Ray Tanner Home Run 12K Race Review

Oct 17, 2011 by

Ray Tanner Home Run 12K Race Review

This was the 6th running of the Ray Tanner Home Run and my first time in the event.  I sure hope I can make it each year.  It was easy to see why this event sold out.  This race should be the model for all races. Here’s a run down of my experience:

Race swag: Technical T-shirt.  By Under Armour.  Very nice.  I’m not 100% sure, but I think the 12K runners shirts were garnet and the 5K’ers were black.  If so, I like that.

Course: I really liked the course.  Fairly fast, but a few good hills to make you work.  Good scenery around downtown Columbia and the avenues of West Columbia, including 2 trips over the Congaree River.  Great finish at home plate inside the South Carolina baseball stadium, easily one of the top collegiate baseball stadiums in the country.  The only slightly negative thing I could say about the course was how we integrated with the 5K runners and walkers.  The 12K started about 20-25 minutes before the 5K and then we starting mixing with them close to mile 3, I believe.  This just made for some difficult maneuvering in the crowd.  No big deal, just part of it.

Post race spread: Awesome.  I snacked on a snow cone and trail mix, but there was also fruit, cookies, cake and hot dogs.  I deemed 9am too early for a hot dog, though.

Weather: Chamber of Commerce morning in Columbia.  I’m not sure how the race director arranged it.  Not a cloud in the sky and the race start temperature was 55-60 degrees with low humidity.

My Performance

As I mentioned in a previous post, the goal I had in this race was to measure my fitness as I train for the Governor’s Cup Half Marathon in 3 weeks.  I had a race pace goal of just under 8:00/mile.  I also hoped to run a negative split, meaning running the second half of the race faster than I did the first.  Let’s see how I did.

I could bore you at this point with a description of each mile, and I what was happening in my head, but I won’t.  Here’s the summary:

Time: 55:49, a 7:31/mile pace.  10th place out of 41 in my age group.  55 of 248 in the male overall category.

Splits

Mile 1: 7:30

Mile 2: 7:48

Mile 3: 7:20

Mile 4: 7:51

Mile 5: 7:51

Mile 6: 7:19

Mile 7: 7:35

Last .44 miles: 2:40ish

So, I accomplished my first goal of a less than 8:00 pace.  I didn’t think I had a 7:31 in me for 12K, but the perfect weather really helped me on this.  This was one of the best races I have ever run.  I never hit a wall or felt ill, as I do the last mile of 5K’s. Also, I believe I did the elusive negative split.  If not, it was very close.  I am very confident right now in my fitness heading into the Governor’s Cup.

Bottom Line: Hope to see you at the Home Run next year!  If you can only do one race in the Columbia area, this should be on your short list.

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