The Ray Tanner Foundation in Columbia, SC puts on an amazing race through Columbia that finishes at the USC baseball stadium on home plate. Yes, I know, I'm a Clemson Tiger and I despise those gamecocks.
But:
(1) It's a great charity I'm happy to support
(2) It's probably the best organized race I've ever done (I did the 5K last year)
(3) The post race food is the BOMB (hot dogs, PB&J sandwiches, snow cones... baseball fare)
(4) It's in Columbia so my parents got to meet us out there
(5) They have a kid's race so Bella got to participate too.
(6) Charlie ran WITH me!
I had originally signed up for the 5K but as my rehab/training went so incredibly well, I moved up to the 12K. The race director actually allowed me to move up at no additional cost to congratulate me on post-injury training and also what he called "a family discount". Yeah, we'll keep coming back to this race with that kind of support!
Charlie has been nursing plantar fasciitis in his right foot, so he has pulled back on the running a bit to give it rest for his marathon next month, so instead of racing this one hard, he offered to run with me. I loved the idea! Race temperatures were ideal: sunny and around 52 degrees at the start with a slight wind. Off we went!
Final time: 1:20:14 (10:49 pace)
My splits were: 10:32, 11:19, 10:42, 10:40, 11:11, 10:39, 11:03, 4:00. The 11:19 and 11:11 involved some fairly big hills, and I haven't done a single mile of hill training post-surgery. They were hard and I slowed way down, but I never walked. (If I had, I think Charlie would have kicked my @$$.)
Running my first race back with Charlie was a huge blessing. Because it was a slow, easy pace for him, he was totally comfortable and provided just the perfect level of motivation. He told me I needed to pass someone, but then would remind me to check my pace because I might be a little too fast at that stage. He pushed me to finish strong and remember where I was the last few months and said not to forget how far I'd come.
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