RMEC Survives Another Umstead Marathon

The RMEC sent six members to participate in the Umstead Trail Marathon this year. Unlike 2009, the weather was just about perfect for a great race. That being said, even cooler temperatures does not make Umstead flat.

Scott Wingfield was the first from the RMEC to finish in a time of 4:35:45. This was a four minute improvement over last year, and just felt like a better race to Scott. Seven places behind Scott was Ron Flemming with a time 4:43:47. This was an impressive debut for Umstead. Also making his Umstead debut was Eric Pate who came in just nine spots behind Ron with a time 4:49:17. All three were able to celebrate with their Moe's Burrito after the race.

Amber Poole and Jon Shingleton were also running Umstead for the first time. Sometimes life gets in the way, and our race training takes a back seat. . . so was the case with Amber and Jon. With limited longs runs, it would have been easy to scratch on running the Umstead Marathon, but both took on the challenge and did very well. Amber finished in 153rd with a time of 5:32:04. One place behind was Jon in 5:37:09. Great job guys!

Frank Lilley was a bit worried about the cut off time at Umstead. This is a race where they will ask you to leave the course if you cannot reach cutoffs at specified times. Last year, Frank was proud to say he was the last official finisher. This year was a different story. . . Frank finished in 5:54:42, and beat four other runners! Great job Frank! To read Frank's race report, check out his blog.

This race is a challenge, but is full of great volunteers and personal touches. I would love to see 20+ from the RMEC sign up next year. It is the most fun you can have while torturing yourself. By the way, Jim Micheels of Raleigh Running Outfitters cracked the top 15 to take home the final award.