Race #564 - RAD Half Marathon - Asheville NC

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

June 13, 2024

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 running friends on training runs, I considered giving up running entirely.

Then I remembered that I had always said when I slowed down in my old age I would probably start doing Jeff Galloway's Run Walk Run method, where you run for a while then walk for a while, and it's completely up to each individual runner what run/walk ratio works best for them.

I went out by myself for a couple of run/walk trials to see how it would work for me, and I was pleasantly surprised that I felt better than I had in several years when I allowed my body to dictate how much walking and running I needed to do.

Within a couple weeks of doing the run/walk, I decided I'd try it out with a half marathon, so on August 26, 2023, I ran my first half marathon in almost a year. I was a little slower, finishing at 2:06:49, but it was good enough for 2nd place in the 70-74 age group at the Asheville Half Marathon. Before the year ended I ran another four half marathons, and it felt great to be once again running my favorite distance.

On November 30, 2023, I had hernia surgery, which set back my running for a few months. The surgery itself wasn't a big deal, but a few days later I ended up in the emergency room at the hospital with an AKI -- Acute Kidney Injury. Long story short, I ended up having a Foley catheter for the next six weeks, which curtailed my running for a couple months.

About two weeks after the catheter was removed, I was itching to get back to the half marathons, and on February 3, 2024, I ran my first half of the year. It was great to be running, especially the half-marathon distance! The run/walk made it so much easier to run a half marathon that I arbitrarily decided that a good goal for 2024 would be to run 20 half marathons. The most I had ever run in a year was 16, so even though I'd be slower now, as long as I don't have any injuries it would be a fun goal to see if I can run 20 in a year.

So that brings us to this week's race, the RAD Half Marathon. RAD stands for River Arts District in Asheville. This was my 10th half marathon for 2024, so I'm now halfway to my goal for the year. It's also my 137th lifetime half marathon, which averages out to almost 10 for each year I've been running.

The race begins at Pack Square in Asheville, and it's one of several races that start at the same location. I started at the very back of the pack, as I've been doing at most races. That's not always a good idea since it's possible to get stuck in back of a bottleneck of slow runners, but I'm not in that big of a hurry these days. There are some benefits to starting in the back. For one, I'd prefer passing a few hundred slower runners over being passed by a few hundred faster runners. It just makes me feel better, if you know what I mean. It also affects your chip time. I started more than 2 minutes after the runners up front, so as I was racing, the people near me in the race were actually mostly a minute or two behind me according to chip time.

Speaking of the runners near me, at about 8 miles into the race there was a turnaround. As we approached that point, an older runner passed me. Just by his appearance, I could tell that he must be in my age group. I surmised he must be at least 70 years old, and I thought he could possibly be in his 80s. I went back ahead of him and thought that I probably left him behind, but at around the 11-mile mark he passed me again! We stayed near each other for quite a while, and I finally mustered up the courage to ask him what age group he was in.

"What age group are you in?" I asked as I ran along by his side.

He looked at me like I was wearing my underwear on the outside of my running shorts.

Thinking maybe he didn't hear me, I pressed the issue.

"How old are you?" I said it a little louder this time.

He looked at me and yelled, "I can't hear you."

Okay. So Grandpa left his hearing aids out while he was running. Perfectly understandable. I decided to give myself a nudge and get ahead of him, so I turned it up a notch, hoping to get far enough ahead to make him a distant memory.

I looked back during a couple of my walk breaks, and there he was, maybe 20 or 30 yards behind, not nearly enough for me to be comfortable since I was walking often and he was running continuously without taking any walk breaks.

As I came within three-tenths of a mile of the finish line, my friend Chris met me and ran the final stretch along just to provide a little encouragement. I told him I was trying to finish ahead of the senior citizen not far behind. As much as I wanted to keep going, I still had to take three walk breaks in that final stretch. On the last one I peaked back, and I felt somewhat reassured that I would still finish ahead of my geriatric foe.

I hadn't given it much thought at the time, but since I began in the very back of the race, I was actually a couple minutes ahead, not terribly fast but still good enough to come in 1st in the 70-74 age group. After I arrived home that evening I looked at my Strava page, and sure enough, along with some other runners who ran close by in the race, there was my elderly nemesis. I looked him up and wouldn't you know, he was not only NOT in my age group, he was 56 years old instead of in his 70s or 80s. Not that I looked a lot younger when I was that age. I remember being asked by 70-somethings how old I was when I was still in my late 50s, so I can identify. Nevertheless, it made the race interesting for me.