Race #194
Half Marathon #71
2022 Race #2
2022 Half Marathon #2
South Carolina Half Marathon #52
Race for the Green Half Marathon #2
Mom and I ran this half together. I did not remember much about this race, save for the absurdly large medal, since the last time I ran back in 2019. I had registered for 2020 but that got postponed, obviously, with registration deferred until 2021. Unfortunately, I had contracted Covid a week prior and had to defer again. Thanks to the long delay between initial registration and the 2022 edition, I managed to register again. Oops.
Mom picked me up around 6:30 that morning so we could make the approximately one hour drive out there. Once we arrived, we braved the chillier and windier than normal weather to head inside to pick up our bibs and “swag.”
I noticed that as the runner approached, the volunteer would find their registration and assign the bib number at that time, a first for me.
I had Mom go in front of me because I noticed that if she did, I would get #812, 12 being my favorite number. (I have a weird thing for numbers.) Unfortunately, in the time it took the volunteer to find my name (often they don’t hear the “e” and “n” when I spell out my name), the other volunteer had taken 812 for another runner. Thankfully, 813 adds up to 12. (I told you, I have a weird thing for numbers.)
Mom and I then pinned on our bibs, or rather Mom did all the pinning because I can’t manage to pin a bib on straight to save my life, before heading back to the car to wait a further 20 minutes before lining up. We used this time to investigate the interesting “swag” we had received of which the stars were a race logo coat/cape thing complete with a hood as well as a race t-shirt so thin it simply acts as a visual filter. We did not keep any of it.
With 10 minutes remaining, prior to the scheduled start of 8:30, we walked towards the start line. Apparently the race director finds these times malleable as he encouraged us, over megaphone, to hurry as the race would begin in under a minute. It was 8:23 at the time.
This recap will move much quicker through the portion describing the race itself. Unlike the Greenville half, I did not break this race up into any discernible segments, nor did I have any distinct plan aside from running with Mom in a race version of our weekly long run. We did walk every three miles to fuel but apart from that little other than the relentless rolling hills and unforgiving wind stands out, especially when they combined forces with the wind accosting us head on as reached the the steepest portion of several hills.
The scenery did not provide much in the way of distraction as the course looped through city streets that looked as though they had seen better days many years ago. The small town of Seneca also did not have much to offer in the way of spectators either although there was a memorable one. He stood in front of a small building situated at the base of a small dip between hills. He helpfully called out “It’s all down hill from here,” a baffling comment given his location as when we passed him we immediately headed up a hill. By the time we passed him on the “back” portion of the out and back, he had changed his first unhelpful cheer to one as equally baffling that I cannot remember in its entirety, only that included the word “legs.”
Then, as if the wind and hills had not provided enough indignity, our second to last turn, a left turn, required us to cross an intersection and navigate around cars backed up at the edge to reach the cordoned off lane on the right side of the cars. One of the people there directing traffic told me, as I approached the front of the car to go behind it. Um. No thanks. I have no desire to add distance to my race.
Ultimately we finished though, barely a minute over two hours. My legs felt like toast as I finished an additional mile on the trails around the athletic complex. (That’s marathon training for you.)
In the end, we finished another half marathon (one we likely will not repeat) and I got one more closer to my goal of completing one hundred.