Race Report: Reedy River 10k

It's been over 15 years since I first ran this race, as it was my very first 10k and the first time I ran slightly more than 6 miles.

I signed up for this race without much planning since a friend offered a registration when they had signed up and couldn't attend. My thinking was that since I'd recently run a fast half PR at the end of February I might be in shape to beat my 10k race PR of 47:47 from 2017 at the Peachtree Road Race in Atlanta. I do have a 10k distance PR of 45:23 during Leg #8 of the Ville-to-Ville Relay in 2021 but since it's not an actual 10k race, it seems questionable to count it. 

Anyway...

All the thinking that I was in good shape for a fast race was a little bit off since I didn't actually continue to do any speedwork training whatsoever since the end of February. That, plus the fact that in the past 2 weeks I've done a 100-miler and the Ville-to-Ville Relay maybe made that aspiration a little bit far-fetched. Still, I decided to just show up and do what I could.

Got to the race start with plenty of time to spare and found other friends who were also racing. Opted to drop a hoodie in my drop bag to have at the finish just in case it was a little on the cool side. Temps for the run were hovering right around 60 which was super comfortable. Did a ~2/3 mile warm-up jog and lined up with about 5 minutes to go.

A few announcements, and off we went! The first mile goes down Main Street/bears left on Augusta towards the baseball stadium, goes around the block where the stadium is located, then back down Main Street til you get to the Creepy Kids Park (Linky Stone). Circles to Westfield Street, then takes Broad past the Peace center, across Main Street, onto McDaniel before entering Cleveland park and heading towards the zoo.

These first miles were pretty steady, in the low 7's for pace. I felt ok but definitely not super strong like I would have hoped. I just couldn't get settled into a pace that felt good, and struggled to keep pushing. As we looped by the zoo and back around the park, I couldn't help myself thinking about the hills that I knew would be part of the last mile of the race. We'd have to climb up by the Cancer Survivors Park, back up towards the Governor's School (though thankfully not all the way to the top of that hill), and then climb up out of the park. After that, it was one more time up the Broad Street climb from Richardson to Main Street before hitting the final block of downhill onto Falls Street. The run down Falls was longer than I expected so I wasn't able to push as hard in the final stretch.

Splits.

Ended up with an official time of 45:56, which I would say is more than respectable. I'm still chasing that sub-45 time but I know I'll have to work hard and be intentional about it. The good/bad thing is that there aren't many 10k races in the area, so it may be next year before I attempt it again. 

Good enough for 1st AG!
That was unexpected with this large of a race

The Country Mile - First 100 Buckle!

So.... I ran 100 miles this weekend. 😳

The event: the Country Mile 48-Hour Ultra

Location: Beechwood Farms in Slater-Marietta, SC

Format: 4.167-mile loop around a strawberry farm, complete the loop as many times as possible in 48 hours (noon Friday to noon Sunday)

I signed up for this race as soon as it opened up after I participated in a few beer laps at the race with D and Ivy last year. It seemed like such a fun party atmosphere that I figured it would be cool to try for a new distance record. 

Over the fall & winter chatting with various running friends, I decided it was going to be time to attempt my first 100-miler and try to earn my first buckle (yes, belt buckles are what you get for doing 100 miles).

I took the Friday off from work and met up with a group of Spartanburg folks who were doing the race. We enjoyed a breakfast in the parking lot of a gas station near the race site and once everyone collected together, we caravanned over to ensure our camp got to set up all in a row. 

Not loitering

Group HQ for the weekend

Our spot ended up being perfect - halfway through the loop (~2 of 4 miles), or about 100 yards off the beginning of the loop about 1/3 mile in, and right next to port-a-potties.

Pink star marks the spot

Everybody got tents set up and had some last minute snacks, then we headed to the start area to begin the adventure.

Sparkle crew

The first lap was nice and steady, but it was already starting to get warm. This was the first weekend of temperatures in the 80s and nobody was ready for it. 

Only on lap 1, 23+ to go

I wish I could remember which laps happened at what point. I know I continued until about 2 or 3 in the afternoon then decided to take a break for a while when the hottest part of the day rolled around. Did another lap or so before some more Spartanburg friends arrived (they had to work that day so arrived around dinner time) and brought pizza! Food and maybe a beer lap, then we established a group of about half dozen of us that continued through the dark hours of the night. I wanted to hit the halfway point (50 miles) before I took a break to sleep, but unfortunately that meant I didn't stop until about 5am. 

First half of laps

Crawled into my hatchback where I had my sleeping bag spread out and shut my eyes for a couple of hours. I would have liked to enjoy the early dawn hours to run when it's the coolest, but I needed more than just a short nap so I got back up around 7 to continue on. Got some breakfast at the start/finish area and did laps until about 1pm then took a long break of several hours to avoid the heat/sun. I was sunburned on my legs from Friday afternoon and felt like I had to avoid all of the harshest sun hours. 

Once the evening rolled around I got back out and did another session of long night hour laps in the dark. These got pretty miserable and my feet ached so badly. I also got a horrible blister on my left foot and had to stop for the night with 2.5 laps left to go. We did make a plan that, as a group, we would meet up at our camp for the final half lap in the morning. The target was to meet at about 9am, so I got up around 6 with the goal to do 2 laps before 9. Ended up having some food in the middle of those 2 laps and was delayed a bit, but made it to camp about 9:30 and then had plenty of time (about 90 minutes) to start the finish party. 

Once we finally had everyone gathered, we started the final half party lap with beers in hand and music playing. Basically danced our way to the finish line for the last 2 miles, picked up friends from other camps as we went along, and by the finish were hooting and hollering our victory!! This was probably THE most fun of the entire weekend and made allll the pain worthwhile. 

We crossed the line, celebrated with Fireball, and sat down for another meal. 

Ringing the bell with my shiny new buckle!

Sooooo tired but YAY

Yeah, I'll probably sign up for next year....