The Old Runner

We were headed for Huntsville on this Saturday but I decided to sneak this one in before we left. Didn’t have time to write about it before we left and still don’t have time as we’re getting back from Huntsville on Monday night. It was fun to see all the local folks though! Click Here for Race Results Race Rating: 3 – 1-10 Website (Information, results, registration, photo links, etc.) 3 – 1-10 Awards (Quality of medals, trophies, etc.) (1 to 10) (generic medals) 7 – 1-10 Awards Presentation (PA system, winning times, etc.) (1 to 10) 6 – 1-10 Food for Race Participants (1 to 10) 7 – 1-10 T-Shirts (1 to 10 with 5 being average) 4 – 4/6 Part of Race Series (Grand Prix, etc.) (6=Yes and 4=No) 0 – 0/5 Professional Photography (5=Yes and 0=No) 6 – 4/6 Chip Timing (6=Yes and 4=No) 7 – 3/7 Certified Course (by USA Track & Field) (7=Yes and 3=No) 7 – 1-10 Course (1 to 10 with 5 being average) 6 – 1-10 Parking (1 to 10 with 5 being average) 7 – 1-10 Entertainment (1 to 10 with

The weather couldn’t have been more beautiful for the annual Spencer Mountain 10-Miler, a race I’ve heard referred to as “The Southeast’s Toughest 10-Miler.” I can’t say whether that’s true or not, but there are definitely some mean hills out there. The race begins and ends at Warlick Elementary School in the town of Ranlo (just east of Gastonia), travels up a couple miles through Lowell, and then down into the tiny town of Spencer Mountain. It’s surprisingly hilly for Gaston County, and coming back up the hill to Ranlo from Spencer Mountain at around the seventh mile of the race is the dreaded hill that this race is famous for. It’s a doozy, no doubt, but I threw in a couple of 20-second walks along the way and it wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought it might be. We just live about 3 miles from where the race started (Linda taught at the middle school in Lowell for 30 years before retiring) but we really don’t get down around the town of Spencer Mountain very often. Although the hardest

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

It was a perfect way to start my second year of running. My first official “run” had been Labor Day 2008. We were in Tulsa that day, but I had seen the advertising for the Gastonia Labor Day 5k and kind of wanted to see if I could do it. For the previous couple weeks or so I had jogged around Martha Rivers Park a little, decked out in walking shoes and blue jeans. But for that run in Tulsa I wore shorts — just like a real runner — and running shoes (cheap ones from Shoe Carnival, but running shoes nonetheless). It turns out that Labor Day 2008 was the first day of the rest of my life, and that first 25-minute run was magical, instantaneously transforming me from mall walker to runner. Linda and I were both excited about the Labor Day 5k. Out of 50 races over the past year, this was only the 2nd one in our home town of Gastonia. Equally exciting was having so many of the runners from the Gastonia Running Club in the 5k. There were at least 10 of us — Mary, Jennifer, Tammy, Aarin, Carri

This was the 5th annual Belmont Classic 5k race, which starts and finishes at the Belmont Police Department with proceeds going towards the operation of different police projects. The weather was beautiful for a morning run and there was a good crowd of about 250-300 runners for the 5k race. Of the 33 races I’ve run so far, this is only the third one in Gaston County, so it’s always kind of special when we’re in our home territory. My wife Linda has been having problems with shin splints and hasn’t been running much lately, but today she felt great and finished 3rd in her age group while I finished 1st in my division (yay!). One of the nicest fringe benefits of the races is meeting other runners, and today I had two different people come up and introduce themselves, saying they enjoyed reading this blog (thanks Debbie and Phil). It’s gratifying to know there are some readers out there! At the starting line I was standing next to David Stafford and talking to him when the race starte