Message posted by: Clyde W.

Not a race report for me, as I didn’t run, but we had an eventful day at Rutgers yesterday nonetheless. It was the inaugural Rutgers Half Marathon, put on by GCI, who normally do triathlons but have taken their excellent event planning skills to add this half marathon to their list of races.

Mrs C was racing, as was her 19 year old English cousin who had got just about the last flight out of London last Thursday to race as well (of course he’s now stuck here!). He’s a real runner, but only normally shorter distances and cross country races, so this was his first half marathon. We therefore spent a good amount of time on Saturday night trying to work out his best race strategy and pacing, based on his shorter distance times.

Unfortunately on race morning, Mrs C was suffering badly from a cold and after trying to warm up, she decided it wasn’t happening. Last night her temp was over 100 so it was a wise decision to pull out. Thankfully no such troubles for her cousin who set off at the front, aiming to run the first 10km at around 35 mins and then try to build the pace from mile 9. I told him you can fix the mistake of going out too slow, but not the mistake of going out too fast (yes, a 35 min 10km is slow for him!).

Being on the Rutgers campus meant for a fun atmosphere with lots of bands and DJs playing and even a few non-running students nursing hangovers to cheer the races on! There were also alot of students, alumni and parents running, so it was a fun atmosphere.

We first spotted the runners at an out and back at miles 6 & 7 and Mrs C’s cousin was looking comfortable in a pack of 6 runners about 50 yards behind the lone leader. There was another runner in that pack wearing Union Jack shorts so we wondered if they were both English and got chatting, but turned out they didn’t. They had been averaging about 5:50/mile which was bang on pace, so that was good. I was worried the pack might be running faster and he might be just trying to hang with them, but luckily not. But the other problem was that at that pace, we didn’t have long to get to the finish if we stood a chance of seeing it.

So laden with video camera (on a tripod), three bags, two kids, a sick wife and a double running stroller, we started running to the finish. At times our 7 year old was also running to make room for the bags in the running stroller. The funny part was when, at one point, we were running along the same path as the runners and overtaking a few. Some laughed at how demoralising it was being beaten by a 7 year old, a chick pushing a stroller and me holding a heavy bag and a bunch of camera equipment! But by now I had just under 2 miles to get to the finish in 13 minutes, so I sprinted ahead. I got some funny looks (and even a few ironic cheers) from spectators as I entered the last half mile. I was now covered in sweat and looked back to see the pace truck looming…

When I could finally see behind it, there was Mrs C’s cousin, all alone, still banging out a rather silly pace! I just had time to get one quick video shot of him behind the truck before sprinting the last 100 yards to the finish. Ignoring everyone I slipped straight through the side of the finish arch and set up the tripod behind the official photogs and got the shot! It was great. Arms aloft and crossing the tape. Such a great moment for him! He’s won races before back in the UK, but generally smaller cross country and schools races. This was his first time following a pace car and police bikes, and he loved the friendly atmosphere (I told him every race was like that in the US!).

He has also never won such a big trophy, so now he not only has the problem of how to get a flight home, but how to fit the huge trophy in his luggage! His final time: 1:14:28, 5:41/mile. (er, yeah, right…)

We followed it up with a brunch at a local pub with some other friends who were there for the race, one of whom also took 3rd in the 45-49 AG. We tried to argue that beer should be on the house for us all, but to no avail. Fun day!

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