This past weekend as part of my birthday celebration, Kendra
and I headed to Charlotte to run a trail half marathon and attend a wine
festival. This would mark my first race since the terrible French Guiana
marathon. I had mixed emotions about it. I was excited to race but nervous
about how precipitiously my fitness had dropped since the Tobago scooter
accident and subsequent laziness/South Carolina move/laziness.
We arrived Friday evening and after settling in to our nice
AirBNB digs, headed downtown.
Side-Note: We stayed with a host that had THREE cats. And I don't like cats. Not one bit. Except these three cats were amazing. One acted like a dog and another looked like a cat straight from Andrew Lloyd Webber's casting. The third was misunderstood living 5 years of her life thought to be a male. Bottom line: I'm still never going to get a cat but it was actually nice having them there.
Heading downtown was amazing in its contrast to just two
years earlier when I had last been to Charlotte. The place was dead. Which
won’t come as too much of a surprise to many of you keeping up with the news,
but still: I was surprised. Besides hundreds of armed national guard soldiers
and a few preachers, the place was barren. It actually took us quite some time
to even find a restaurant that was open.
All that changed about an hour later where the bartender
came over to us and told us that they were locking the doors as the protesters
went by. Protesters? Well, yes it seemed that that was where everyone was. Must have been in a different part of
town but then walked through this part and it was filled with a swarm of
people. The whole thing only lasted about 15 minutes and to what effect, I do
not know. But I was glad that there wasn’t any rioting.
And since there was a curfew still in place, it forced us to
have an early bedtime which was good for the race the next morning. We gave
ourselves plenty of time to get to the US National Whitewater Center which was
where the race was taking place. I had been there two years earlier, but Kenny
hadn’t so we took a little time to look around. It will be a great day to go
with her nephew as there are mountain biking and running trails, rock climbing,
a high ropes course in addition to the whitewater park. We will definitely keep
him and ourselves entertained.
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| Danny and Kenny pre-race |
But we were there for a race and wine. Kenny wisely signed
up for the 5k so she had a little more time to warm up (or maybe just overheat
in the 90 degree weather), while I headed out for the half.
Despite all the races I’ve done, I don’t think I’ve ever
done a trail half marathon. I’ve done
ten milers, marathons and ultras on trail but never 13.1. So pacing was
an issue. I took it out conservatively, partly due to this and partly because I
didn’t know what type of fitness I had left. After about a mile into the race,
I had found myself in 6th place.
Side-note:As I
mentioned about these trails double as mountain biking trails and it soon
became obvious that that was their primary use. The berms and kickers became
quite a challenge to run in. But also made for a more interesting run.
After a few miles of 6th and feeling like I was
being held back a bit more than I’d like, I passed the 5th place guy
and about a mile later the 4th place one as well. I settled in to a
comfortable pace, not wanting my wheels to come off(see French Guyana, Trinidad
and Suriname Marathons for more on that). I stayed in 4th place
until about mile 7 where I came upon a struggling runner who, after a bit of
chit chat, noted that he was more of a triathlete and wasn’t used to running on
trails. We talked for a while and I found out he was training for Ironman
Louisville in a couple of weeks. I soon thereafter passed him and pulled away.
He had told me that the 2nd place guy was about a
minute or so ahead so I made a conscious effort to just slightly increase my
pace thinking that if I could go about 15 seconds per mile faster than him, I’d
be able to catch him around mile 12. Which is exactly how it worked out. I
started getting nervous that I stayed to conservative and the next turn there
he was. Maybe 20 feet ahead. I reeled him in and was just thinking about best
strategy to get ahead of him for the final kick when he stops for a cup of
water at the last aid station. Really? With less than a mile to go, he
basically just gave me second place. I looked back once and just cruised into
the finish line.
Kenny, who had started 90 minutes after me, finished a few
minutes later with a time good enough for 36th overall and 3rd
in her age-group. Not a bad day in the podium department and also a nice
confidence booster that I didn’t lose that
much fitness.
After changing we headed over to the wine festival which
ended up being pretty much just a few
tents with wine vendors serving Napa wines. In fact, there was only one North
Carolina vineyard there at all! Which just made our decision to head back to
Charlotte a bit easier. We spent the rest of the day walking around town and
going to our new favorite Charlotte brewery, Birdsong, for rehydration and live
music. A great way to end a nice birthday.
One more weekend away from Columbia this coming week as we
head back north for my cousin Will’s wedding, but then we will finally get a
chance to start exploring and will be sure to keep y’all posted.
Until next time,
Danny
Nicolette! Boots with the fur :)
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