Xterra Harbison Half Marathon Race Review

Jul 11, 2011 by Greg Fowler

 

 

Editors Note: This is a review of the 2011 race. I did not run the 2012 race.

This is my first race review.  The Xterra Harbison Half also had a lot of firsts:

• The first Xterra Half Marathon at Harbison State Forest

• My first trail race

• The first time I’d used my New Balance trail shoes for a race

• The first time I’d used a hydration back pack to carry water

• The first time I ran off course in a race

As it can be with first-times, rookie mistakes were made by both me and the race organizers.  Here’s my summary.

Weather

The weather was just as expected for the start of the race – about 75 degrees and very humid, but mostly cloudy.   The dew point was around 75 as well.  There was fog on Lake Murray as I crossed the dam on the way to Harbison.  This made for very uncomfortable conditions.  The map showed we’d have 5 aid stations along the way, but an email from the race director advised runners to also carry their own water.  I was already planning this, having received a Camelbak hydration pack for Father’s Day to use on my longer training runs.  As an added heat precaution, I had tested Nuun electrolyte tablets with my pack in training, and decided to use those as well.  I also carried my own Gu Roctane gels.

The Race: 2:30 Goal

The course seemed pretty tough for me, the novice trail runner.  The starting line was on a two lane gravel road, and we ran about 1/4 mile uphill before hitting the woods.  I knew the first 4-5 miles were “2 lane” trails, so I was hoping by the time we hit the woods, the field would have settled into its natural order, so much passing would not be needed.  This actually seemed to happen pretty well.  I didn’t have to pass too many people on the trail, and I don’t think I held up too many. So these first 4-5 miles went OK but seemed too fast a pace.  My GPS watch was not tracking properly due to the tree cover and terrain.  What I thought were 10:00 mile splits early were actually closer to 9:00.   By the time we got to the Spider Woman II “one lane” trail, somewhere between miles 4 and 5, we had a small group that was making good progress, but really not needing to pass.  This was good since this section was basically single file.  And, as expected, this 3 mile section was the toughest.  Being in a small group here seemed to push the pace, and I think we covered that section around a 10:00 pace.  At the end of that section, I was wishing the race was a 10K, but I still had 5+ miles to go.  At this point, the running got pretty lonely.  The pack that had stayed together through the tough section  started to spread out.  Occasionally, I’d come up on another runner, and we’d hang together for a bit, talking about humidity, GPS watches or hydration packs.  One man that I ran with a bit fell twice.  He seemed OK, but I eventually moved on past him.  About mile 11, we hit the last aid station, and I was looking forward to  finishing.  The station here gave us a cold wet rag for our faces and it felt great. I dumped ice water on my head and soaked my Buff head cover.  I knew my GPS had been acting up, but at this point, I knew I could make my goal of 2:30, if I just kept steady.

Bonus Miles

By now, I was occasionally (OK, almost always) walking up hills. I didn’t think this last section was  going to be  too difficult, terrain-wise, but my feet were developing  hot spots so I was ready to get this over with.  Unfortunately, this is where the day turn a wrong turn – or rather a missed turn.  Around mile 11.5 or so, we were supposed to hang a right to go back toward the start/finish line. At this point there were a couple of red arrow signs, one seemed to be pointing right, and the other seemed to be pointing straight.  The group of 5 or so that I was tailing went straight, and I followed.  Unfortunately, we were supposed to turn right.  After a mile, I realized the mistake and turned around. I met others who had done the same thing as our group, and they turned around.  When we made it back to the turn, there was a race official there.  Too bad he was not there 30 minutes before hand!  At this point, my feet and I just wanted to get this behind us.  I did a walk/run the last 1.5 miles and made it to the finish about the 2:48 mark.  I’m not sure of my official time because as of Monday night, I cannot find any official results posted.  At the end of the day,  I had run an extra 2 miles. My overall pace per mile was about 11:20, which means I would have been in the 2:25 neighborhood for the official 13.1.

Post Race

As I crossed the line, someone handed me a bottle of water. I’m glad he did.  The previous finishers and/or 5K finishers seemed to have completely drained all the water and Gatorade from the gazebo refreshment area.  One poor guy was not doing well and in need of water, but he could find any.  I didn’t see any one ready to offer first-aid, either.  There were some bagel quarters and cookies, but any fruit was gone.  I saw lots of orange peels but no oranges.  Not the best post-race spread.

One of the guys in the pack that missed the turn (and did not turn around with me) saw me, and said he eventually saw a truck and hitched a ride back to the finish once they realized how off course they had become.

Final Thoughts

I made a few mistakes, as mentioned. I probably ran too fast the first half of the race (as usual).  I also should have had the course map with me.  This being my first trail race, I did not know what to expect for course markings. On the positive side, my hydration pack with electrolytes was a smart move.  I did not get terribly dehydrated, despite the humid conditions.  Also, this was the longest run in the New Balance trail shoes and they did very well.

I’m sure the race organizers will get a lot of negative feedback, so I’m not going to slam them too bad here.  After all, I did not volunteer to help.   Thanks to Marathon Majic and Xterra for putting this on. This was the first time for this event, and there is always room for improvement. I am glad people are organizing events.  Organizing races is a tough endeavor, and trail run logistics look even worse than road races.  So, I expected some first time miscues.  Here are my suggestions for next time:

1. Work out something with the park to include the parking fee in the registration fee.  It is only $5.  The big problem with this was the car line it created at the drop box.  Many people did not heed the advice to have the slip filled out before hand.  The organizers did advise to fill this out before hand, but some did not listen.  Just try to eliminate this part.

2. Better course markings. Again, trail logistics are extremely tough, and I don’t know how others do it, but the small signs for 3, 5, 7, 9, 11 were too small.  I don’t remember seeing 5 or 9, actually.  Also, many of the white markers hanging from the trees fell.  Not sure if runners were pulling or they fell on their own.  Also, a couple of place could have benefited from an arrow instead of or in addition to the small landscaping flags.

3. Make sure enough post race refreshments are available. Already commented on this above.

4.  Different Color t-shirt for different length race.  The technical tees were a nice touch.  I liked the volunteer’s bright yellow color.  The other was white for both 5K and Half.  Do something to distinguish half shirts from 5K shirts.

I can’t say for sure I’ll be back next year.  If I don’t, it will be heat related, not organizer related.  Maybe I’ll volunteer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

POFIFOTO!

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Vacation Running

Jun 28, 2011 by Greg Fowler

I suppose many people go on vacation to relax and do a lot of nothing besides eating, sitting by the pool and building sand castles on the beach. I like to do those things, too, but I look at vacation as a chance to do either more or different running. A few weeks ago, our family traveled to Myrtle Beach, SC. I had in the back of my mind to do a couple of runs different from the usual street runs at home. First, I wanted to run on the beach. No brainer there, many people give this a shot while at the beach. Second, I wanted to check out the trails at Myrtle Beach State Park to provide a destinations write-up for this blog. I did both, and I’ll post about the state park soon. For now, I want to mention a couple of tips for vacation running.

 

Tip #1: Plan ahead
For me, vacation running takes a little bit of forethought, because I have become pretty peculiar about my running comfort. Unlike home, where your closet is easily accessible, you need to make sure you have the right gear for the vacation run. This means thinking ahead about the number of days you plan to run and on what type of surfaces you’ll encounter. For this trip, that meant packing 3 pairs of shoes that I wanted to try on various surfaces – Saucony Kinvaras for the road, New Balance Minimus Trails for a beach test and a trail run, and Vibram Five Fingers KSO’s for a test on the beach. This also means two different types of sock for me. My favorite Injinis (Toe socks) don’t do well with my Kinvaras (toe box too narrow), so I use Wright Sock SLT’s for the Kinvaras. The Injinis work great with the NB Minimus Trails, though. Then I just made sure I had enough shorts, shirts and hats. Oh yeah – can’t forget my GPS watch, heart rate monitor, iPod, headphones..and I think that was about it. To reduce my luggage footprint, I crammed all that into a smaller bag, instead of my normal run gear bag.

Tip #2: Communicate your plans to the family
This is probably a good thing to do whether on vacation or not, especially when it comes to longer runs that take much more time. I decided I wanted one of my runs to be at sunrise to take some pictures (see above) and beat the heat. This meant getting out of bed about 5:30am. I told my wife of the plan the day before, and while she grumbled something about crazy under her breath, she at least expected the possibility of sleep interruption that morning. The weather didn’t fully cooperate for my pictures. There were thunderstorms in the area and it was fairly cloudy. However, I decided against a second try for the sunrise pictures. The rain held off and I completed 5 miles on the beach in my New Balance Minimus Trails.

Tip #3: If getting up early, have everything laid out and be quiet
As I mentioned before, I planned to get out of our condo before sunrise. So, the best place for me to have my gear was in the bathroom, so I could turn on a light to get ready without disturbing my wife. Unfortunately, the alarm had already bothered her, but at least I didn’t hit snooze! If you are taking a water bottle with you, have it already in the fridge and ready to go. One final piece to this tip, which no longer applies to me. If you have kids that are at risk of waking as you leave due the size of your vacation housing or proximity to your room or whatever, and these kids won’t go back to sleep if you wake them, then do not consider an early run 🙂 ! If you wake the kids and leave the room and your wife has to get her day started on the wrong foot like this, then you have just made a bad move. I’m not saying I have any personal experience with this. I’m just giving you the heads up.

Tip #4: If possible, scope out routes before hand
Final tip. Since you are on vacation, obviously you are in less familiar surroundings than home. It is a good idea to check out any possible routes before hand. In the car is probably preferable to Google maps or Map MyRun.com. This way you get a feel for possible problems along the way, like possible dogs, dead ends, suspect areas, etc.

That’s it for now. I hope you get to go on a vacation this year, and I hope you get out to explore by run or walk.

POFIFOTO!

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Hello from the Palmetto State!

Jun 23, 2011 by Greg Fowler

Hello!

Welcome to my blog about running.  My name is Greg Fowler, and I’ve been a runner for 2 1/2 years.  I took up running as a stress reliever during late 2008 (were there any reasons be stressed at that time?), and I haven’t stopped.  OK, maybe that brings up an unintentional image of Forrest Gump running across America.  What I mean is that running has become one of my passions, and I have learned a lot about it.  Now I want to share my experiences.

I was 40 years old and out of shape at the time I started my running journey.  I could not run 2 minutes without stopping. Now I am 43 with two marathons and numerous other shorter races under my belt.  I am in the best shape of my life,  at least in the last 25 years!  Since I started my running experience in middle age, one of the themes of this blog will be taking up running after the age of 40 and what obstacles I have encountered and what breakthroughs I have achieved.  I hope my experiences will encourage and educate other so they, too, will start running for fun (Yes! It can be!) and fitness.

As you can see from the blog  name, I am from South Carolina, the Palmetto State. So, another on-going theme of this blog will focus on running at various destinations in the state from beaches to mountains, state parks to state forests and,
of course, local running events and competitions.

Along the way I plan to review products I have tried and races I have run.  I’ll also share my experiences trying to find the right shoes (or no shoes?) for my goofy-footed self.  It has been interesting.  Hope you enjoy the blog.  Drop me a
note at greg@palmettostaterunner.com or sign up to receive an email when new posts are added.

POFIFOTO!
(Put one foot in front of the other!)

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