Team Brandon Race Report Holly Springs Half Marathon

I had always considered running this race but just never took the plunge and signed up.  I’m new to running, only starting less than 2 years ago (more about that later). I’ve only run 2 other races, the half IronMan in June and then the Tuna 200 (which is unbelievable fun and I highly recommend). I had a friend that was looking to transfer his bib due to a scheduling conflict so I got with him and worked it out. I would be Jonathan for the day.  I’ve run a few times with Brandon on Thursdays at Bombshell and it was always a good time. When Edgar posted on the Holly Spring Run Club page looking for help running with Brandon I thought this was perfect. I haven’t been really training at distance…mainly running 3 to 4 miles, occasionally five, a few times a week. Eight miles was basically my long since IronMan helping a friend log miles several times in prep for the Marine Corp marathon. My thinking was helping will be great…still a great challenging with but probably slower and won’t have to worry about finishing or trying to PR. So I got with Edgar and looked forward to race day with anticipation. Race week came around and a week before I did 5 miles with my F3 buddies on Saturday and then had grand ideas to get a few short runs in during the week.  Well 3 days of rain later I finally said, screw it, and ran in the rain on Thursday for four miles before the race.

It’s cold.  I think I’m ready but my foot has been giving me some issues so I’m little unsure. I arrive at the race looking for the rest of our team. Brandon arrives, we move toward the start and Edgar hands me a HSRC shirt to wear. I appreciate another layer although I see some crazies in shorts and tank tops. Heather Jones and Derek Fox round out the team. I haven’t run with them before that I know of but I know of them and knew they were great runners.  We take a few pics, a helicopter arrives and soon they send us off on our way.

Edgar starts the race running with Brandon. We basically hadn’t talked at all about how this was going to work. Someone finally asked during the first mile and Edgar said we’d rotate every mile being on Brandon’s running chair. Edgar settles into a decent start pace and my Garmin beeps at mile 1 and tells me we ran a 9:19.  Not too bad for the start and I figured we’d slow up a little on course at some point.

Mistake number one in the race is made when we turn Brandon’s chair over to Derek at mile 2  : ) . Slowly Derek, Heather, and Brandon start to get a little smaller and smaller each quarter mile. My watch beeps at mile 2 and I’ve run 8:35.  Miles 2 and 3 are kind of a blur of twists and turns through the neighborhood, trying to keep Brandon in sight.  At some point I look at the rest of the team with me and volunteer to try to catch them and take a turn pushing and slow the pace down. That proved to be harder than I thought, lol.  I looked down at my watch several times and saw sub 8 paces as I tried to run them down. I finally resolved to run in the middle trying to keep them within striking distance but not pushing all the way to catch them for fear that I’d give out of gas at the end of the race. I think I’m finally going to catch them at Jones Part when I see Derek peel off and head toward the restroom. Here’s my chance to catch up with Heather and help push Brandon. This again proves to be harder than imagined as I don’t make up any distance on Heather and Brandon. Then suddenly I hear footsteps…someone is coming and fast. A blur shoots by and there goes Derek.  I smile and settle back into my pace of tailing them like some Russian agent in a spy movie. My watch beeps for 3 and I’m hanging steady at 8:39 for a pace.

We turn toward Main Street and for some reason I decide I’m going to catch them.  So I run to catch them.  Heather is still pushing at this point. I run an 8:17 mile (my fastest of the day) and finally catch them right before the turn off main street. And…..I immediately proceed to lose them again.  I expended so much to catch up that I can’t hang with them and settle back to my keeping them in site mode. Finally I catch them for good at the baseball field aid station when they stop for water.  Lesson learned, if you want to catch Heather and Derek the best approach is to hope they stop. I catch them, and shortly after here comes Edgar. Around mile 4.5 I take over pushing Brandon. I didn’t stop my watch for our stop so mile 5 clocks in at 10:52.

We head toward Suggs Farm and through the neighborhood towards Bass Lake. It’s largely downhill for large sections of this portion and one of the advantages of running with Brandon is he pulls you downhill when you’re gassed.  We make decent time but slow it down a little, settling in to an 8:57 mile.

I would imagine mile 7 to be a high point in most half marathons as you know you’ve reached the halfway point. Not so in this one.  Mile 7 is Bass Lake with damp mulch and a massive hill the help Brandon navigate. I did my best to not run over anyone on the narrow sections and then we started the climb. And I mean a climb.  Up the far side of Bass Lake I keep running some and then for the steepest sections we walked.  Edgar would help give me the extra push needed on the running cart and we made it near the top and it’s a bit of a blur but at some point Edgar took over pushing. We make another pit stop at the aid station at the top of the hill, refueling and getting ready for the descent. Mile 7 is our longest mile at 12:25 and at this point I can’t remember if I stopped by watch or not.

Edgar leads us all down the hill and back around the other side of Bass Lake. Derek, Heather and I all peel off for a quick restroom break and then chase Edgar and Brandon back down. We run 10:27 out to the exit of Bass Lake. I experience some apprehension as I can hear Derek and Heather discussing Derek pushing Brandon and racing Heather up the hill to Suggs Farm. This could be my worst nightmare : ) Miles and miles ago I realized they were never ever going be tired.

Derek and Brandon ascend from Bass Lake up to Suggs Farm.  This section was probably the most damp and difficult.  Derek keep a brisk pace up the hill.  Edgar and I are able to stay with him and Heather until we hit the asphalt of Suggs Farm. Then it’s like Derek hits another gear and we go back to tailing them for a bit, staying much closer this time but still not able to keep up fully when Derek and Brandon burst forth from the hill. Mile 9 clocks in at 9:56.

Mile 10 is my favorite of the day. I live in one of the neighborhoods surrounding Womble and as I’m trying to keep up I look up and see my mom’s car stuck in line on Grisby Avenue trying to take my boys to IHOP.  And then I see the window roll down and see my sons. It was a great treasured moment. What are the odds that they’d leave and be there just at that moment when we came by.  It gave me the boost I needed to keep on trucking. Mile 10 we speed it back up to 9:14.

These two miles are a blur.  All I remember is that at some point Heather takes over for Derek and that we were running fast. All of us can feel that we are on the home stretch now and we are moving now. People are cheering us on at every turn, we all end up together again, and it feels fantastic to be pushing towards the finish line. My watch lets me know we ran 8:35 and 8:42.

After one of the hills I take over running with Brandon.  I take that little nasty loop back hill in that neighborhood and push us toward home.  I always figured I’d be able to finish but did have some doubts coming into the race. Now I didn’t want to give up running with Brandon because it was a mix of pushing and being pulled and I wasn’t sure if I left Brandon’s chair if I’d be able to keep up with them. So I just ran. One foot in front of the other. My other favorite moment of the day was taking the last stoplight in front of Ting Park and the Police Officer cheering Brandon on and and Brandon raising his fist in the air. The last mile I had us at ran 8:37.  Heather later told me she had us at 8:17.

Who put that ramp at the finish line? We need to have a little talk. We ascended the ramp. I heard people cheering Brandon on and I heard someone recognize me and yell my name. It was the last bit of fuel needed to complete the task at hand. We stopped about 10 yards short of the finish and helped Brandon walk across the finish line. Afterwards Heather told me if we took out the stops we ran 2:00 flat half. I PR’d anyway LOL.

I’m not sure if I can tell you what running actually means to me. March will be my two year anniversary of beginning running.   I took up running at the darkest moment of my life. I really don’t know how I would have made it without it. Many of you have experienced this probably but there is something about pushing your body beyond where it’s ever been before that teaches you that you too can go further than you ever knew you could. You start somewhere and you continue to put one foot in front of the other and one day you look up and realize you are further than you’ve been before and covered more distance than you thought you ever could. And then life happens and you realize that if you keep putting one foot in front of the other, if you just keep moving, you can keep going. Uphill, downhill, whatever comes your way you’ve experienced true endurance and you aren’t fearful of the road ahead any more.

There have been so many of you that have helped on this journey…many of you unknown that you were a part of my journey or how much it meant to me. That’s how life often works. You do not realize the people you have impact on from afar when your lives seemingly non consequentially intersect. When I began I always ran alone, just me, my music, and God. I started fifty pounds heavier than I am now and I could only run 1 mile. I set a goal to try to do 3 in 30 minutes all while my personal world fell apart around me. Then one day two friends invited me to run with them on a Saturday morning for 10 miles. I told them no way, I’d never run more than 3 or 4. My routine at the time was 7 laps around Womble soccer field and to never stop before 7. They told me the pace would be slower than what I had been running and assured me I could do it.  I met them and discovered that I enjoyed distance running with others. Then the next thing I knew I had signed up for the half IronMan.  After completing that I was looking for community, because running alone was good but it wasn’t a full experience. I found two communities, F3 And the Holly Springs Run Club. I’ve never been in a community with so many runners. I know the slogan is you guys run this town and you do, but it’s not with your feet but with your hearts. Both of you, F3 and HSRC, are filled with some great people who are so inviting, accepting, and ready to run and push you further than you’ve been before. And without knowing it, you help raise people up and get stronger.

For me one of the constants in all that has been Brandon. The first HSRC event I took part in was the Bombshell run and it’s where I first met Brandon and got to run with him. Since then I’ve ventured out to also take part in the Wednesday and Thursday morning runs as well as a couple of the Saturdays when I don’t run with the F3 guys. To this community of runners…my thanks for the push and the pull.  For the community, for the laughs, the talks, and the miles. They mean more to people than you’d ever know.

To my running partners this past weekend…my deepest thanks. I had such a fun time and I wouldn’t have changed a second of it. It was perfect for me.

Brandon it was an honor to run with you. Your heart fuels this community in a way you probably don’t fully know. Heather and Derek…I learned a lot about myself running with you. I learned that I can do better even than I think or know and to be my best it helps to surround myself with others that are at a higher level that I would aspire to.  Edgar, you are one of the first people I remember running with…I think it was a Saturday morning run. Your genuineness, inviting and accepting nature always shines through and your humor on a run is just the best.  Thanks for the invite and thanks to all of you for giving me a great day running. Till next time and the many miles ahead.