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. :-)