Early November Race Results

PICASSO RUN 10K: Our friends in Roanoke Rapids held the inaugural Picasso Run 10k on Saturday. Wayne Painter tore up the new course with a 40:25 finishing time. His pace of 6:31 was fast enough for 1st place overall! Margaret Bentley made the short drive to race as well. She just missed breaking the 1-hour point when she finished with 1:00:05. An impressive 9:41 pace!  Overall results are online.

NC HOLIDAY FLOTILLA 5K: Also racing this weekend was Jeff Hartney. Jeff was getting in a final training race before this coming Saturday's half marathon so he entered the NC Holiday Flotilla 5k. If he was trying to gauge his speed, I think it is easy to confirm that things are going well. Jeff ran an 18:17 5k. . . and WON THE RACE! Not too shabby for a race with 200 participants!

CITY OF OAKS: The RMEC had a good day this past weekend at the City of Oaks. It was a chilly start, but this usually helps produce some good race results. If you are not familiar with the Oaks race courses, they are pretty hilly by most runner's standards. It is certainly not the most challenging marathon you will find, but it is also not a first choice for a PR. The course is a beautiful mix of urban, back roads, and trails.

After a successful run in the Medoc 10-Miler, Eric Seale decided to raise the bar and sign up for the City of Oaks Half Marathon. Eric continues to drop weight and focus on his triathlon training which has turned him into quite the runner. His half marathon debut was a 2:18:50. Gerry Felton also ran the half and proved once again that he is ageless. He finished with a 1:43:46 and took 14th out of 70 in his age group. This was a new PR for Gerry.

Frank Lilley was running his second marathon in seven days. As expected, Frank showed no ill effects from his "double" when he finished with a 5:32:05. Also doing a "double" of sorts was Eric Pate and Ursula Forrester. Both ran the Steamtown Marathon four weeks ago. Eric was first to cross the line in 4:15:56, and Ursula finished in 4:38:02. Two strong performances by both!

After upgrading from the Half Marathon less than 24 hour before the race, I had low expectations and planned for just a long training run. The good weather, the nice course, and a good pace group leader added up to a 3:25:51 finishing time. Not a PR, but I am very pleased.

The star of the day was Ralph Willey who ran his first marathon. Ralph picked a tough race for his first, but ran an amazing 4:21:38. In case you don't know Ralph, he is 61 but has the heart of a person half his age. His time was 257th among 443 male finishers, and 6th in his age group. Wow! Great job every one.  Learn more at the race website.