The Old Runner

Time: 34:21 (Pace 6:55) Age Group – 3 of 13 (23.1%) Overall – 46 of 260 (17.7%) Summary  -  Map  -  Results

The 22nd annual Charlotte Southpark Turkey Trot had 4300 finishers in the 8k race on Thanksgiving day. Add to that those involved with the 5k walk, the 1-mile fun run, and the tot trot, and this is easily one of Charlotte’s largest road racing events of the year, second only to Thunder Road. This is the 4th race in the 10-race season of the Running Journal Grand Prix series and is one of the three RJ Grand Prix races in North Carolina, with the others being the Charlotte RaceFest 10k and the Asheville Citizen-Times Half Marathon. The other races in the series are in South Carolina, Alabama, Tennessee, and Florida, so it’s nice to try to pick up some points without leaving the area. Linda and I enjoyed traveling around to most of the different races last year and are planning to run most of the remaining races this year as well. Last year I felt great, never had even a hint of an injury, and knew no fear. This year is a different story. I’m generally not running as well, probably due t...

One of Charlotte’s most popular road races of the year, the Southpark Turkey Trot has people running off the calories before they even sit down to eat Thanksgiving dinner. Yesterday I received an email from the race directors stating that the race was full, with 6,000 registered runners. Not all of that was for the 8k; there was a separate 5k race, a 1 mile fun run, and a 26.2 yard Tot Trot. Still, the main event was the 8k, and when it was over a total of 3,742 runners crossed the finish line in the 8k alone. It was a big race for me personally since it was the  fourth  of nine races  in the Running Journal Grand Prix series. I’m running most of those Grand Prix races this year in an attempt to gain points in the  55-59 age group . Today I finished 3rd of 93 runners in my age group (33:28 chip time – 6:45 pace) so I’m happy about that. The top 8 runners in each race receive Grand Prix points, and after the first four races I’ve finished in 2nd p...

It was one of the few nighttime races we’ve run, and now I remember why — you can’t see anything in the dark. There were supposed to be luminaires lighting the way, and there actually were some, but it looked as though they might have either run out of luminaires or volunteers who were willing to put them out, so the course lighting left a little to be desires. It actually wasn’t much of a problem. There were streetlights illuminating the way throughout most of the course and the weather was perfect. The course itself was one of the worst. After leaving the hospital drive we took a left turn up a fairly steep and long hill. That wasn’t too bad in itself but the 8k course took us for three loops around the same circle, so we ended up having to climb that same hill three times. Not that anybody would cheat, but anyone could have easily just done two loops around the circle and went straight to the finish and I’d be surprised if some people didn’t do that. Linda said they tried to direct...