11/1/2020 Buckeye Half Marathon and 10K Peninsula, Ohio

11/1/2020

Buckeye Half Marathon and 10K

Peninsula, Ohio

Half Marathon

Loretta Harland

Finish Time:  2:06:18

Overall Place 76th Place

Division Place:  1st Place

10K

Scott Orlando

Finish Time:  46:24

Overall Place:  14th Place

Division Place 2nd Place

Mike Williams

Finish Time:  54:26

Overall Place: 36th Place

Division Place:  7th Place

Steve Zenar

Finish Time:  57:55

Overall Place: 49th Place

Division Place:  4th Place

Jill Bidwell McCauslin

Finish Time:  1:15:08

Overall Place: 90th Place

Division Place:  1st Place

Virtual 10K

Mike Pastva

Finish Time:  1:05:51

Race Review By Scott Orlando

250 brave runners took to the streets on a wet and windy morning in Peninsula, Ohio to compete in the Buckeye Half Marathon and 10K.  I have competed in this event in the past in both distances and decided this year to go with the 10K distance.  For me the second loop of the half marathon course gets a little boring so I prefer the 10K option for this particular race.  Race conditions were tough with temperatures in the mid 40’s strong steady winds with occasional heavy wind gusts and cold blowing rain.   Because of the challenging conditions I wasn’t looking for a PR or to push at maximum speed.  Instead I wanted to just survive the race and live to run another day.  I started with a strong first mile around a 7 minute mile pace.   My GPS watched glitched up and lost track of me at the end of the first mile so for the remainder of the race my splits were off and I didn’t have a real accurate idea of my pace.   In the second mile my music stopped playing and I was unable to get it to turn back on as the face of my touch screen watch was wet from the rain and not responding.  I was running blind without data and in solitude without music.  The rain continued to to pour down on the runners throughout the race.  At times it was a drizzle but would quickly turn heavy and come down sideways with the wind.   Runners were shielded from the strong winds by the trees and valley for most of the first 4 miles or so of the course.   In the 5th mile when the course opened up near Salayz’s Farm there was no protection from the wind and runners were really challenged as they ran directly into it.  Strong wind gusts actually pushed me side to side as they hit me.   The winds, rain, and hills in the last mile of the race slowed my pace some but I pushed through it.  The course leveled out and got a little faster as I neared the finished.  I was surprised that I was faster then last year on a course that was actually longer.   I finished 14th overall and 2nd in my division.   Team ER had a great showing at the race with 6 members competing including Loretta Harland who won her division in the half marathon, Jill Bidwell McCauslin  who won her division in the 10K, Mike, Williams, Steve Zenar who both did well in the 10K,  and Mike Pastva who competed in the virtual 10K.  The combined efforts of Summit Athletic Club, NC Multisports, And Ritchie’s Sporting Goods made for an excellent and safe race experience for everyone.  All participants received really nice performance tech hoodies and custom finisher medals.