The Old Runner

It's a small race but a good one, and I'm not just saying that because the race director is a good friend of mine. It's also part of the Gaston County race series, which means there are a lot of friends there to run with (and to compete with). There are some hills but they're mostly smaller ones, and the course seems to be one of the fastest around since it results in some of my best times each year. Most years the weather has been cold for this one, but this year it was about as perfect as you could ask for, at least for me since I prefer warmer temperatures than most runners. I spent almost all of the race running a little ahead or a little behind several friends -- Andy Wilmarth, Scott Hammontree, and Kenny Primm. Scott had a score to settle with me since I beat him in the last race. I didn't realize it until about halfway through the race but he was staying just a couple steps in back of me the whole way. I could hear him breathing but didn't know it was...

I've run this race several times previously back when it was the Lungstrong 15k and I always ran the 15k until this year. With my self-imposed limit of 10k I decided the 5k would be better for me this time around and when it was over I was glad I chose the shorter distance. The temperature was warm for this autumn race that's usually on the cool side, and the 72 degrees felt fine to me although the 100% humidity made things a little more difficult. It's a pretty big local race with 327 finishers in the 15k and another 349 in the 5k, and when I arrived an hour before the race I was surprised at how many runners were already there. Guess I'll have to leave a little earlier next year. I wanted to run under 23 minutes but I didn't quite make it, finishing in 23:19, but I was happy with being 14th overall. Race Name:  Novant Health Lake Norman 15k/5k Location:  Cornelius, North Carolina Date:  September 29, 2019 Race Rating:  94 Winners: Course (5k...

After running quite a few bigger races lately, it was nice to get back to one of the smaller races in the Gaston County race series. This year's race had 114 finishers, and I usually like this kind of race where you can park near the start/finish, visit with everybody you know, and not get lost in the shuffle. With only 77 feet of elevation gain, it's also one of the flattest races around and my time of 22:53 landed me in 5th place overall (another nice perk of smaller races) although it might have been just a little short. My Garmin measured 3.04 miles and I heard somebody else mention 3.07, but it was close enough. The race was sponsored by Promised Land Baptist Church, and the pastor not only served as race director but also ran the race. All of the proceeds benefited their Nicaraguan mission fund. Age groups were limited to 1-deep in 10-year age groups, but the awards for 1st place were nice but small trophies (rare these days), and really nice trophies for the top 3 ma...

Now in its fourth year, the Stop Soldier Suicide race keeps getting better and I've now run all four times that it's been held. Race director Ronald Rhodes always does a good job with the little details that makes it an enjoyable experience for all the runners who participate. For the first time, this year's race was held at South Point High School instead of downtown, and that made parking much better. The course remained almost the same except for the start/finish location and the route was reversed, which was a good move since it made the course flat over the last mile instead of a tough uphill. The 10k course was exactly 6.22 miles according to my Garmin, which is perfect, but I heard a few 5k runners say the 5k course was about a tenth of a mile short, so maybe that'll be fixed next year. Although the 10k course remained basically unchanged, the 5k course is different now, which on the map looked to me straight out and back and almost completely flat so there w...

My 115th -- and possibly my last -- half marathon. There's a chance it's not the last, and as I write this a few days after the race I feel great. I didn't get injured and my time of 1:53:26 wasn't terrible, and it actually extended my streak of sub 2-hour half marathons to 114 in a row, possibly my biggest running achievement. For the record, my first half marathon back in 2008 was 2:01:05, and all of my half marathons since then have been under 2 hours. I do feel though, at age 67, running 13 miles in a race is getting to be a little too much. I didn't exactly struggle to finish as I did a few times last year, but I definitely felt uncomfortable the last few miles of the race. I think for me that dropping back to the 5k and 10k distances would make life a little easier and more enjoyable, and it might also prevent me from an injury that might be more likely as I age. The Run for Green Half Marathon is one I've run several times over the years. It's fa...

 Oy vey! Here's a race destined to be remembered as one of the biggest stinkers of all time! It's not just that there were no monitors along the course, or that there was only one water stop for the 10k, or that there were no mile markers along the way, or that the bananas were green and the water was hot. Of 470 races that I've now run, this was the first one I can remember that had NO AGE GROUP AWARDS. At all. Not only that, but the race director acted indignant that anybody would even broach the subject, what with this being a good cause and all. Well ya know, almost every race is in honor of a good cause. She added that, "If anybody sees that they finished in the top 3 in their age group and wants an award, let me know afterwards and I'll be sure to mail you one." Lady, that's not the point, and if it has to be explained to you, never mind. Keep the award. The course is actually a good one along the greenway at Catawba Meadows Park. It's fl...

This was the 2nd year of the Jaycees Labor Day 5k and this year it was hosted in a new location. Originally at the now defunct Rivermen Brewery, this year it was hosted at The Lodge Tavern & Tap , another Belmont establishment just a block over from the original location. We were told the course is still certified and I was glad to see that the distance was correct. This was my third race in three days of Labor Day Weekend, and since I'd won my age group in the first two I thought it would be nice if I could get this one as well. Mark Jackson, a fast 66-year-old from Huntersville, wanted to make sure I had to earn it. I managed to squeak by him by just a few seconds in the end, and I thanked him for the push. I would have probably won my age group without him there but no doubt I would have been a little bit slower without him breathing down my neck the entire race. The star of the race though was Ben Kassel, who not only was the overall winner of the race that started at...

This was the inaugural year of the Around the Crown 10k and it was quite the extravaganza. There was a ton of hype in the months leading up to the race, and when race day came the hype seemed to pay off. There were around 4,000 finishers, making it one of Charlotte's biggest races in its first year. The big draw was that I-277, the loop around uptown Charlotte, was being closed off for the first time to allow runners to race on it. I arrived over an hour before the start but so did a couple thousand other people. I could have parked in the dirt lot just below the baseball stadium for six bucks but decided to go around the block and see if I could do better on parking. That was a bad idea and I fell in line with everybody else going into the big parking garage closest to the stadium. Not only did it cost me $12 to park there, but after the race it took me an hour and a half to get out of the garage! That's a mistake I won't make next year. The race itself was a lot of...