USRA Columbia Half Marathon: My #5 Summary

I ran my 5th HM the USRA Columbia Half Marathon in the capital city of South Carolina on Saturday. This was also my 10th and final race for 2012. I had a difficult time early on finding someone who actually ran the race in previous years. It wasn’t until around Halloween that I started getting feedback on the organization (Reinke Sports Group) that actually conducts these half marathon race events. The info wasn’t pretty. A lot of runners have chosen to ban/boycott these events for various reasons. It’s understandable, but I haven’t had any personal experience with some of what had allegedly transpired with other folks, and so I decided to give the race a chance. Besides, this was it’s fourth year in Columbia, SC and despite some typical complaints, there weren’t any major issues to steer me in another direction. Plus, one of the major running clubs in the area was sponsoring the event, so I felt a bit more assured about my decision to run this race, especially without any real expectations on how I would complete it. 

Race Tidbits: 

Number of participants: 260 total runners for the Half Marathon (not sure about the 5K)

Time limit: 4 hours (walker friendly)

Course: Downtown Columbia/Cayce 

Temps: 39 degrees at the start. Don’t think it warmed up much at the finish due to the overcast.

Swag: Nice tech shirt and medal - No Expo

Volunteers: Yeah right! Glad I brought my Amphipod with me. Three of the water/gatorade stations were self-serve. 

Race Synopsis:

• The race started at 7:30. I arrived at about 6:45 at Brookland-Cayce High School where the race will begin and end. It was evident when I got there that this was going to a very small event. Clue? Lots of available parking.

• Met two fellow Half Fanatics that decided to run this event about a week ago. One of the highlights of the day.

• We all piled up in one vehicle to drive to a nearby gas station to use the facilities after discovering that the restrooms in the football stadium where locked. Someone forgot to unlock the doors. 

• We lined up next to the stadium to start. No timing pad here. Just some red duct tape.The announcer says a few more words, and then yells “GO” and we’re off. Eh, I’ve experienced that before in a 5K this past summer. 

Miles 1-4: Columbia, SC is full of hills; especially near the State Capital/USC area. You really can’t get around it. So we had to suck it up early and push through. But, you get used to the terrain if you race and train in this area. 

Miles 5-10: This was both the most peaceful and confusing part of the course. The Riverwalk Park has a great route that runs along the Congaree River. Portions of it starts as a trail near the reservoir, turns into a paved course and then ends up as a winding walkway behind apartment buildings in the local area. It covers a good distance if you run it in it’s entirety. It became confusing for those of us in the back of the pack, because people began to get out of your line of sight at this point. We couldn’t exactly figure out which direction we needed to go once we got near the apartments. It's a very scenic area so it is easy to get sidetracked along the way. Focusing on where to go basically compromised your pace for this portion of the course. Searching for the small signs with the directional arrows really didn't help either. 

Miles 11-13.08 or something: We emerged from the park near the neighborhood where the school is located. We ran one mile on an adjacent street before making our way around to where we started the race and then back into the stadium where we finished on the track. I paused my Garmin at 13.08. It’s possible this course was a bit short, but I’m not going to worry about that at this point.

Honestly, this was the only shabby race I’ve had this year. Being that it was so small, there was nothing exciting about it. I’m sure the controversy surrounding the organization that puts on this series was a factor in the matter. No crowd support, lack of volunteers, etc. It was so depressing. If it wasn’t for the other runners, the police department, and a few morning joggers, I wouldn’t have believed I was participating in an official event. Just on another friendly weekend distance run with the local running club. Along the way, I just decided to truly treat this as a training run and not even bother to push it for a time goal. I finished it about a minute short of what I ran for my first half marathon.

Statistics
Time: 2:41:48
First HM time: 2:42:39
PB: 2:28:54

Oh well. We all get those crappy races/training runs on occasion and so I just decided to accept it as such. I wouldn’t participate in this one again in the near future, unless I just needed something to do in December and I couldn’t make it to another event. This is definitely a last resort race for anyone who may be interested in participating. I really wouldn't use it as a way to set a new PB.

Anywho...my 2012 race season is officially over and I’m pretty damn happy with what I have accomplished and look forward to the bigger challenges I’ve outlined for 2013!

ON TO THE NEXT!

Merry Christmas and Happy Running!

                                                                Next post: 2012 Reflections