Joe Davis Memorial Run Race Report

This is the 4th year of the Joe Davis Memorial Resolution Run.  I haven't run it before, but obviously I am aware of it since it takes place right in Fort Mill.  It starts about a mile from my house and half of it is on roads and pathways I run all the time.

This run was started by Melissa Davis Boyd, who is the sister of Joe Davis.  It benefits Keystone, a substance abuse services company. Melissa is a local runner and she encourages all the local groups to participate.  My wife is a part of Fort Mill Fast feet.  All of her friends were doing it, so she invited me to come along and join in the festivities.

So another 10K, much like the final leg of the Thunder Road Marathon Relay that I ran back in November.  Better than doing 5K's like I usually do this time of year.  You don't have to leave early for an 8am race that is 5 minutes from your house.  So that's nice. We parked over by the credit union and walked over. There isn't much parking right there, but plenty in the surrounding areas.  They were expecting 700 people between the 5K and the 10K.

We made the local rag

Chilly Morning

We walked over to find all the Fast Feet people, and hang out with them.  I spent a few minutes there, but then went out for a warm up run. It was a little chilly, even though the temp was in the forties.  It had rained during the night and was still kinda foggy/misty in the morning.

Coffee!

After my warmup, I stripped down to my running singlet, but opted to wear some gloves.  I got to the start line with about 10 minutes to go.  We got some photo opts with the Fast Feet people.  Then it was time for the national anthem and the gun.

National Anthem

Don't forget to start your watches

I started about the second row back.  It thinned out pretty quickly.  After a 1/4 mile or so there were only a handful of people ahead of me.  As we came down the first stretch on McCammon, I felt pretty good. As I was passing people, one guy is like "nice pace". I go "well the first mile is down hill, then they all go up".  So I came through mile 1 at 5:44, but felt fine because it was net downhill.

In the this race, you start at the top, go down to the bottom, and then wind your way back up to the top.  So as we're winding our way back up the the top, I find myself in 4th place.  There are 2 guys out front and then a women who is running strong.  The 2 miles climbing back up to the top really weren't that bad as I split 6:04 and 6:07.  I came through 5K roughly about 18:55.

Elevation and Pace

Mile 4 is basically flat/downhill.  I tried to make up some time there. Unfortunately, I only split a 6:04, so I kinda knew I was in a bit of trouble.  But as we're coming down 160/White Street, there is a little out and back on Ardey.  There is also an out and back (that you hit twice) on Sidney Johnson Street, but that one had a timing mat.  On Ardrey there is not a timing mat.  The woman aheard of me  starts to go straight across Ardrey.  The volunteer is waving at her.  I'm only like 20 yards behind, so I yell, "she's gotta turn".  She didn't.  She waved her hands for some reason but went straight on through.

Cadence

So me and the guy next to me do the out and back and keep going.  Not sure what was going on there.   It's like she knew but decided not to turn. Anyways, as I was saying I hit 4 miles in 23:58 and was happy about that.  But we had to climb the last two miles.  The guy running next to me was really strong on the hills.  I tried to make up time on the flats and downhills, but couldn't seem to pull away from him.

Mile 5 did me in.  I died to a 6:21 (after running a 6:04 on this stretch on the first loop).  He got a little bit ahead of me and I couldn't quite close the gap.  I pushed a 6:11 on the last mile, but didn't close at all.  The hills had gotten really tough at that point.  The last stretch after 6 miles I ran at a 5:23 pace! But that didn't catch him.  I had to settle for 4th, finished 7 seconds behind him.  Full Results Here.

But the good thing about being old is that if you just miss the overall podium, you are guaranteed First Masters.  So I congratulated the guy on a great race.  I grabbed some water and talked to a few people.  I decided that it was my civic duty to inform the timers of the woman cutting the course.  I just said, did anyone tell you that the first woman cut the course?  They're like, no?  I said, well she was number 327 and she skipped the out and back on Ardrey.  The volunteer told her she had to turn, but she didn't.  To their credit they wanted to talk to her and not just take my word.  So we went looking for her but couldn't find her.

Laura and Patricia

I ran back to the car to get my phone to take some picks.  I went across the field and saw my wife make the turn into the park.  She looked pretty good and set a 10K PR by 5 minutes!  After that, she went and did 5 more miles.  Soon it was getting close to awards time.  I heard them announce that they wanted to talk to bib 327.  They announced it a few times.  I do not know if they ever did talk to her.

When they did the 10K awards, she was not mentioned.  So whatever happened they eventually DQ'd her.  Start2Finish Events handled it very well.  They listened to what I had to say, investigated it, and then made the right decision.  I have done a few S2F events, and they were all handled flawlessly.  This race had volunteers at every corner.  They had cones setup on the road throughout the entire race.  I've never really seen that before.  It made it (almost) impossible to make a wrong turn.  But with a course with all these turns, maybe they deemed it necessary.

#ISpyEPT

So it's always nice to win Masters.  It was good doing a local race and knowing a ton of people.  Some of the Epoch Performance Therapy Racing Team was there.  They kicked butt in the 5K with a 2nd OA woman and 1st Woman Masters!  I got in a good 40 mile ride that afternoon.  Watts don't feel so bad when your pain threshold is heightened.  Well the next race is a swim meet.  That's right.  Sunbelt in Huntersville on the 24th.  That's gonna be a first!

2015 Race and Training Year in Review

Sometimes I do a 'Race Year in Review'.  Sometimes I do a 'Training Year in Review'.  This year, I'm doing them both, together.  Efficiency.  Make a note of it.

First, the training, because otherwise the racing isn't for crap.
Swim:
347,014 yards (197.2 miles)
Time 142:22
Biggest Month:  39,400 yards (January)
Biggest Week: 10,500 yards (Jan 26th)
Longest Swim: Kona (maybe that was my problem)
So less yardage than last year, but more time.  I guess that means more instruction?  Definitely more kicks, different strokes, and drills, so there's that.  I don't really know if I've gotten any faster.  My Kona swim was abysmal.  However my rankings at Eagleman and Knoxville weren't bad, and my Stumpy time was 3:20 faster than 2 years ago.  I am making some progress.

Bike:
5,787 Miles
Time 277:04
Biggest Month: 977 miles (August) (woah!)
Biggest Week: 316 miles (September 14th)
Longest Bike: 150 miles
Got some serious miles in this year training for Kona.  500 miles more than last year (which had been my biggest to date).  A lot of long slow stuff, so power didn't really increase that much.  6 Century rides in training.  Topping it off with a 150 miler at 21.1 mph average.

Run:
1,637 Miles
Time 199:32
Biggest Month: 184 miles (August)
Biggest Week: 60 miles (August 31st)
Longest Run: 23 miles
Similarly with the run, I got in 200 miles more than last year.  Which is a lot considering I trained for an Ironman last year too.  It felt good to get some miles in and not be injured at all.

Strength:
Time 23:30
This blasphemy will never end.  Never!

Totals:
7,621 Miles
Time 642:28
Biggest Month: 84 hours; 1,177 miles (August)
Biggest Week: 27 hours; 381 miles (September 14th)
A 9.6% increase in total mileage, and a 8.8% increase in time.  Looking forward to 2016 when these numbers will be way down.

2015 Races

02.28 Banks Trail Middle School 5K 18:46, 1st Overall (129 Finishers)
Had to defend my title against a bunch of preteens.

04.11 Charlotte Racefest Half Marathon 1:23:15, 4th / 1268 (1st Masters)
I had a great time going until that wrong turn.

05.17 Challenge Knoxville Half 4:33:30, 3 / 41 AG, 7 / 205 Overall Male Non-Pro
My first "Challenge" race.  Just like the all the Rev3 races I've done.  The pointy end of this race was pretty competitive.  Ultra hilly, probably wouldn't do it again.

06.14 IM Eagleman 70.3 4:37:08, 3 / 251 AG, 16 / 1350 Overall Male Non-Pro
Had a good bike until the penalty.  Slow run, but still made the podium

06.24 Rock Hill Time Trial 23:05.83, 2 / 23 Overall
Finally did one of these.  Plan on doing more next year.

07.04 American 4 Miler 23:40, 10th / 343 Men, 1st Masters (816 finishers) 
Not sure how I got talked into this one, but had fun winning masters.

07.11 Stumpy Creek Olympic 2:18:42, 3rd Overall (124 Men)
Nathan talked me into this one.  I still don't like this race, but was happy to make the overall podium.

09.12 Finish Srong Half 4:34:53, 1st Overall (53 finishers)
Always fun to crush the field in a small race.  Big fish, little pond?

10.10 IM World Championship 10:15:21, 86 / 291 AG, 400 / 1549 OA Male Non-Pro
The pinnacle of it all.  Man that was a tough race.  A trip and race I will never forget.

11.14 Thunder Road Marathon Relay 3:18:57, 3 / 62 OA, 1st / 41 Mixed Division
Definitely a lot of fun hanging out with everyone.  And a sprint finish.

11.26 Baxter Turkey Trot 17:39 (2.88 miles) 1st Overall (?400 Finishers)
Technically not really a race, but a fun morning with my wife.

Kona

In 2015, I made Ironman's All World Athlete Silver again.  I don't put much stock in the ranking, but it is nice to have the ranking to get a low race number and a sweet spot in transition in 2016 races.  I will take full advantage of this as I'm doing 3 Ironman 70.3's this year: Chattanooga, Muncie and Augusta.

And finally, after years of David Hall beating me in the USA Triathlon Male 40-44 rankings for South Carolina, he aged up into M45-49.  I actually beat him this year, too (my 97.363 to his 96.359)! But alas it doesn't really count since he's old.  Well, I'm old, but he's older.  I will take solace in the fact that I finished 2015 ranked #1 for M40-44 in the ENTIRE Southeast Region.  That includes the states of South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi and the panhandle of Florida.

Yeah, it was a good year.  So let's set the goals for next year.  Much like 2014, there is only one goal: Qualify for the 2017 Ironman 70.3 World Championships in Chattanooga, TN. (and don't get divorced)