Another double header – but less full on this time. A 5k road then 10k Trail.
First up was Rhode Island and the Pawsox Veterans Home Run 5K in Pawtucket. I flew into Providence after work on Friday and met Becca, who had been in NYC & Boston with work the latter part of that week. We stayed in a nice hotel in downtown Providence then headed out to the race, at the Pawsox baseball stadium, early Saturday morning. It was very cold – I even warmed up in gloves, but I think the temperature helped regulate my core and I actually ran a new PR (18.24) and placed 5th overall, 1st in 30-39 age group. The race finished with a loop around the baseball outfield and Becca was there to see me come in.
Finishing in the baseball stadium –
We went back to the hotel after awards to shower and warm up, then headed to historic Farmington, Connecticut – stopping at a stately home by the sea and some old tennis grounds en route. We stayed in a lovely Air BnB old farmhouse ran by a nice older couple – home to the former head of the Mormon Church!
Sunday November 10 2019
We had a nice big breakfast at the Air BnB then made our way to the Phantom Trail 10K race – just down the road at Winding Trails recreation grounds.
The course was long – approx 6.7 miles – and I clocked a time of 50.35. My 10K time was 48 mins which isn’t bad for a hilly trail. The going was tough, not technical per se, but the soft fine mud and sand covered by loose leaves and dense pine needles – made things slippy. The directional orange arrows were also spray painted on top of the leaves which was interesting.
Anyway, I ground out a race and was 2nd place overall in the end. A very serious and slightly douchey triathlon coach man in red beat me, just. I won a coat/key hanging board, which I gave to our nice Air BnB hosts.
Becca and then did some more local exploring then headed home to Charlotte from Hartford airport.
Becca and I flew to Kansas City, MO after work on the Friday, Ubered to Meg and Jeff’s in Lawrence and got to bed late. Meg and a friend were running the half with me, so the next day we went to packet pick up in the town’s nice little running store, then spent the day at the KU vs KSU college football game. We tailgated and had tickets for the game. We still got an early night then got up early on the Sunday to head to the race downtown, the Lawrence Half Marathon.
It was cold. I left my long sleeve at the start and ran in my free race shirt – which I discarded half way once I was running hot. There were a few hills, and we ran on some gravel on the sea bank. A frustrating wrong turn at the unmanned junction right at 12 miles meant I ended up running a little under 15 miles (!) in 1.43. My 13.1 was in 1.31, which would have been 5th in my age group. Annoying but not to worry. We had a nice Brunch with Meg’s friends after, and headed back to KC in Jeff’s self driving Tesla to fly home.
Crossing the finish line, frustrated after getting lost! –
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.
Another double header race weekend! Slightly easier this time though. Last time was a 10 mile trail then a 10K road. This weekend was 4 mile trail then 15K road.
I flew AA to Philadelphia Friday after work, rented an Infiniti SUV, and drove to the PHL Airport Red Roof Inn Plus… I hit the hay, and woke up early Saturday, to drive to Wocester PA. There I raced the 4 mile Variety Trail Run. It was a really happy and inspiring place, designed to support those with special needs, and facilitate their fun, enjoyment and learning. It was this visit to Variety that inspired my choice of charity for the Chicago Marathon 2020.
The race was good – I placed 2nd overall – and was presented with a hand made medal, Starbucks & WaWa vouchers etc. It was 2 x 2 mile laps, mainly on thickish grass, with lots of free food and drink at end. The guy who won it went out fast and I just couldn’t catch him, fair play to him.
After the race, I went directly to watch UPenn play Dartmouth FH, and saw some of this en route –
Then I headed back to the hotel. Once showered, I grabbed a nice tea in the diner next door, walked back to the room with my chocolate cake, prepped for my early start the next morning, secured a late checkout from the barred front desk, and went to sleep.
Sunday, I got up early and headed off with my Cotopaxi race bag to Delaware…
Sunday October 13 2019
Delaware Distance Classic 15K – USATF Championship and Grand Prix. Overall Place: 34 out of 224 – Age Group Place: 1 M 35-39 – Chip Time: 1:03:14.5 – Pace: 6:48/M/mile.
I was really happy with this, ran a hard & smart race, paced well off various other runners, and won my age group trophy! It was a flat course, as you’d expect for a Grand Prix event, run mainly on asphalt and boardwalk, and I really felt the benefit of running with headphones the whole way. I think it drowns out my own heavy breathing which can make you think you need to slow down, and drowns out the many people around you – racing hard and making a commotion.
I drove back to the hotel to shower and checkout, grabbed lunch at a WaWa, and jumped on my plane home – trophy safely packed.
My first race victory! Shawnee, Ohio – The Run For Blue Blazes 10k trail race – Joey, 1st place overall! It was a small race but still great to get the win. Becca and I drove the 6.5 hours up to Ohio on Friday after work, and stayed at a nice hotel in Athens (home to Ohio University).
I woke up early, breakfasted at the hotel, grabbed my race bag, and drove the 45 minute winding route north, up through the forested mountains, to the quaint historic mining town of Shawnee – https://kenyoncollegian.com/features/2016/11/shawnee-ohio-not-just-a-ghost-town/. I really felt like I was cutting into a slice of real American history. A cross section of a once booming industry in middle America – life still there, but only just.
A crumbling town with a flash of start/finish line colour –
The course –
It was a really small race, mostly in woods and around a little lake near the start/finish. It was tough – not technical but rolling and really tough hill at the turnaround. I sat third most of race, behind two guys in red shirts running together, then kicked hard to win in last half mile – and won by 30 seconds!
I grabbed a beer with other runners afterwards and headed back to Athens to meet Becca. We watched a D1 College Field Hockey game at Ohio U, had a nice lunch, looked around a gallery and got on the road.
En route back to Charlotte, Becca and I stayed the night in West Virginia, in an amazing faux castle lodge. The nice owner gave me a miners light because he liked my hair –
This was my first double race, double state weekend – obviously a time and cost effective way to take down two states quickly, if I can travel easily between them, and only need one set of flights. I was interested by how I would do racing-wise, competing twice in 24 hours, against others who have probably been preparing for just the single event over the previous weeks or months. Obviously I had raced more than twice in such a time frame before, having completed BRRs and the Ragnar, but those events are races against other people all in the same boat. So, this was new territory, two big racing events, in just over one day.
Friday after work I flew Charlotte to Newark, then walked over to the airport Marriott. I bought some expensive food from the hotel shop and went to sleep. I woke up early Saturday morning and got the airport shuttle over to Dollar Car rental. I picked up my Fiesta, and off I went to Mountainside, NJ, just outside Newark, to arrive in time for the 10 mile trail race, The Yukon Gold Rush, held at the Watchung Reservation – https://www.njhiking.com/nj-hikes-watchung-reservation/. There were 50K and 20 mile race options going on, too, as well as various relay teams, so lots of people milling around. It was a nice crowd with plenty of food and drink afterward.
The 10 mile course was actually nearer 11! There were sites to see, too – we ran past an Old Mill, a Ghost Town from those bygone days of industry, a nice lake & a cemetery. The course was hilly & a lot of it was on EXTREMELY technical rocky terrain – lots of sharp, high, thin rocks, covering the trail. I rolled both ankles in the first three miles, and it became a real struggle. I stuck with a guy and a girl for the middle 5 miles or so, then left them at the end to bring it home. It was a tough run but I placed 7th overall, 1st in age group.
Before the race and our 10 mile results –
Visiting Jim’s wife’s old house and Italian resto recommendation after the NJ race, before making my way to MD –
Sunday September 22 2019
After exploring Mountainside and surrounds, I drove on to Baltimore, MD, for state number two of the weekend. Three hours and some podcasts later, I arrived in Towson, and picked up my race packet from a student bar. I then headed to my chosen place of rest – the Comfort Inn, East Towson. Not a hotel that would have been high on Becca’s list…
I grabbed tea from a nearby Chipotle, got my gear ready for an early start the next morning, secured a late checkout from the front desk, and went to sleep.
Sunday, I got up early, grabbed a quick free breakfast of cereal and banana from the hotel, and headed off to the Johnny Unitas Football Stadium, Towson University, for the Dr Sanford J Siegel Zero Prostate Cancer 10K.
I was there pretty early –
I did a half decent warm up, and made my way round the athletics track for the start. There was lots of fanfare. I had found what I thought was the course, online, after the organizers had been unable to produce a course map the day before at the packet pick up, but I had found the wrong course. The real thing was VERY hilly! 5K and 10 K started together but split routes half way.
I placed 2nd overall and secured my first sub 40 10K, actually before I had ever run a sub 20 5K. Amazing considering I had run so hard the day before. The course was a little short on my Garmin but you never know the accuracy absolutely, especially with a course that bends and loops multiple times along the same directions like this one. The race started and finished in the stadium, on the track – so that was cool. The route was lined with crowds of supporters, law enforcement and lots of Boy Scouts.
I had an amazing kick in the last 300m or so, some of which was downhill – and I picked it up especially over the last 100m on the track itself, past all the crowds and more Boy Scout volunteers, finally leaving for dead an amazing guy, who had done the whole thing pushing kids in a double buggy! I’m sure it might have even helped his momentum on the downhills but he must be a truly unbelievable runner without it.
Anyway, I was very happy. I had ran a 39.38 10K PR, my ankles had held up after their battering the day before, and I had secured my highest ever placement in a race. I stayed for the awards, headed back to the hotel to shower, and made my way to Baltimore airport so I could fly back to Charlotte. I was coaching hockey that afternoon back home…
Becca’s flight was delayed/cancelled so I flew into Birmingham by myself Friday, stayed the night in a hotel Becca had booked, and early Saturday morning, headed to Turkey Creek Nature Preserve, Pinson, Alabama, for the Darter Dash 10K.
This Nature Preserve is a beautiful place – completely clear water, very hilly (800ft elevation) – and the tough, technical course finished with us running in/on the very edge of the river. I came 3rd overall, and won a Pinson Darter fish plaque!
Becca met me at the end of the race, and had hired a car early that morning after she flew in to Birmingham. I tubed in the river to cool down post-race, then we used the rest of the weekend to explore the Selma and Montgomery Civil Rights sites. Saturday night we stayed in an Air BnB house in an interesting part of town!
Pre Race –
End of race –
Results including all time results –
Post Race –
First White House of The Confederacy, Montgomery AL –
A week after Georgia, I drove myself to West Virginia, and raced in the River GourgeOus Trail 10K, at the New River Gorge Bridge National Park.
There were over 200 runners across the different race distances, and I placed 5th overall. The top three actually won money. The race started around the lake with inflatables, a man in an athletic leotard placed 2nd, a skinny black guy one place ahead of me, with some youngsters filling in the other placement gaps. The course was hilly, technical, and took just over 50 mins.
Following a recommendation from a nice lady in the school cafeteria, I had arranged a weekend getaway for Becca and me to visit Blue Ridge, Georgia. A beautiful country escape on the lake. Very much nearer the time, I investigated on runningintheusa.com and found that on the Saturday morning, not too far away from our lovely secluded cabin, there was a race! And a big one at that, 1700 runners. So I got up at the crack of dawn and drove the 1.5 hours to Canton, GA, to run The Chick-fil-A Moo’ve It 5K.
The event was held in River Park, and was busy! I came 28th overall, and 2nd in my age group (just losing a sprint finish with an orange shirted F3 guy, who ended up being the guy who, frustratingly, won my age group)! Reinhardt X Country Team* were there, and I beat some of them, which was great. The run was OK, but I Felt heavy, and really should have warmed up more, or better. Time was 20.28, a new PR.
I then returned with haste to the cabin, so that Becca and I could enjoy the rest of our weekend in Blue Ridge – relaxing, eating, visiting wineries and drinking at the lakes. On the way home, we also visited Stone Mountain, on the outskirts of Atlanta – a fascinating place to visit, with a tough hike up the rockface itself!
I made use of some hard-earned Delta AMEX Air Miles to fly into Minneapolis by myself, to run a 10 mile trail race, A Runin The Woods. I used Lyft, stayed the Friday night in an Extended Stay America, and ticked off state number eight. I notched up 6th place overall, second in my age group, with a 1.18.55 time = 7.53 mile pace. Pretty good for my trail running. This was a lovely relaxed event, and the course looped around some beautiful lakes. There wasn’t much climbing, it was nice under foot, and it was really gorgeous weather. I also discovered ‘Lyle Lovett – If I Had a Boat’ – in the after event mini party.
Racing Americana 