The Old Runner

The Freedom Run 5k is part of Oakboro’s annual week-long 4th of July celebration.  Oakboro  is a small town in rural Stanly County with a population of about 1200 residents. We had never been there before and were surprised that it didn’t seem nearly as small as it sounds, apparently because being in a rural area without a lot of towns it brings in quite a few visitors from outlying communities. Albemarle is up the road about 15 miles away, and we were happy to find out that Peter Asciutto of  Vac & Dash  was doing the timing for the race (although the race was actually managed by the local fire department). As described on the Active.com race page, the course was “pretty flat,” with just a few little hills along the way. It was hot as usual for any race this time of year, but much of the course was along the trails of the Oakboro District Park and provided some much needed shade. I heard a few complaints from runners who didn’t like running along the crushed gr...

It was a hot, steamy night in China Grove for the 13th annual Main Street Challenge. I dislike cold weather so much that I really don’t like complaining about hot weather at all, and since we all knew it would be a steamer before we got there, it’s all part of the adventure. Like it or not though, the wheels don’t seem to turn quite as quickly when you’re running on a hot summer night with a temperature of 85 degrees and I think quite a few folks ran slower times than they normally do although Jordan Kinley, the overall race winner, blazed the trail at 15:05. I’ve been stuck in the 21-minute range in 5k races for a while and didn’t feel great going into this one, so I was happy to finish in 20:57 and win my age group just ahead of Steve Staley. Steve always provides me with a little extra motivation and since I knew he was right on my heels it helped me stay focused. Other than one or two gentle inclines that are barely noticeable it’s a flat out-and-back run all the way with the only...

Linda’s best friend from college has been going to White Lake her whole life, and in fact, now owns a cottage there, and when they recently got back in touch for the first time in many years we looked for a race in the area so we could do a little multitasking by visiting and running a race on the same weekend. It worked out nicely this weekend, so off we headed the approximately 180 miles to White Lake, North Carolina, which is about 30 miles east of Lumberton near Elizabethtown. We didn’t really know what to expect in the area but were pleasantly surprised that the area is a beautiful and laid back summer hideaway that time seems to have forgotten. There are no big hotel chains but quite a few mom and pop motels and cottages that line the shore, many with a private beach of their own. We rented a really nice cottage for the night at Carolyn’s Cottages, much more than we needed as far as space (it slept 10 but there were only two of us) but the price and location were perfect. We had...

Early in the afternoon on New Years Eve as I lay on the bed recovering from one of my numerous daily “power naps” (I feel less guilty describing them that way), in a moment of weakness/laziness I asked Linda if she’d rather just skip driving 90 miles to this race. We talked over the pros and cons for a few minutes. We had planned to run it last year and I pre-registered then and even got a prepaid hotel room, and wouldn’t you know it, we both came down with a stomach virus and were in no shape to run, so it cost me $150 or so and we never even made the trip. This year I didn’t pre-register for anything, but we both felt fine and decided the pros outweighed the cons so we headed up to Tanglewood Park for Running of the Lights. The description of the race on the web left little doubt that by missing this race you’d be missing a once-in-a-lifetime experience. It read like this: Start the New Year off on a healthy note! Join us for a night of fun and celebration that will begin w...

Thanks to GPS technology, we didn’t have any trouble finding the Mill Grove 5k race that I think was somewhere between Matthews and Mint Hill. The race took place in the lovely Shannamara neighborhood, which is adjoining The Divide Golf Course. It was an out-and-back course so it was nice to be able to finish by running down the long hill we ran to run up at the beginning of the race. It was a hot morning, probably somewhere around 80 to 85 degrees at race time, and there was some type of a logistical problem that caused the 5k to be delayed for about 30 minutes, until the 3k race, which had started earlier, was finishing. I’m not quite sure of the details, but it probably did affect race times a little bit since 30 more minutes of midsummer sunshine can heat things up pretty quickly. The hot temperatures did allow me to once and for all test out my X-Bionic shirt, which, according to the recent segment on the Fox Sports Network show called “Sports Science,” is supposed to keep your ...

With a start time of 9:00 p.m., the biggest challenge I faced in this race was seeing where I was going. Not to worry though… it was a straight shot down Main Street in China Grove with no deviation onto side streets, then run around the cone and straight back to the finish. Once you get out of the main part of town (maybe a quarter mile or so) there are no more street lights, so the later it gets, the darker it gets, and on the way back up the course I found myself thinking that I’m glad it’s a straight shot on a good road because I literally couldn’t see where my feet were landing. It’s an extremely fast course due to the fact that turns do slow you down, and also there are no discernible hills, although you can sense a little rise and fall in elevation along the way. The overall winner, Ryan Woods of Boone, finished in a blistering 14:58, and I think a lot of PRs were set despite temperatures that were probably 10 degrees warmer than most morning races. I finished in 21:51, which...