Location: Travelers Rest, SC
Date: May 8, 2009
Placing: 5th Overall
Race Photos
Results: Click Here

The Swamp Rabbit Trail is just one more great initiative that's been moving Greenville towards a rejuvenated community with more focus on healthy living and active lifestyles. I must say, Greenville has come a LOOOONG way since I moved here 11 years ago and the downtown area was like a ghost town. If you want to check out the trail initaitive, you can read about it here. I'm not so sure about the name...

Let me just start by saying to all the race promoters out there...never underestimate the power of a $5 entry fee ($10 for late entry!). For a 3-mile race, this turned into quite the adventure. Without sounding too brash - it's days like these that I am glad to be one of the faster runners - read on. The premise of the race was to 'anoint' a newly-paved section of the trail that encompassed the Northern terminus of the trail leading out of Greenville. The venue was a small town (Travelers Rest) that is basically the doorway to the mountains in South Carolina. The race would start on a wide side road for about 200 yards and then turn abruptly onto the trail. The lead runner at that point would break through a small banner and the trail would 'officially' be 'open'.

Sounds like fun, right? It all started well. Getting to the start was a little tight for me since it was a Friday evening race and I had a pretty decent drive to get there from work. My wife Janis hitched a ride with my teammate Dan Moss' wife so that we wouldn't have 2 cars for the drive back home. The race actually started in a nice park and we had no trouble finding a parking spot. It took me about 30 seconds to register which was nice. After they handed me my number they pointed to another line and said "You get your t-shirt there". The line was quite long and to be honest, I could probably open up a 'used race t-shirt' store if I wanted to retire next week so I simply opted to pass on the shirt. If it had been something unique and stylish like a hat in the shape of a swamp rabbit, I would have thought twice...

With it being a short race, I didn't partake of any of the food, drink or festivities but it looked as though they had most of that covered. Since we both were feeling the effects of a good training week, Dan and I decided to do a pretty good warmup by running an entire loop of the course. We had both glanced at the map online and it appeared that we ran a little over a mile along the trail and then did a loop around a large cemetery and then back in adjacent to the trail. We reached the end of the trail during the warmup and there was no indication of which way to go so we started guessing. We were lucky that we both have a good sense of direction otherwise they might still be out there searching for us.

We managed to find our way back to the trail and back to the venue shortly before the start. When we made our way over to the line, I was shocked by the hoards of people. The race promoter announced that they had planned for about 700 entrants and there were 2200! Now, in case you are picturing a 4-lane wide trail allow me to squelch that optimism. The paved path was 8-10 feet wide; comfortable enough for 3, maybe four runners side-by-side.

This was a last-minute race for me. I had been feeling poorly since I came back from Duathlon Nationals but had a good couple of days leading up to this event so I decided to see if the running legs were coming back. I also decided I would try something a bit different for me - starting slower. I typically take off like a rocket and end up getting slower and slower as the race progresses. This works for me since I get a fairly good advantage early on and my degradation is slow, but I wanted to see how I would do with a more steady pace.

I was pleased that the promoter announced several times that the front row(s) should be reserved for those runners who would be running a 6:00/mile pace or better. I found a spot at the front where several people knew me and they were very polite in allowing me to start in front. My plan of starting a bit slower was good but unfortunately, I was going to have to start fast - for at least the first 200 yards - becuase I had no intentions of getting 'boxed in' on the path. Apparently, a lot of people figured this out. When the gun sounded, it was a mad dash to be the first runner onto the trail. I just wanted to be near the front. Mission accomplished.

I settled into a tempo in the first few hundred yards and resisted the temptation to 'catch up' to runners ahead of me. Dan caught and passed me about a half-mile into the race and moved about 5 or 10 yards ahead of me. Unlike other times when Dan had passed me in a race (usually further out) I wasn't maxed out and dropping back. I just kept my tempo, which seemed to be extremely close to Dan's tempo because he stayed the same distance in front of me for the next 2 miles. We gradually picked off runners and shortly before mile 2, up a hard grinding hill in the cemetery, we caught and passed the last of the runners in front of us except for the 2 leaders who had a sizeable gap.

What happened next was like something you would see in a chase scene in a movie. Right after we crested the cemetery hill, we curved downward and were suddenly just a few yards from the trail...facing about 2000 people! Dan didn't know what to do and I was just a few step behind him. He ran into the crowd for an instant and then I saw him emerge on the other side, run through the grass, across two lanes of highway traffic (that were also currently filled with runners), and into the lane-wide median. I initially followed him into the crowd on the path but I immediately envountered a group of four stretched across the path - and they had no plans to budge for me. I nearly twisted my ankle hopping off the path - running around them - then back onto the path at full pace and then sharply across the path like Dan had. I barely brushed a woman and probably would have knocked us over if I had been an inch closer.

Ahh - the median. I could now see quite a ways up the road to the two leaders who apparently opted for the same choice. Dan was alone; still about 20 yards ahead of me. I glanced back to see one runner not far behind. Everyone was playing a huge game of 'follow the leader'. As we neared the park, the people disappeared and now we had two lanes of slow moving vehicles to our left that were backed up...and we had to get back over to the trail. I trusted Dan could see what the leaders did, so when he cut through the cars and back onto the trail so did I. I was tired as we entered the park and I simply did not have a finishing push in me. The runner behind me passed me in the last hundred yards or so and I just watched him go. Dan had gained a few extra seconds on me as well at the end.

With a couple of pretty good hills and turns - and the craziness on the course - everyone's times seemed slow, which is a good reason to always judge your performance by your placing and the placings of those you compare yourself to. I was happy with my top 5 to say the least. It was another 'yo-yo' week for me but this time it 'yo'd' in my favor.

Race Notes:
* My finish time was 18:00 flat. Good enough for 5th overall.
* If you look at the results, you will see that the 40-44 age group wasn't messing around; we finished 5th, 6th, and 7th. My friend and constant competitor, Mark Render was right behind me in 6th.
* The "Every Woman" women's cycling team did a fabulous job of being course marshalls...and looked good in their team outfits.
* Everything about this event was wonderful...EXCEPT for the way the course was designed. Hopefully, they will work out some of the kinks in the future.
* This one's for my friend, Eric LaFontaine who avoided being 'chicked' right at the finish line. What, you didn't think I'd see the photos?...
* Dan and I were on our bikes early the next morning for an epic 85-mile ride. Ouch?

Next up: Clemson Sprint Tri