Old Reliable Run

One of the mainstays of running in Raleigh over the last quarter-century has been the Old Reliable Run through downtown. Now in its twenty-fifth year, the ORR was originally developed as a marketing vehicle of the local newspaper (Raleigh News & Observer -- "The Old Reliable") but in recent years has been connected to the local United Way.

In its earlier years, N&O editorial cartoonist Dan Powell contributed the race logos that were used on the t-shirts. When PDAs first started popping up, Powell contributed a cartoon of runners jogging while trying to use their laptops and cell phones. Other years showed a race participant driving a running-shoe shaped car along with the runners, or runners using the "2" in "2000" as a treadmill. My favorite Powell shirt, though, was the stars-and-stripes running shoe with wings that graced the shirts in 2001. After the N&O backed off on the race support, though, the shirts became less special; the "Andy Warhol" shirt from one year just showed a runner's leg in four different colors.

Great Sunday weather brought out a lot of race-day entries and there was a great crowd for the 5k run (490 competitive finishers) and the 10k main event (950 competitive finishers). Even though the winds were kind of strong and cool, there was enough sunshine to have me looking for shady spots along Hillsborough Street. The new course was a boon for spectators, because they got to see the runners come back through the start/finish area only a mile into the course before heading out to the Hillsborough Street out-and-back. That stretch also allowed us to marvel at the gap the leader had opened up on the rest of the field (almost four minutes at the finish). The ORR also has the best "baby jogger" race in the area, with a separate start and nice awards for that division.

A lot of local runners and friends were out for the Old Reliable this year, including many folks from the running club and my buddy Chad, who was celebrating his birthday. The local running events are so much fun when you see so many fellow runners that you know and greet during the festivities. I wish my performance had been up to the day, though; my legs felt great but my stomach was not willing to go after a new PR, so I had a nice, relaxing run and finished in an average 64:22. When I looked at my splits afterwards, I was pleased with how consistent my pace was: my per-mile pace never ranged outside the 10:22-10:28 range. If I can't be fast, at least I can be consistent. :-)

Veteran's Day 5k

I have developed a great appreciation for the military the last few years, and taking part in some of the military running events has helped foster that appreciation. It was with that appreciation in mind that I traveled to Chapel Hill in the early hours of a cold Tuesday morning to run a cross-country Veteran's Day 5k sponsored by the Carolina Veterans Organization (CVO).

Only about 40+ runners gathered at the UNC cross-country course where one Army gentleman was organizing the race. There was one platoon of Army guys in matching Army running outfits, a group of Army soldiers in fatigues and packs that were going to monitor the course, and a few Army-looking guys that were hardy enough to run in shorts and t-shirts -- and enjoy it -- on a 38-degree morning.

It was a very informal run around UNC's Ranson-Hamrick Cross-Country Course, which I had not run before. It's a nice course, constructed, I believe, from parts of the old UNC golf course and near the current course. The ACC cross-country championships were held there just a couple of weeks ago. All the mile markers and even the big hill were endowed and named after someone. There were plenty of opportunities to see other runners on the multiple-loop course, and fortunately I didn't get lapped. The race organizer was calling out finish times, but missed me; however, when the runner behind me finished, he called out the time, "26:05". If that's right, it would put me under 26 minutes, which doesn't seem possible unless the course was a little bit short. (And given the posted 5k directions, and that we ran a different combination of the loops, it's possible we were short of the full 5k distance.) Instead of having t-shirts made up for the run, each participant received a gift certificate to either the Carolina Brewery or the Top of the Hill Grill.

At any rate, it was a great morning to be out for a run, and having servicemen and servicewomen there as part of the event made it more of a moving event. All the proceeds from the race went into a developing fund that will eventually endow scholarships at UNC for the sons and daughters of our military veterans. Hopefully some more organizations, both at Carolina and elsewhere, will get behind the idea of this Veteran's Day 5k and really help it develop into something big in the area. Congrats to the race organizer and all the runners, and a Happy Veteran's Day to all those who have served our country.

Run for the Mariners 5k

Although there were some more local races on Saturday, I opted to collect another county by heading over to the Run for the Mariners 5k north of Pittsboro. Read the full race report here.

New course for the Old Reliable Run

Just learned today that the Old Reliable Run will have a brand-new course when the 25th annual running takes place on Sunday, November 16. Downtown construction always has an impact on the ORR course, but I was hoping that '08 would be the year it returned to the '06 course, where we started and finished on Raleigh's new main drag, Fayetteville Street. Unfortunately, it looks like the '08 course won't even include the loop past Krispy Kreme, the Mordecai neighborhood and the Governor's Mansion, course elements that have been included on every ORR that I have run in.

The new course does a mile-and-a-half loop around downtown, going back down the starting line on McDowell Street -- good for spectators -- and then just does an out-and-back along Hillsborough Street, forgoing the traditional loop around the NCSU Bell Tower and using a loop on the north side of Hillsborough Street instead (Dixie Trail (hill), Clark Avenue and Shepherd Street). That's a big departure from what has been a very familiar course.

Again, I hope that it's just temporary construction that required major revisions to the ORR course. I'm the last to say things should never change, but I will miss the old parts of the course. I remember using the Bell Tower as a landmark for looking for running friends to cheer them on, and runners carrying cash to get boxes of "Hot Donuts Now" when we passed Krispy Kreme. Hopefully in '09 we'll return to those parts of town.

Krispy Kreme Challenge joins with Setup Events

The Krispy Kreme Challenge, a fun run-and-eat wintertime 4-miler at NC State, has signed up with Setup Events to provide race management. The KKC grew from just a few to thousands in only three years, so it was probably just a matter of time before additional help would be needed to keep the race manageable. In 2009 the Challenge will move to the first Saturday in February and Setup Events will bring Champion Chip technology to the race. Those taking the full run-and-eat "challenge" will get a split for their first 2-mile run from NC State to Krispy Kreme, a split for how long it takes to eat their dozen donuts, and a split for the 2-mile run back to the Bell Tower. From the websites, it looks like the KKC will return to its '07 course, which was more through the neighborhoods north of NC State.

More rock, less talk

The folks behind the Rock-n-Roll marathons have now taken over the old Chicago Distance Classic half-marathon, dubbing it the new Rock-n-Roll Chicago Half-Marathon. I love Chicago, so this half in August might be too fun to resist, especially if it coincides with a Chicago Cubs home stand. Supposedly there is going to be a new course for the new race that does more than out-and-back along Lake Michigan (although that ain't bad).

The Rock-n-Roll folks (Elite Racing) earlier this year announced a new Rock-n-Roll Marathon in Seattle.

See Raleigh Sweat

The City of Oaks Marathon committee did another great job with today's second annual City of Oaks Marathon (and half-marathon). Pretty much all the changes -- course, medals, expo setup -- went over really well and were definitely improvements from last year. Last year the expo was in the wind-swept Holshouser building at the fairgrounds, but this year it was indoors at the McKimmon Center, which provided a nice environment both for the runners and for us volunteers who worked there all day. Next year, the new convention center, right? :-)

Moving the start/finish area to the Centennial Campus was a good move, I thought, because of the extra access and parking that should be available close by. I didn't have any trouble when I got there about 6:15 a.m. -- large parts of my parking garage were still empty at race time -- but I heard some stories from folks who had to walk more than a half-mile to get in from their parking location. No problems getting out, either.

There was a big hill leaving the Campus, but that meant we got to come down the hill at the finish. I liked the course changes; it meant we went through downtown earlier in the race, and we got the benefit of the early downhills on Ebenezer Church Road. The hills in Umstead were brutal, of course, and it was also tough running along the greenway past the horse farms on Reedy Creek Road (uphill directly into the sun). There were knots of great supporters downtown, in Glenwood South, and especially in Cameron Village and at the Hillsborough Street / Blue Ridge Road intersection, where the half-marathoners turned around. Spectator support was much lower on the marathon course, but we did have some out-of-the-way places to run. Thankfully, there were a few spectators left on the way home, including the great folks from the Raleigh Galloway Group, who staffed the aid stations on Hillsborough Street. The overall downhill grade coming back through NC State and the big downhill after the bell tower helped tremendously.

This year's medals were a big improvement on the inaugural ones, which were nice but didn't have a lot of personality to them. This year they used the race logo with the big oak leaf, and the marathoners got medals that were a slight bit larger than the half-marathon medals. The post-race party was pretty much partied out when I arrived, but that's to be expected when the half-marathon is so much bigger than the marathon and you're near the end of the pack anyway.

Congrats to my friends Lee, Laura, Kim, Kenny, Andy, Mike and Jason, who all finished their first half-marathon, and to Chris for knocking out his first marathon! And to Maxine, Chris B and Caitlin, plus the NCRC crowd, for their usual great performances. I saw lots of friends cheering us all over the course, too, which was much appreciated. Overall numbers from 2007 may not have increased a lot this year, but I think Raleigh's still got a good marathon on its hands that can grow more over the next few years if they take care of it.

I ran much better than I ever anticipated and knocked seventeen minutes off my marathon PR, down to 5:22. It was just one of those days where you feel good and enjoy the run. I was suffering at times on the hills, but overall I had a really great day.