January 7, 2017: The Red Nose Half Marathon

This year was the 11th running of the Red Nose Half Marathon in Columbus, Georgia, a free race!  I know a few people who have run it in the past, and they have spoken highly of the route and the organization, so a couple of weeks ago, I registered.  Bonnie was game for leaving the night before and staying at a hotel so that we didn't have to make the 2-hour drive on the morning of the race.  That ended up being a very good decision, because of a heavy rainstorm on Friday afternoon that turned into freezing rain in Atlanta after sundown.  Fortunately we were both able to take off from work in the early afternoon and were on the road to Columbus by 2:30 pm.  

Although I've lived in Georgia for nearly two decades, I've never had a reason to go to Columbus in the past, and did not really know what to expect.  Columbus is on the Chattahoochee River on the border with Alabama.  We stayed at the Courtyard Marriott Hotel in Phenix City, Alabama, literally a few hundred feet from the Georgia border and separated from Columbus by a beautiful pedestrian-only bridge.   It's a new hotel, nice rooms and wonderfully friendly and accommodating staff - and only $99 a night.  

Bonnie and I at dinner with Beverly and Brian

Our good friends Brian and Beverly arrived a couple of hours later and joined us for dinner at a restaurant in downtown Columbus, 11th and Bay.  It's a southern-themed restaurant, but with many healthy options.  Brian asked the waiter if he could convert the cod fish cakes appetizer into a fish-and-waffles dish (a substitution on a southern favorite, chicken-and-waffles), and it was a fantastic invention that will hopefully make it onto the menu!  For the main course, I ordered a salmon dish with black rice risotto and ginger garnish, which Brian also ordered, while Bonnie had scallops and Beverly enjoyed a halibut special.  Definitely check out 11th and Bay if you visit Columbus!

It was still raining when we returned to the hotel to turn in for the evening, but the rain was scheduled to end around 1 am, shortly before the temperature was to drop below freezing.  Bonnie and I were up by 6 am, I met up with Brian in the lobby around 6:30 am, to pick up bibs at the Big Dog Running Company on Broadway in downtown Columbus.  

Although I had collected my bib Friday evening before dinner, my main interest was to do a warmup run in cold-weather garb and determine what would feel comfortable for the race.  It was about 25 deg F with 15 mph gusts at time, especially along the Chattahoochee River, but the store was less than one-half mile from the hotel, so it was a perfect distance for an easy warmup.  I wore two shirts and a running jacket, running tights over compression stockings, my Olympic yellow Brooks and a skullcap and cap on top of my head.  Bonnie had recently given me a pair of gloves with a mitten overcap, with a pocket for inserting hand warmers.  This is a great invention for keeping the fingers warm, as the tips of my fingers have become painfully cold when wearing gloves simply because the hand warmers only fit in the palm inside a regular glove.  With the cold temperature compounded by gusty winds, I decided that I would run the race with all three layers. 

In the hotel lobby right before leaving for the race

We returned to the hotel by 7 am to warm up, make a final bathroom stop, and then the four of us left the hotel around 7:30 am to return to Big Dog, where the race would begin.   In addition to Brian and Beverly, other runners from Atlanta that I knew running the race were Corey Tanner from Tucker Running Club, Carl Line from Lithonia that I occasionally run with at Big Peach Decatur, and Tes Sobomehin of runningnerds, all of whom had arrived the night before the race.  I don't think that any of the Atlanta runners that had planned to drive early Saturday morning were able to make the trip due to freezing rain overnight in Atlanta.  In fact 1627 people registered, but only 550 picked up bibs.  

The start of the race was delayed for about 30 minutes while the organizers completed cleanup arrangements along the course.  Fortunately there was plenty of room inside Big Dog and an adjacent empty room that had been reserved for bib pickup, so we didn't have to wait outside in the cold if we weren't jogging around and warming up.  Shortly before 8:30 am, the organizers gave us the word to head outside and line up behind the start line on Broadway.  This race had pacers for at least 8 to 10 different finish times, from 1:45 to 3:00.  I started with the 2:00 pacer, Raymond, who was aiming for about a 9:00 min / mile pace and slowing down to walk through water stops.  I planned to run my typical intervals of 3:30 run, 30 sec walk, so I figured that we would be leapfrogging if I managed to run a 2-hour pace.  

In mile 2, catching some wind

After the National Anthem, it was time to start.  There wasn't a timing mat at the start line, but the race was small enough and the starting line wide enough so I crossed the start line within 10 seconds of the official start, right behind Raymond.  Although I've been dealing with some tightness in my left calf and Achilles tendon, I didn't have any trouble getting started, and kept up with Raymond for the first few miles, as we made a few loops around downtown to spread out the runners, before getting onto the narrower Riverwalk.  On the northbound legs, we occasionally were buffeted by strong, cold gusts from the north, and I was glad that I was wearing the third layer and was fairly well insulated.   Just as we entered the Riverwalk, my cap blew off my head!  I had to backtrack about 25 feet to pick up the cap, and pull it down more tightly over the skullcap that was protecting my ears as I resumed running.  (Extra 0.01 mile on the Garmin!) 

I had been concerned about icy roads, but in fact the roads were in great shape.  There were a few small wet patches that might have been icy, but they were easy to see and run around or jump over.   As we ran south on the Riverwalk, I appreciated that crews (either from the city or from the race organizers) had put sand on the several wooden bridges over water, and I never felt like I was in danger of slipping.  I had expected a fairly flat route, but in fact the Riverwalk went up and down the banks on several occasions.  But there weren't any big hills, nothing like what we deal with in Atlanta.  And the route along the river was very pleasant, for much of the route like running in a park, and looking across the river to Alabama where there was more wilderness along the river.  One small section of the Riverwalk had washed out in heavy rain last weekend, and the detour had us run up a small ridge up a mixture of mud and gravel.  It wasn't a bad surface but with all of the rain from last night, the surface was very spongy, with my feet sinking in an inch with each step!  Fortunately that was only about 100 feet and was just an interesting experience in this year's race.  

The certified map is probably easier to read than my Garmin map.  Top of the page is to the east.

After the mile 6 marker, some of the lead runners were returning, moving at a good pace.  I felt good about my performance that the leaders had less than a 2-mile lead on me.  The first runner that I knew on the return trip was Corey Tanner (he finished in 1:40) who was the 30th to pass - and then a larger group came through and I was no longer able to keep track.  Brian was next, we exchanged hand slaps as we passed, followed shortly by Carl.  Then I reached the turnaround point, approximately 7.8 miles into the race.  

The plan was to speed up at this stage.  Unfortunately what I had not appreciated on the southbound leg was that the wind must have been blowing from behind.  It was much tougher to run into the wind, especially when the route went up the bank.  My pace was slowing down and I had trouble maintaining even a 9:30 average pace.  I tried skipping a few walk breaks, then thought that might be hurting my performance so I would take walk breaks, nothing helped me speed up.  However for the most part I was occasionally passing more people than were passing me on the return leg.  I was a little surprised to see Tes on my return leg, she is normally a little faster than me, followed by Beverly, running her 10th half marathon.  

On the Columbus Riverwalk, probably around mile 6 (free photo from race organizers)

Around mile 11, the 2:05 pacers passed me!  I said "I was trying to stay ahead of you guys!" and the woman pacer said, "Come on, run with us!"  I appreciated her encouragement but wasn't quite able to keep up, until they slowed for a water stop.  I had carried my own water/Powerade concoction so that I didn't have to stop at water stations - and although my hydration source had cooled during the run, I don't think that it was as cold as the water that had been sitting outside for a few hours.  I was determined not to let the 2:05 pacers catch up to me again, and that was enough motivation to continue running at my best even though I knew that a 2-hour finish would not be possible today.  

Near the end of mile 12, we turned onto a bridge to cross over to Alabama.  I kept trying to find a higher gear and just couldn't run any faster, but everything felt good enough, which was the most important thing.  The Alabama side was mostly through a park.  It looked like we had a couple of miles to run, but in fact it was less than a mile when we reached the end of the Alabama leg, at the corner where our hotel was located!  I checked my watch as we started on the bridge to return to Georgia, 12.8 miles and exactly 2:00 elapsed.  Knowing that I had only three or four blocks to get to the finish, I tried to speed up, and managed to move a little faster.  I was determined to look good when I reached the finish line.  I could see ahead runners turning onto 12th Street where I knew that the finish was just around the corner.  What I didn't expect was the uphill finish!  But I pushed up that hill as best I could.  I could see the time on the clock at 2:03:50, ticking forward, and hoped that I wouldn't see 2:04 on the clock.  

I was on track to finish in 154th place (out of 550, not bad) but in the last 50 feet, I heard footsteps rapidly closing in on me.  A few steps before the finish, a young woman dashed past.  I could only smile and laugh as I crossed, settling for 155th place.  I congratulated her as we slowed to accept our medals, a bottle of water, and a foil blanket.  When I checked the results, I was consoled to see that she was only 34 years old, so hopefully she was proud to outkick the old dude by 0.2 seconds at the finish!  

Showing off our free medals after brunch

I jogged back to the corner to watch Tes and Beverly finish while I went through the big-5 post-run stretches that we learned in the marathon training program.  The stretches certainly felt good.  Although the Achilles tendon was a bit sore throughout the race, I was pleased that it didn't get any worse, and that I was able to run the half marathon at a decent pace.  I think that the wind probably slowed me down a bit on the return trip, so I wasn't too disappointed to finish a few minutes slower than my 2-hour target.  

This was a nice event and a great route.  The race was better organized than quite a few of the paid races that I have run.  I was particularly pleased with how well the organizers managed last-minute weather issues with sanding sensitive areas of the route and accommodating the small detour where the Riverwalk had washed out.  I've heard that this is a race with many personal records, and I think that I might have had a chance at a new PR if the weather conditions had been ideal.  This is definitely a race that I will run again, maybe not a "must-run" due to travel and the January scheduling, but one that I will probably run more often than not.  And did I mention that it was a free race?!

Delicious! and fairly healthy!

The unfinished portrait of FDR, Apr 12, 1945

We joined Brian and Beverly for a celebration lunch at First Watch on the north side of Columbus, where I enjoyed salmon eggs benedict and shared an order of lemon ricotta pancakes.  First Watch is a chain but in fact I had never eaten there, but appreciated that the menu had many healthy options.  

Before turning to Atlanta, we took a small detour to Warm Springs and the Little White House during Franklin Roosevelt's presidency (1933 - 1945).  The cottage where Pres. Roosevelt occasionally vacationed has been nicely preserved with many of the original furnishings, books, and pictures, and is very close to the Warm Springs Foundation where he received rehabilitation and treatment after contracting polio in 1921.  Although we could spend only an hour before the grounds closed for the day, we enjoyed our quick tour of the museum, the Little White House, and the grounds.  And I didn't have too much soreness as we walked around!

6th best out of 11 half-marathons; official time will be close to 2:04:00 (forgot to turn off watch at first)

P.S. January 8: The official results were posted, officially 2:04:00.83, 155th out of 462 finishers, 14th out of 42 in the 50-59 age group.  I was very pleased to see that I moved up a net of 25 runners from the timing mat at the turnaround to the finish.  (The woman who rocketed past me at the finish line passed 83!)  

It appears that virtually everyone ran the last 5 miles slower than the first 8.  It shows the challenge of running into the wind, in addition to the northbound return being about 25 feet net uphill.