Huntsville, Alabama
One of the races that I love to hate is the UAH Spring Road Race.
- It is run on a Sunday afternoon
- The weather is so unpredictable from rain/wind to the first hot day of the year
- I am usually focused on endurance/ultra running and have done minimal speed work
- The course is a double out and back (horse shoe) with 3 cone turn arounds
That said, I have had some success at this race with some high finishes despite slow times, mostly due to low turnout. In 2009, I finished 3rd overall and in 2010, I finished 4th overall, each year swapping places with Donald Bowman. Last year I went out too hard (5:20's first mile) and was in the middle of training for Pinhoti 500km and faded quickly, dropping from 2nd to 5th in the final two miles, before surging late to regain 4th place.
2009 Results
1 Matthew Brick - 34:10
2 Josh Whitehead - 34:17
3 Eric Charette - 36:32
4 Donald Bowman - 36:59
5 Jason Reneau - 37:10
2010 Results
1 Josh Whitehead - 33:00
2 Cristian Cortes - 35:37
3 Donald Bowman - 35:52
4 Eric Charette - 36:28
5 David Purinton - 36:31
This year I decided that I would stick close to Donald Bowman, knowing that he was already in decent road racing shape and with any luck I could hold onto 5:45 pace and come in under 36 minutes. Last year it took me until July to post a time in the 35's and with minimal speed training this season I was not hopeful. The main competition in this race was Donald, David O'Keefe, George Heeschen and Samson Too, though Samson is capable of low 30's so it was expected that he jog to victory by most on-lookers.
Out of the gate Donald shot away and set a pace that was faster than I wanted, but I kept covering the distance of his accelerations and tucked in behind him. As we rounded the corner and started to head west, then north, Samson had broke away and I was in a small pack of three with George and Donald. The first mile was way too fast for me, 5:27, but I stayed with Donald as he lead the way into the stiff headwind under Holmes Avenue and began the small climb out the other side. George had not run the course before so he was taking wide corners while Donald took the tangents and I followed. Making the first cone turn around, Samson lead, followed by George and then our now pack of two. Not far behind were David, Candace and Dink Taylor as we split the first two miles in 11:12, slowing to 5:45 pace in the second mile as we fought the wind.
Photo Courtesy of Gregg Gelmis
Making our way back to the start for the second cone turn around, I stayed stride for stride with Donald, tucked behind as he set a decent pace of 5:39 and we came through the 5km mark in the low 17's. I was feeling surprisingly good for the conditions and even did a "Youngren-Spin" around the cone (reverse turn) and repeated it mid stride as Rob and Kathy (Youngren) laughed at the finish line. The second loop of this course has eaten me alive in recent years but my head was still strong and my legs were not tiring much.
In the 4th and 5th mile I ran just off of Donald's shoulder and even pulled ahead as we went through the aid station and even through in some quick accelerations to see if I could shake Donald off, but he covered each time. I did this a few times and then got smart and decided that I should let him do the work again into the wind and the final cone turn, and he took the lead without hesitation as we split 5:49 and 5:55.
In the final mile the pace really picked up as I thought it would on the home stretch. We were passing the field, now thin and strung out more than the first two times, and the encouraging words of other runners really began to fuel my fire. I started to think about how I would possibly overtake Donald as the second ticked away. I knew that I could not wait until the final few meters and slingshot by, as he has sprinting speed and that he could react in time and would easily out stride me. Instead, I remembered how he slowed slightly with a quarter mile to go on the first loop as the road took a slight incline to the north. So the decision was to make my move at the 6 mile mark and have a sustained push to the finish. It was the hope that I had enough stored in the bank from tagging along that I could power up the hill and hold off Donald to capture 3rd place.
So after splitting the 6th mile in 5:31, I took off at mile pace for a hundred meters, quickly putting a gap on Donald. As I took off, he yelled "Go Eric." I could tell that he didn't surge with me this time, which was a great feeling but now I was 250 meters away from the finish and I was already at top speed without another gear in my bag. Luckily the surge had put enough distance between us as I slowed just slightly but was able to hold on for a 4 second lead on Donald and take 3rd place overall. I attribute this race to smart tactics when I was in less than top shape and then the fact that I had the "want" to make that final push, instead of just settling for 4th place.
So in our alternating year fashion, Donald Bowman and I again traded places, this year, as in 2009, I took 3rd overall and he took 4th. Maybe in 2012 we will break the pattern! A special thanks to Donald for carrying us along; I think that together we were able to run faster than we would have alone.
2011 Results
1 Samson Too - 33:38
2 George Heeschen - 34:37
3 Eric Charette - 35:36
4 Donald Bowman - 35:40
5 David O'Keefe - 37:01
6 Victor Brown - 37:25
7 Dink Taylor - 37:39
8 Candace Jacobs - 37:43
9 Greg Reynolds - 38:08
10 Blake Thompson - 38:11