the finish line. There are so many people in this race that it's hard to tell, but I couldn't see Bob or anybody else who looked like they were in my age group, so I just ran what I felt like was a good pace down the home stretch. I finished in 43:52 (actually 43:49 chip time), which is a great time for me. It was my best 10k time since the fall of 2011, and a PR for me in the 60-64 age group. I was 2nd in the age group out of 59 runners, followed about a minute later by Bob Nelson, who finished in third place. Our other Charlotte friend, Roberta Villneff (Bobbi V) finished in 1st place in the 60-64 female age division. It ended a successful season for all of us, with Roberta and me winning the Senior Grand Masters Championship and Bob Nelson winning the 60-64 Age Group Championship.

Click Here for Race Results

 My Stats:

Time:  43:49 (chip time)
Pace:  7:00
Age Group:  2 of  59
Overall:  120 of  2105 (5.7%)
Average Heart Rate:  168
Maximum Heart Race:  178
Age Graded Equivalent Time:  34:56 (76.87%)

***************
* RACE RATING *
***************

RACE COURSE
3 - Chip Timing: (3 points if yes)
2 - Starting Mat: (2 points if yes)
2 - Water Stops: (0)none  (2)normal  (5)extras [Gu, sports drink, etc.]
1 - Course Marking:  (0)bad  (1)good
2 - Course Scenery:  (0)bad  (2)pleasant  (5)extraordinary
2 - Mile Markers: (0)poor or none  (1)normal  (2)with clocks or time called out
2 - Volunteers:  (0)too few  (2)good
7 - Finish line: (0)mediocre  (2)not bad  (5)very good  (7)spectacular!
2 - Certified Course: (0)no  (2) yes
2 - Correct Distance: (0)no  (2)yes
1 - Partly or fully on unpaved roads:  (0)yes  (1)no

REGISTRATION
3 - Cost:  (0)expensive  (1)reasonable  (3)cheap!  (15 bucks!)
0 - Race Day Registration:  (0)no  (3)yes

RESULTS
2 - Posted promptly online:  (0)no  (2)yes
1 - Clear link on website:  (0)no  (1)yes

AGE GROUPS
2 - 3 deep awards: (2)yes (0 for anything less)
5 - 5-year age groups (5 points) (0 for anything less)
1 - 14 and under group (1)
1 - 65+ group (1)
1 - 70+ group (1)
2 - Top Overall M/F:  (0)none or first only  (2)top 3 or better
2 - Masters Category(40+): (0)no  (2)yes
0 - Grand Masters Category (50+):  (0)no  (3)yes
0 - Senior Grand Masters Category: (0)no  (5)yes

AWARDS
5 - Overall Winner Awards: (0)none  (2)yes  (5)excellent  (Big Bucks!)
5 - Age Group Awards: (0)none  (2)yes  (5)excellent
0 - Door Prizes or Drawing: (0)no  (2)yes   (5-9)fabulous door prizes!
0 - Finisher Medals for All Finishers: (0)no  (3)yes  (5)really cool medals

POST RACE
9 - Food for Race Participants: (0-10 with 5 being average)
7 - Entertainment:  (0)no  (1-9)yes
2 - Finisher times posted after race:  (0)no  (2)yes

REST ROOMS
2 - Porta Potties:  (0)no  (1)limited, long lines  (2)plentiful
2 - Indoor Restrooms: (0)no  (1)limited, long lines  (2)plentiful

T-SHIRTS
2 - T-Shirts: (0)no  (2)yes
1 - Design: (0)not good  (1)not bad  (2)nice  (5)beautiful!
0 - Material: (0)cotton  (2)technical fabric
0 - Discount for no-shirt option:  (0)no (2)yes

PHOTOGRAPHY
5 - Professional Photography: (0)no  (5)yes
2 - Prices: (0)expensive  (2)reasonable  (5)cheap!
0 - Free Photographs (newspaper, etc.):  (0)no  (2)yes  (5)lots of free pics!

PARKING
0 - Close to Start:  (2)yes  (0)no
0 - Close to Finish:  (2)yes  (0)no
0 - Plenty of spaces:  (2)yes  (0)no
2 - Free Parking:  (2)yes  (0)no

WEBSITE
2 - Dedicated race website (0)no  (2)yes
2 - Results or link to results posted on website:  (0)no  (2)yes

OTHER
2 - Shelter from Inclement Weather (needed or not): (0)no  (2)yes
0 - Swag (free socks, water bottles, etc.): (0)no  (2)yes, some  (5)excellent
2 - Part of race series or Grand Prix:  (0)no  (2)yes


TOTAL:  98

Comments

  1. AnonymousJune 4, 2013 at 10:17 AM

    This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Recent Popular Posts

Race #254 - Brooklyn Half Marathon - Brooklyn, NY - 05/17/14

Image
Wow... Just when I thought my best running days were over, this one has me thinking that maybe there are still a few all-time Personal Records waiting to be set with these old legs. Over the past month I've added about 10 extra miles per week to my training regimen and I think that made the difference. I had been running 10-12 miles for a long run each week, but I've bumped it up to 15, 16, and 17 miles over the past three weeks as I begin training for my first full marathon in four years, which will be coming up in September. I'm feeling great right now so I thought I'd do okay, but I was shocked when I found out my chip time was 1:32:13, only 16 seconds slower than my all-time PR that I ran three years ago, the fall of 2011, when I ran all of my all-time PR's. I didn't win my age group but I didn't expect to since New York City is one of the most competitive racing communities in the world. My goal was to finish in the top 10 in my age group and I fini...
Read more

Race #158 - Mount Mourne Christmas Elf 5k - Mooresville, NC - 12/24/11

Image
I had heard a lot about this race from others who have run it in the past and the reviews were always good, so we headed over to the Mooresville area to experience it for ourselves. It actually exceeded our expectations, being just about a perfect race except for a glitch in putting down the cones or marking the course or something (I never figured out what exactly). The result was that the race was quite a bit longer than a 5k. According to several other people I talked to, they all had Garmin measurements of between 3.38 and 3.40 miles although personally my Garmin measured only 3.25. I don't check distances as I'm running, but I usually have a pretty good feel for how fast I'm running and I felt like I might have been somewhere between about 20:45 and 21:00, so as I approached the finish line and saw the clock at 22 minutes I was surprised. My final time of 22:39 still won my age group (55-59) and everybody else seemed to think they would have been about 2 minutes fast...
Read more

Race #232 - Grover Pumpkin Run 5k - Grover, NC - 10/26/13

Image
This was possibly the least organized race I've ever run. If all races were like this I'd probably revert back to being a mall walker. I arrived in Grover having read in the directions that the race was on "Main Street." Okay, that sounds simple enough since Grover is just a small town. Since the race was being held in conjunction with the Grover Pumpkin Festival I thought it would be easy to spot, and sure enough, there were hundreds of people gathered for the Pumpkin Festival, and it was nice. Lots of good-smelling food (although I was trying to watch my diet), great entertainment with a band on stage that sounded surprisingly good I thought, and lots of people, many dressed in Halloween costumes. I found the nearest parking space I could find, which was probably at least a quarter mile from the action, and walked up to find the race registration area. I walked completely to the other side of the festival without seeing anything, so I asked three guys who were...
Read more

Race #274 - Myrtle Beach Mini Marathon - Myrtle Beach, SC - 10/19/14

Image
For my running group, the Gaston County Runners (GCR), this has become our biggest event of the year. It was the fifth year of the Myrtle Beach Mini Marathon and I've run four of them. I'm not sure about the year I didn't run, but for all four years that I've been there the weather has been perfect. The last five miles or so is straight down Ocean Boulevard, with a turn onto the new boardwalk to the finish line at the site of the old Myrtle Beach Pavilion. It's one of the best finishes of any race I've been a part of and I look forward to it every year. This is a pretty big race with more than 3,000 finishers in the half marathon, and this year the GCR had seven runners who finished in the top 3 in their respective age groups. For the third straight year I managed to win the 60-64 age group, this year with a time of 1:35:44. I'm happy with that time although it was on a flat course and was about 30 seconds slower than last week's Hokie Half Marathon,...
Read more

Race #180 - China Grove Main Street Challenge 5k - China Grove, NC - 06/08/12

Image
I only run a handful of nighttime races each year and they're normally not my favorites because I have a hard time with my diet during the day leading up to an evening race, but it's hard not to like this Friday night extravaganza that features great entertainment, delicious food (pizza, watermelon, Cheerwine, etc.), fast runners, a flat course, and a small town that goes all out to create a first class event. It's the fourth time I've run the China Grove 5k and since it's flat and the course hasn't changed at all it provides a good benchmark for how I'm doing each year. Over those four years my times have varied by less than a minute, with a slowest time of 21:51 in 2009 to a fastest time of 20:57 in 2010. In last year's race I was disappointed with my time of 21:44 and it sent me into a frenzy of dieting and deciding to run every day. I'm happy to report that as of this race I managed to run the entire year without taking a day off and aver...
Read more