On December 3, 2023, I finished my ninth Blue Gray Half-Marathon. This year was an adventure.
This race is the 23rd Fredericksburg Blue & Gray Half-Marathon. Other Civil War Battlefield locations have unassociated Blue & Gray Half-Marathons, most notably, Gettysburg.
I finished the race from 2002 to 2006. In 2007, Race Timing Unlimited and I started timing the race. Until 2019, I was the race director for the event, and I don’t run in races; I supervise.
Since my retirement in 2020, Arsenal Events has been the race manager, and I again started running the race. Yes, we held a race during the COVID panic of 2020.
Over the years, the race has had many start-and-finish venues and courses, varying from pancake flat to net downhill to hilly. In 2017, I moved the start/finish venue to Old Mill Park and designed the current route.
Let’s talk about COVID. On November 11, 2023, I tested positive for COVID. Since then, I’ve been able to walk daily, mixing in some running. I’ve been advised to keep my heart rate under 140 and no hard breathing for 6 to 8 weeks. By running 3 minutes each mile, I have met those restrictions.
I can maintain a 13- to 14-minute pace per mile using this pattern.
Directing the race for 12 years has its perks. I asked for an early start with an expected finish time between 2:49 and 3:02. I planned to run to the restrictions. For me, three minutes is about 250 running paces.
I’m glad I took the early start option. My competitive drive was eliminated without people running at my pace near me.
I woke up at 5 am, hoping to leave home by 6:30. At the Falmouth light, I realized I had forgotten my gloves, so I returned home. With my restart, I got to Old Mill Park at 6:54.
The forecast had rain until 8 am. The temperature was 54 degrees with a 52-degree dew point.
Once parked, I took off my jacket, took a picture, and headed to the start line.
With that forecast, I wore shorts over compression shorts, a singlet over a long-sleeved shirt, a neck gaiter, gloves, a ball cap, and my old Saucony Triumph 20 shoes that I use in wet conditions. I pulled the neck gaiter up over my ears to keep them warm.
The first 5.25 miles are a loop and a quarter of the Heritage Trail and Canal Path with a side loop on the roads below the college. There are a few sneaky hills on the circuit. The mile locations did not have any following uphills.
I started running until I encountered puddles and vehicles entering Old Mill Park. I slowly navigated these until I reached the bottom of the park entrance road. At the top, I ran on Caroline Street until the Heritage Trail. My first mile was 14:26, followed by 250 running paces, going downhill.
My second mile was 13:32, followed by a flat 250 running paces.
My third mile on the roads below the college was 13:44, followed by a flat 250 running paces.
My fourth mile finishing near the park was 13:20, followed by a flat 250 running paces to the second water stop. While running, Bruce White passed me on his bike, leading the first-place male, Brian Flynn. I joked with Bruce, telling him to get a big lead to beat Brian up Fall Hill.
My fifth mile was 13:20, followed by 250 running paces by some flat terrain and small hills to the bottom of Fall Hill. I lost count joking with a group of FARC spectators at the bottom of the hill. I would walk the hill even if I had more paces to run.
Then, the course takes a spur up Fall Hill into Celebrate Virginia South.
While the lead runners passed me, I joked with them and the extra pacers around them.
Fall Hill goes up 233 feet in just under a mile. The average gradient is 4.5%, with a maximum rise of 12.5%.
The May Historic Half uses the parallel Hospitalization Hill, shorter with a slightly higher average gradient but only a 10.5% max.
In Blue Gray, the significant hill is in the sixth mile, and the Historic Half comes in the eleventh. Though longer and steeper, the sixth-mile hill gives runners time to recover before finishing.
I walked the remainder of the sixth mile and was surprised with a 13:33 split. The course continues climbing. Still, I do 250 running paces.
The course flattens and turns onto Gordon Shelton Blvd, mostly downhill to the slave memorial turnaround. To be nice to the police, I hook onto another runner while crossing Carl Silver Parkway. My seventh mile was a 12:43.
At mile 7, I ran 250 paces, walking downhill, then back up to mile marker 8.
My eighth mile is 13:24, and then I do 250 running paces going uphill.
In my ninth mile, I hook onto another runner to cross Carl Silver Parkway, and the course turns back onto Fall Hill Avenue. My ninth-mile time was 13:29, followed by 250 running paces across the I-95 overpass. Even though the course is going downhill, I walk until I reach the Wicklow Apartments at the top of the steep downgrades.
At this time, Edwin Ridout caught me, and I ran downhill with him to the 10-mile mark. My tenth mile was 10:41. I was going downhill. I doubt my heart rate was being stressed.
Once at the bottom, the course completes the last three-quarters of the Heritage Trail and Canal Path loop with a side loop on the roads of Normandy Village. There is an extra down and challenging little up in the Village.
In my eleventh mile, I ran the downhill on Normandy Avenue. Then, I caught Bob Brammer, the only person to finish all 23 versions of this race, who had done an early start. I walk with him for a couple of minutes. My 11-mile split was 14:30.
At mile 11, I do 250 running paces on a flat section, getting me back on the Canal Path.
A few times in the final three miles, I lost count of paces when talking with other runners. At these times, I looked at my watch to see when 3 minutes elapsed.
My twelfth mile is 13:49, followed by a flat 250 running paces.
Right before mile 13, the downhill spur heads into the park, followed by the flat finish stretch. I started running at the top of the hill. My thirteenth mile is 13:05, and I covered the last .10938 miles to the finish in 57 seconds.
My finish time was 2:54:41, placing 197th overall, 114th male, and 15th of 17 in the 60 to 69 age group.
With my even mile pace, including my uphill mile, I’m happy with how I ran. I did not stress my legs, lungs, or heart.
Around 1 pm, I turned on the Washington Commanders home game versus Miami. After they were behind 10 to 0, I started nodding off and snoozed most of the game. The Commies lost 45 to 15.
I was reminded of the 2013 Blue & Gray Half-Marathon that we timed. Sleet fell during the last hour of that year’s race. After packing up, heading home, and posting results, I turned on the Washington Redskins home game versus Kansas City. I’m unsure if I made it too far into the 2013 contest until I fell asleep. Kansas City won that game 45 to 10. That was Mike Shanahan’s final year as head coach. Also on that staff was 2023 Miami head coach Mike McDaniel.
Is this an omen for Ron Rivera?