Race Preview: Spinx Run Fest Marathon 2012

Oct 24, 2012 by Greg Fowler

This quote hung as a poster on the wall of my 11th grade U.S. History class and has stuck with me ever since.  Unfortunately, that is about all I remember from that class. I guess I’m no good at remembering my marathon past, either, especially how much the last few miles hurt.  As a result of this memory loss/denial,  this weekend on  October 27th, I’ll run my 4th marathon, the Spinx Runfest, in Greenville, South Carolina.

Earlier this summer, I planned to run Kiawah Island as my next marathon.  Plans changed, and I had to switch to Greenville.  The early bird low price made it a good choice, too.    Unfortunately, the race is six weeks sooner than Kiawah, so my training cycle was a little shorter.  That’s OK.  I was tired of the long Saturday runs.

Switching to Greenville is going to have one disadvantage to Kiawah, though – the hills.  The race starts in downtown Greenville and make its way up the Swamp Rabbit Trail (a reclaimed railway path), over to Furman University, and then on to the town of Travelers Rest.  There, we’ll turn around and pretty much reverse the route back to the finish in the Greenville Drive’s stadium.  So, generally the first half is uphill and the second half is downhill.  Sounds like the perfect time for a negative split.  Here’s the elevevation map, courtesy of the Runfest web site & MapMyRun.com:

Back to history.  Since this will be my fourth marathon, I suppose I should look back on the first three to identify some big mistakes and try not to repeat them.  Here are the biggest mistakes from each of my first three.

1. Kiawah Island, December 2009.   Mistimed my final pre-race trip to the port-a-johns and the lines were too long.  Not wanting to mis the race start, I decided to wait until I really had to go on the course.  This occurred about mile 15.  Unfortunately, my legs thought this 2 minute break was for good and really balked about restarting.

Kiawah Lesson: If you cannot take a last restroom break immediately before the race, at least stop in the first few miles.

Likelihood of remembering this on Saturday: Excellent.

2. Myrtle Beach, February 2011.  After training all winter in cold weather, the race day starting temperature was a balmy 55 degrees.  This was great running weather for a while.  As the sun climbed, though, so did the temperature.  By about mile 18, it was around 70 degrees and sunny, much hotter than anything I’d trained in for months.  Since the first part of the race felt so good, I did not do a good job of taking in fluids, and I was about to pay the price.  The last two miles were a big struggle as I was severely dehydrated.

Myrtle Beach lesson: Take in fluids early, even if you don’t feel like it you need it.

Likelihood of remembering this on Saturday: Very Good.  Weather forecast very similar to that day in Myrtle Beach.

3. Columbia, SC, March 2012.  Around mile 16, I was running all alone and my focus was starting to drift.  Then, the 3:45 pace group passed me. I hadn’t been too concerned with pace up to this point and was just enjoying the day.   As they passed, though, I had the crazy thought of ‘Hey, I’m feeling OK.  If I can keep up with these guys, I’ll set a PR on my toughest marathon course yet.’  That went well for about 6 miles.  I then crashed and burned on the Trenholm Road hill, watching the pacer pull away.

Columbia Lesson: Don’t make unrealistic pace decisions during the race.

Likelihood of remembering this on Saturday: Hmmm. Still pondering!

POFIFOTO!

 

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Event Review: Color Me Rad 5K – Columbia, SC

Oct 22, 2012 by Greg Fowler

Participated in a gimmick event on October 20 – the Color Me Rad 5K.  Gimmicky events seem to be expanding.  As the number of race options explode, event planners are coming up with new and creative ways to lure participants.

Mud runs, burrito dashes, Krispy Kreme challenges.  All of these have a novelty of some sort of offering other than just a scenic course and racing against a clock.

So what did the Color Me Rad have to offer?  Besides a chance to chase my son for 3.1 miles, it also offered a chance to get “bombed” with colored corn starch and squirted with some mystery liquid.  Participants were encouraged to wear white.   And their was a lot of white at the beginning- over 6000 people turned out.  We wore our white and, by the end, we looked like we’d been through the tie dye machine.

So, overall, this gimmicky event was pretty fun.  Anecdotal evidence suggests the young male runner in the family beat the old man by four minutes.  However, since this event had no official timing, that is just a rumor.

 

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Race Review: Ray Tanner Home Run 12K 2012

Oct 15, 2012 by Greg Fowler

I could take the easy way out and copy and paste last year’s Home Run review because, in reality, the experience was almost the same – a great event and a good personal result.

While I can be somewhat lazy, I suppose that might be crossing the line.

The Event Summary

As I’ve mentioned before, this is one of the best events in the Columbia area. This year lived up to that reputation, with a sold out event for both 5K and 12K races.  I think the organizers have some kind of deal with Mother Nature, too.  While somewhat cool and breezy before the race, once we started, the weather was perfect for running.

Also, I believe the organizers made the 5K start time a few minutes later, as they were not in the way of most of the 12K runners as we came back down Knox Abbot Drive.

Race swag included another Under Armour short sleeve shirt and a coffee cup.  Only nit picky complaint with the shirt is that it is basically the same color as last year (just a slight shade difference in the garnet) and they don’t include the year on the shirts.  I didn’t notice that last year.

The post race spread was very good with bananas, oranges, bagels, cookies, hot dogs and snow cones.  One could definitely consume more calories than burned during the race, if not careful.  There was also a rock band playing.

You can view the race results here.

Personal Summary

This event was two weeks before my next marathon.  In an ideal race prep world, I’d do a half marathon at full marathon pace (i.e. a bit slower than normal half marathon pace) to test my fitness level.  My full marathon target pace per mile for this next one will be in the 8:50-9:00 range.  Well, there was no half marathon close by, so I decided to give a hard effort at the 12K (7.4 miles) distance.

My last couple of long training runs had not gone well at all, so my confidence was getting pretty low.  However, a pretty good short workout a few nights before the Ray Tanner gave me a glimmer of hope.  With a relatively short distance of 7.4 miles, I felt breaking the 8:00/mile pace was attainable, but would be short of last year’s 7:31 pace that resulted in a 55:49.

So, how did I do?  Much better than I expected. Here are my mile splits:

Mile 1: 7:19

Mile 2: 7:54

Mile 3: 7:20

Mile 4: 7:34

Mile 5: 7:54

Mile 6: 7:14

Mile 7: 7:36

last .4: 2:41 (6:44/mile pace)

Total 55:36 (7:29/mile) for a PR in a 12K, beating last year’s time by 13 seconds.  I really didn’t see that coming. At least I have some confidence back as a taper for the marathon.

If you want to run the Home Run next year, be sure to sign up early.

POFIFOTO!

 

 

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Race Preview: Ray Tanner Home Run 12K 2012

Oct 7, 2012 by Greg Fowler

Saturday, October 13, 2012 is the next running of the Ray Tanner Foundation Home Run.  I don’t have  a whole lot of time to cover the preview on this one,  so here’s the low down.

1.  This is one of the best races in the Columbia area.The post race spread is probably the best.

2. Both the 5K and 12K races are sold out for 2012.  So if you missed it this year, sign up early next year.

3. Here’s the elevation map for the 12K.  I tracked this during last year’s race.

 

For more information about the course map and other details, please visit the official site at http://raytannerhomerun.org.

Last year the weather was perfect, and I ran one of my best races ever.  Right now, less than a week before the race, the forecast looks good but maybe warmer than I like.  This race is two weeks before my next marathon, so this will be a good gauge of my fitness.  If the last couple of long runs are any indication, I’m in trouble.  I’ll keep you posted.

To see my review from last year, please click here.

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Kiawah Island Marathon Change

Jun 8, 2012 by Greg Fowler

My first marathon was the 2009 Kiawah Island Marathon.  I don’t remember exactly why I choose that one, but it fit my main criteria – flat.

Overall, it was a good experience, but I was little underwhelmed with the route.   It was a two-loop run that frankly got a little boring during the second loop.  After that race, I decided I would not repeat marathon locations.   My thinking was that since I may only do one marathon per year, why not see somewhere new each time?  So, far I have followed that thinking for my three marathons – Kiawah Island, Myrtle Beach, and Columbia, SC.

After the Columbia marathon, I started pondering my next locale.  I really want to complete all the South Carolina road marathons, so that meant Greenville and Charleston were still left.  However, while looking around, I saw that Kiawah was changing their route to be a single loop.  This had me intrigued.  For the last two months or so, the Kiawah website has mentioned that the new route is going to be published soon. Well, they finally published the route this week. It can be found here:

http://www.kiawahresort.com/downloads/pdf/new-marathon-full-map.pdf

Calling it a ‘loop’ is a bit of a stretch – there are several out and back spokes and some overlap, but it definitely looks improved.  Wish I had downloaded the old map for a side by side comparison.   Still no hills. 🙂

So, right now, this is high on my list of next marathons.  I can technically say it is not a repeat since the route is new.

For more information on the marathon and the island, check out:

http://www.kiawahresort.com/recreation/kiawah-island-marathon/

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Race Review: 2012 Jailbreak 5K

May 28, 2012 by Greg Fowler

Event Recap

Everyone knows that Memorial Day weekend is the unofficial start of summer.  Most everyone also knows that summer means hot in the midlands of South Carolina.  So, if you are planning a holiday weekend on the lake or at the beach, then bright, sunny and hot are what you want.  If you want to run a race, though, then these are not what you want.  Throw in some very high humidity, and you have the race conditions for last Saturday’s Jailbreak VI in Lexington, South Carolina.  The temperature at race time was 75 degrees, and the humidity was 75%, according to my weather app. Yuck.

The local elites didn’t seem to have too much trouble with the heat. What they did have trouble with was an outsider who rained on their parade. Scott Wietecha from Hendersonville, Tennessee showed up and threw a 14:47 on the field, besting perennial favorite Eric Ashton by an entire minute. Folks, that’s a butt-whippin in my limited 5K race knowledge book.  I could not have run a 14:47 if I’d have turned left at the intersection of Pond View and Gibson and cut 3/4 of a mile off the race.  Wow.

Here is the link to the results to see how the other 500-plus of us fared: http://www.strictlyrunning.com/results/12JailBreak.txt

I enjoy the Jailbreak event, but they can do two things to improve in the future.  First, move the race up to 7:30 or worst case 8:00.  8:30 is too late this time of  year.  Second, provide a technical T-shirt instead of a cotton shirt.  I like the designs of their shirts, but I personally dislike the Haynes cotton tee they include with the registration fee.  Just doesn’t fit well.

Personal Recap

I had two goals for the race.  The first was to break 22 minutes.  I figured that was out the window when I saw the weather.  I kept a dim hope alive for a PR, which would be to break 22:37.  I came up just short of this with a 22:45.  My mile splits were 6:50, 7:21, and 8:03.    I was hurting by mile one, and you can see the crashing progression.  It was painful.  Not even great live ’80’s music on the playlist could help me.

My other goal was to beat my teenage son.  I did that, but he had such a bad race, there was no fun in that.  I never saw him once the gun went off, so I honestly wasn’t sure if he was ahead of or behind me.  I guess the epic neck and neck battle at the finish will have to wait until fall sometime.  He’ll be starting his summer cross county running in earnest this week, so by September, he should be well ahead of me.  Probably for good this time.

That is supposed to wrap it up for my spring racing season.  However, right now next Saturday’s weather forecast looks a little cooler.  Maybe I’ll find one last race, so I can end with a PR before summer!

POFIFOTO!

 

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