Race #190
Half Marathon #69
2021 Race #6
2021 Half Marathon #3
South Carolina Half Marathon #50
Spinx Half Marathon #7

Pre-Race
I went into this race with absolutely no expectations. I wanted another half marathon medal and Greenville Track Club routinely underperforms with just about all of their races. Consider my expectations met.

Since I recovered so well after Chicago, the result of not running a full out race effort, I knew that I would feel better through the miles than I have in other half marathons that I have run two or three weeks after a full. Even so, I planned to run the race as a regular long run with no expectations. I also planned to run it with Mom who is building back to full fitness after several weeks off because of some plantar fasciitis.

We arrived just in time, although according to the ridiculous announcers, we were late because we were supposed to be standing in the starting corrals 10 minutes before race start. Look dude, we understand the race directions. We also know that you gain absolutely nothing from standing in a crowd in the middle of the street for ten minutes before the race starts so I will enter the corral as late as I possibly can. (Add in the fact that I live in the south with many people who have completely disregarded instructions designed to keep people safe in the midst of a global pandemic in guise of personal freedom.)

Race
As we walked towards the start line, mere meters away from crossing it and starting the race, someone got so close behind me that they stepped on the back of my heel, completely pulling the back of my shoe off. Personal space anyone? Thankfully, I managed to slide my shoe back on just a few steps before crossing the start line.

The start felt familiar but then I realized that the course this year turned onto the Swamp Rabbit Trail just before half a mile passed. (I don’t think the course has been the same any of the seven times I have run this race).

Bad idea. Both the 10k and the Half started at the same time. Half a mile does not give nearly enough time for people to separate enough to make running on the trail, spacious as it is, not feel claustrophobic. Other people using the trail (race organizers did not close it) had to wait completely off the trail since the horde of runners left no room for them to maneuver.

We quickly settled into an easy, comfortable pace. I felt strong and my stride felt solid. We also ran through our normal walk break at mile 1 and 2 since the field had yet to thin out.

Mile 1 – 9:41
Mile 2 – 9:43

Right around the end of the 2nd mile (I almost wrote mile marker but this race had absolutely no mile markers on the course) we turned off the Swamp Rabbit Trail, onto a road with a couple turns and then into a parking lot for the Commons. It felt so strange for the course to wind its way through that area which did not look great at all and also had less than smooth pavement when the trail lay just a little ways away. We also ran through the courtyard area between the two buildings at the Commons where they had an aid station table set up. Um. Okay.

Once we passed through the courtyard we turned onto grass to make our way back up to pavement which turned out to be a spur of the Swamp Rabbit Trail that I have never used. I don’t understand the course choice though because the driveway, aka pavement, lay just a few meters to the left.

Another poor course design decision lay just beyond this section. After we made our way back onto this spur of the Swamp Rabbit Trail, I could see a turn around in the distance. As we approached, I saw an electronic sign with “10k T/A” posted. The only problem? Not a single volunteer stood anywhere near this point to verbally point out this turn around to the runners. Many 10k runners who had missed the turn around since we still had not really separated that much took it upon themselves to shout “10k turn here!” as they passed so that others would not miss the turn. Even though not that much more distance lay between the 10k turn around and the Half turn around, I would have gotten really upset if I had been one of those 10k runners. After we made our turn and came back towards that mark, I also shouted out “10k turn here!” as I saw a 10k runner with a look of confusion on her face just past the sign.

A quarter mile after this, when we made a turn that would take us back towards the Trail where three volunteers stood. We didn’t need the direction there so I shouted something about perhaps going back to the turn around because a lot of 10k runners were missing it. The volunteer looked quite confused.

Eventually we made our way back to the trail by turning back onto the road and then right at the point where the course split. Again, GTC had signs indicating which race turned which way but absolutely no volunteers to draw attention to this. Through the next mile or so we saw at least 3 10k runners who missed those signs, easy to do when you’re running in a group and looking down at your footing on the less than well paved road. We saw one poor girl just before we made the next turn, close to mile 5.5. She looked absolutely devastated.

Just before this point, we saw runners coming down the Lakeview connector spur to rejoin the course. To do so they had to cross in front of the rest of the field, hoping they timed it right and did not collide with anyone. Yet another poor course design decision.

When I saw this, I realized that we would get to run past Lakeview and I would get to experience the connector for the first time. Unfortunately, to do that we had to turn off the Swamp Rabbit trail and run up North Franklin Road, a fairly busy road with a thin sidewalk. It’s not exceptionally safe or pedestrian friendly, hence why Momentum Bike Clubs actively fundraised to build the spur to connect to the school. We had to use those sidewalks, or the grass on the side of Blue Ridge, to walk to the trail for bike club.

Someone standing on the side of the road at this point cheered for us and told us that after the hill we were almost done and it was all easy from here. Um. Seriously? No, honey. We hadn’t even reached the halfway point yet.

Mile 3 – 9:46
Mile 4 – 10:14
MIle 5 – 10:21
MIle 6 – 10:37

I did really enjoy the views once we reached the connector to the trail. We also did not have dodge runners coming the other way since this race does not have a particularly large field.

The next few miles passed so quickly that both Mom and I were surprised when our Garmins would beep to indicate that we had passed another mile. I’ll take that.

Mile 7 – 10:19
Mile 8 – 9:47 (Mom felt good so we chose to skip the walk here)
Mile 9 – 10:11

About halfway through the next mile, we turned off of the Swamp Rabbit Trail. The only reason we did so? All the runners in front of us had done the same. The course had absolutely no markers indicating that we needed to turn. Another runner near us made a snarky comment about that fact as we turned.

I realized later that we had made that turn in reverse a few miles before. I did not think that we would run that little side spur in reverse but I should have figured that we would because of the strange course design.

Mom started to feel a little more tired as we crested the hill at mile 10 but she still felt strong

I don’t have much to say about the last few miles. I still felt solid. My stride still felt strong even on the uphill in the last mile leading up to the stadium.

After we turned right, the second to the last turn before we would turn and access the warning track, Mom started to pick up speed. I think she physically cannot help turning on the sprint at the end of a race even if we weren’t really racing it.

We drew even with a male runner who would not let us drop him. The competitive juices started flowing in me and I wanted to maintain the pace, with Mom, so that we could both “chick” him. Then I heard Mom told me to “go ahead.” Oh! I had increased the pace a little too much. Oops. I told her no, even though I still wanted to pass him.

When we turned into the park, I told Mom that I really wanted to pass him. She told me to go ahead. I turned on the afterburners, lengthened my stride and took off. Thanks to the fact that we had run the entire previous 13 miles easy, I had plenty left in the tank. In about 100 meters, I passed him and kept up the sprint, passing four more runners.

Mile 10 – 10:34
Mile 11 – 10:14
Mile 12 – 9:56
Mile 13 – 9:24
.1 nubbin – 6:33 (pace)
Total – 2:11:12

When I took the medal, still wrapped in the plastic bag (I hate that they don’t take them out of these bags), I realized that GTC had cheaped-out again. Nowhere on the medal did they state the distance, although “Greenville Track Club” made an appearance three times around the edge. That means that every single runner from the 5k through the marathon received the same medal. If I had run the marathon and gotten that medal, I would have gotten so upset.

Post Race
The one thing that GTC did right with this race was to start the marathon an hour early meaning that the bulk of the marathoners finished with a decent amount of people still at the finish.

Mom and I headed immediately to the car, not bothering to partake in any of the post race food.

Will I run this race again? Yup but not because of any other reason than the fact that it’s in my local area and I love half marathons. The GTC does nothing that attracts me to the race or, in my opinion, other people from outside the area.