One of my friends and running partners, Nate Gurnish, had been hinting and then outright telling me that I should run the Cleveland Fall Classic half-marathon with him. I was fortunate enough to get some extra money (as a gift) in November, so I did end up with enough money to pay for the $35 (or so) entry fee, and I entered the week before the race.

 

I wrestle with running on Sundays – Sundays are supposed to be a time of rest and worship, and running seems to be mostly self-worship (“look what I can do”). In this case, it was an easy decision. Nate had asked me to run with him as a favor, and especially where he trained with me for much of the fall, I wanted to do what I could to help him. Also, I wanted to push him. Nate had gotten just over 1:40 in the Akron half-marathon in September. I knew he could break 1:40, and I wanted to pace him so that he would break that mark.

 

Mer, always faithful in these things, came along to cheer and be the stuff holder. Nate’s wife, Rachel, was running in the 5k race that day as well, so Mer was once again by herself for the first 35 minutes or so. Rachel did achieve her goal that day in the 5k – she wanted to break 30 minutes, and she did so (getting a 28:58 time). She then joined Mer to cheer me and Nate on.

 

The Cleveland Fall Classic is well designed for spectators. It is a six mile out-and-back that we had to do twice (to get to 13.1 miles). This means that Mer and Rachel got to see us start, then come back, then go out, and then they saw us close to the finish, all without having to move very far. That was nice from their perspective.

 

Having an out-and-back that we had to do twice was not my first choice, but it worked out okay. I was able to break the race into 4 segments of about 3 miles, and that made for good goals. It was a little depressing to run over the same ground a second time, but not so bad as I had feared.

 

The day was quite wonderful for late November – it was sunny and in the high 30s or low 40s at the start, and warmed up nicely into the high 40s by the time we finished. The temperature, combined with a very, very flat course, made for pretty ideal running conditions.

 

Not everything was perfect, though. The race had almost 1000 people in it (counting the 5k people), and there were only 8 bathrooms for everyone (including spectators). I waited in line for a bathroom so long that I only got to the starting line (where Nate was waiting) about two minutes before the start of the race. That put us pretty far back in the starting pack, and so we spent the first two miles dodging people. Nate even cut a woman off right at the start, to the point where he thinks he may have bumped her leg (although he certainly did not mean to). It was a very crowded start.

 

There were three water stops along the course, which were plenty for a 3+-mile section, and the water was fine, but the Gatorade was so weak as to make me wonder if I had grabbed water by accident (twice). I finally gave up and stuck to water. This is not a horrible thing, but just an annoyance (Gatorade is useful for fuel on longer runs).

 

The last, and biggest, problem with the race was that the 5k runners shared the same course, but started 15 minutes later. Nate and I caught up with the tail end of the 5k runners for their last 1.5 miles, and it was frustrating at times. We had a whole road for most of that distance, but we still had to dodge a lot of people. There were numerous younger girls running as part of a get-girls-to-run group, which is great, except they did not know race etiquette. In general, in running, you should stay to the right so people can pass as needed. The girls were often running 3, 4 or even 5 abreast. Near the 5k finish, the course diverted onto a paved bike path, and it was very congested with young girls often taking the entire trail and blocking the half-marathoners behind them. Nate and I passed to the side, in the grass, but it was still frustrating and a little dangerous (one half-marathoner tripped trying to pass a group of girls, and got some road rash; happily, the girls were not hurt).

 

Anyway, those three problems aside, the run was quite good. I felt great, and I pushed the pace. The road was through a park system, and so the trees were very pretty. Nate was running well, although he started to crash around mile 9. I tried to keep the pace steady, and tried to give Nate advice. When I told him, with two miles left, that we would pick up the pace in the last half-mile, he laughed a slightly manic laugh, and asked me what I thought he had been doing. Point taken. Nate hung in there at that pace, and he even found a burst for the last 30 seconds of the race and finished a step ahead of me. I stopped my watch (there was no clock on the course), and we finished in 1:37:19, or a 7:26/mile pace. That was over three minutes faster for Nate compared to his Akron time, and was just two minutes or so off my best time. It was a great race. Nate had nothing left, and told me he did not enjoy the last four miles at all, but to me, that is how you want to finish a race. I am proud of Nate – what a great job.

 

Some official stats:

Nate finished 8 out of 24 in his age group (25-29).

I finished 16th out of 46 in my age group (35-39).

 

Nate and I finished 96th and 97th out of 327 male finishers (the women’s stats were separate).

 

I think this was a more competitive field of runners since it was in late November. That meant the high school and college cross country seasons were over, so we had a number of fast runners from area schools who ran as well (which they had not been able to do in the September Akron Marathon because they were still in season).