Saturday October 19 2019
The last of the long drives – Charlotte to Mount Vernon, 5.5 hours. We ended up leaving home well after 6pm on the Friday, as I was coaching at school in our States play-off quarter final against Cape Fear Academy. We won easily but it went on a while – Becca had met me at school though, so we just got in the car and headed off immediately after.
We listened to a lot of true crime podcasts en route, and arrived at our Quality Inn hotel late. It was Just off of the high way – one of those where the door opens straight to the outside and we were ground floor.
I got up early the next morning, grabbed a quick hotel breakfast, and jumped in the car to drive the few miles down the road to Renfro, to the race, the Renfro Rock n Run Half.. It was still pitch black when I arrived, and freezing. I checked in, finished my Maurten drink, and did a bit of a warm up.
As the race announcer got going, the sun was coming up, but it was still very cold. All the same, I discarded my long sleeve by the start line by tying it to a fence, and off we went.
As we made our route out away from the main drag, we turned to run alongside some large lakes. It was really a sight to behold – the thick autumnal trees surrounding a lake with water warmer than the air, creating a dense mist rising off the water in an ethereal haze – a beautiful way to start a race.
The race was good, rolling to hilly in places, and I trailed an older bearded guy for most of it. It was a spidery course but basically we went out and back then out and back the opposite direction. Lots of good aid stations – but I was carrying two Maurten 320 gels anyway. I discarded my T shirt at the half way point (pretty much where we started) and placed 2nd overall, 1st in age group. Again, I really felt that listening to music all the way round helped, and I ran 1.30.51.
After a quick shower and change back at the hotel (and to pick up Becca), we went to the race awards, and Renfro Music Hall of Fame, then made our way to Bowling Green KY for lunch – meeting Stocky & Jess there before heading in to Mammoth caves for a little getaway.
Racing Americana 