This race has consistently been one of my favorites in Greenville... it's always a challenging course through hilly neighborhoods close to home. It's not a huge race either, just a few hundred participants, which makes it feel more like a small hometown race than one of these giant ones with thousands of runners.
I did a little jog to warm up before the race but didn't do much preparation, and wasn't sure what to expect results-wise. At last year's race, I had been consistently running Altamont almost weekly, so I felt well-prepared for the hills. This year I think the last time I ran Altamont was on a rainy night in early December, and before that it had been months. Obviously I'm still running and training regularly but hadn't done much specifically for this race or for speed.
So, once the gun went off I set out and decided to just run what felt right... push if it felt good, ease off if it didn't. Of course that's relative because running hard uphill doesn't ever feel "good" but... well, you know what I mean (maybe).
The first mile was the fastest (7:03) and it was net downhill, so that makes sense. After that I settled into a mid-to-upper 7s pace for the remainder of the race, with just one mile squeaking above 8 minutes (mile 8 @ 8:09) although the final mile was close (7:59).
Final time was 1:16:46, only 5 seconds slower than last year! Pretty amazing year-to-year consistency in my opinion. :)
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| Post-race crew awaiting awards |
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| First place age group! 🎉 |
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