Charleston Riverfront Race Festival

What a weekend!

We got a late start and didn't leave Charlotte until after 7:30pm on Friday, which put us at the hotel around 11:30pm. I was exhausted but still had a hard time getting to sleep. The morning of the race I was tired, but had agreed to drive my friend Jen to the start of the 10K in North Charleston so skipping the race was not an option. Jen wasn't registered and was really there to vacation and hang with friends, but wanted to get some exercise. She's faster than I am, but wasn't in the mood to race (neither was I) so we decided to run together. We found each other in the lobby quickly and had no issues getting to the start of the race. It was pretty much a straight shot from the hotel in downtown Charleston to the Navy Yard in N. Charleston. We traveled along part of the route for the half marathon and both remarked about how ugly the course was and how glad we were that we weren't running the half! Adam was running the half, which started a 1/2 mile from the hotel and didn't have to drive to N. Charleston. (All races end at the same finish line in N. Charleston)

I picked up my packet without issue and headed back to the car to try and stay warm. The forecast for the weekend showed lows in the high 30s when I packed for the trip. When we woke up the temperature was reportedly 23* and I hadn't packed running tights! It was still in the high 20s at the start and I was in shorts, two long sleeve shirts, gloves and a hat. Jen was in shorts as well. We started the race so cold that we couldn't feel our knees or feet. It took well over a mile to get warmed up enough to feel my feet. For the first four miles, I felt pretty good. We were running at a good pace and I knew I was pushing it, but it didn't feel like that was an issue. Into mile 5 I started feeling really hungry and tired. I had eaten a Greens bar before the race and it may have had too much sugar, which would explain my hunger. I like to have a half of a bagel with almond butter before I run, but without a refrigerator in the hotel room, I couldn't bring the almond butter on the trip.

The course was pretty flat with maybe one small hill. The scenery was still pretty industrial, but there was a cute older "main street' type section that reminded me of a western movie. It had been on the half course last year as well. There were some strange sections where there were run down houses across from nice, newly constructed homes. I've never understood why people would live in a nice house with a shack across the street. The last 3 miles were the most interesting and were run on the Navy base and a through park. I managed to finish the race at a time of 59:08, which is pretty good considering I walked some in the last 2 miles and I really haven't been training. I was really glad that Jen was there to run with me and push me along. Jen and I went to the car where I quickly changed into warmer clothes and then we headed back to the finish line to find our friends. We found our friends who'd done the 10K pretty quickly as they had finished before us. They'd all done really well and had enjoyed the flat 10K.

Charlotte friends' 10K results:

KAREN GUELDNER 51:28 (placed in her age group!)
COLLIN CLARK 58:08
STEPHANIE SHERIDAN 58:54 (passed us at mile marker 6)
MEGAN LANDERS 1:01:14 (first 10K!!!)

Adam ran the half and I got to watch him finish. He had run a 1:21 at the Thunder Road half in Charlotte in December. I had asked him how he thought he'd do at this flat half in Charleston and he said he thought he'd run 1:20. I thought that was modest considering how hilly TR was and how flat Charleston is. He finished at 1:19:30 something and was 15th overall. I was so happy for him and he felt pretty good, too. He found us after he finished and asked me about how the packet pickup was and the start of our race. Apparently there was a great deal of confusion at the start line for the half marathon.

We ran into more friends and many of them set personal records at the race. They seemed to be in good spirits and had forgotten the confusion at the beginning. A PR fixes everything!

Charlotte friends' Half Marathon Results:
STEVE AHRENS 1:25:07
KATHY RINK 1:32:27
CHRISTOPHER SPANO 1:37:52
ADAM NEWMAN 1:42:55
SEAN WELSH 1:43:39
JACK SPANNER 1:49:45
GIBSON GROSE 1:54:46
JODY DENNIS 2:01:35
JOANNA CLARK 2:02:12
CHLOE BOMBERGER 2:05:15
CANTEY NEWMAN 2:13:27
JULIE SPADAVECCHIA 2:23:35

Charlotte friends' Marathon Results:
DEVITT ROGERS 3:48:21
BEVIN JETT 3:48:32
PETER BALLETTA 3:51:07
JOSHUA JAMES 4:12:31

The post-race festivities were under a tent near the finish line. There was beer and warm shrimp & grits. The shrimp & grits were awful! The year before they'd been delicious with a little spice to them. This year they had some kind of gravy that was pretty bland. I ate the shrimp and tossed the rest. I didn't get a beer because we had plans to go to the Windjammer later and I knew I'd be enjoying a few there. Adam and Jody found their checked bags and we hung out around the stage area to listen to The Blue Dogs play and wait for the race results and awards for the half marathon. I had forgotten to pack my watch, so I'm not sure how much time actually passed before they finally posted the half marathon results, but it was really ridiculous. Then they posted the times in no logical order so it took some time to find Adam's placement results. It turned out that he was FIFTH in his age group! We were sure he had placed and it was a shock when he didn't.

Jody rode back with us because her car was parked at the start line, around the corner from our hotel. We got into the car and drove out of the parking lot towards downtown Charleston. The street was a wide four laned road, but it dead ended at the Navy yard behind us and there were only a few side streets off of it. We were all talking when suddenly a car pulls quickly along side us and then in front of us and barely misses rear-ending another car. I quickly looked at the rear view mirror, thinking that I may be in the way of faster traffic, and saw three police cars behind me obviously pursuing the crazy driver ahead of me. I quickly got in the right lane and stopped to let a parade of 6 police cars pass. My passengers realized what was happening and reacted. "We almost became a statistic!" I said. Jody said "You pulled over fast! I don't think I would have reacted that fast." Jen was texting the event to her boyfriend who was back at the hotel. Adam said "I've always wanted to see a high speed chase!" Later I found his reaction hilarious. We didn't see the chase again after that and I haven't found anything online about it.

The rest of the day we spent with friends having lunch at ACME Cantina with Julie and her family and then drinking at the Windjammer on Isle of Palms. We met up with most of our other running friends including the group we'd run with for the Hood to Coast race. The Hood to Coast teammates were staying at a house across from The Windjammer and we walked over to check out their digs. After watching the Steelers win a playoff game, we headed back to our hotel in Charleston. It was restaurant week and we took advantage of the dinner deal at Tsunami (sushi) with Jen and her boyfriend Mark. It was delicious. It turns out that Mark went to Gardner Webb, like Adam. It was not a late night as we were exhausted from such a long day.

The next day we weren't in a hurry to leave because we both had Monday off. We ran together in the morning through downtown Charleston. We ran at my pace, of course! We passed a firehouse that contained old fire engines and then the Charleston Museum, which we decided we had to go see what it was about. After showering, checking out, eating breakfast and doing some shopping, we walked down to the museum and paid the admission fee.

It was a great idea! Charleston has so much history, which isn't a surprise. I knew that a lot of battles took place during the civil war in Charleston. There was a lot of memorabilia along this vein. The clothing, the mortars, the guns, etc. What surprised me was that in the late 1800s there was a cooking fire that burned all the way across the lower part of the peninsula. It burned almost 600 houses, 5 churches and several businesses. It must have been an amazing and scary thing to see. Several years after the fire there was a year of earthquakes. A couple of devastating earthquakes followed by several, increasingly smaller quakes spanning a year's time. No building was unaffected. I never knew that any place had had a year of quakes and I'm surprised it happened in Charleston.

To sum up the race and the collective thoughts on it; the festival is a great idea, the courses are flat and fast, but the organization needs some work. There's potential there and though the course isn't scenic, it can be excused because it's flat. Charleston is still a favorite destination.