Race Report: Peavine Falls Run

The Peavine Falls Run is a classic Birmingham, Alabama race.  It takes place in the very beautiful Oak Mountain State Park, just south of Birmingham.  Always run on the Fourth of July, this race is never short on heat or humidity.  It is also not lacking for hills.  The course runs up the road to Peavine Falls (which is now entirely paved; in the past it was dirt), which is a climb of about 550 feet over 3.5 or so miles.  You then turn around at the blessed water stop at the top and head back down.  When you're about a mile from where you started, you turn onto a rolling, wooded section of singletrack and head for the finish.  The total course is about 8.2 miles.  Because of conditions and terrain, this is always one of the more challenging races around and is quite popular with those who like challenges and the insane.  Falling into at least one of those categories, Erica and I could not resist the race.  (Both of us have done this race several times in the past, yet still keep coming back.)
Race morning was about what you would expect for Birmingham on the Fourth--probably around 80 degrees with full blast humidity.  Soon after the gun (and the pre-race prayer asking God to take pity on the poor runners about to run up the hill), I settled into 4th place and got ready to do some climbing.  I managed to reel one suffering soul in during the climb to the top but found myself about 1:30 back of the lead two at the turnaround.  As you might guess, the trip down was a lot more fun than the slog up, but I gave up more ground to the leaders.  I finished in 52:19, which was good for 3rd place.  As I crossed the finish line, the announcer told me and the finish line observers that third place was good for $50,000.  Since this race cost only $5 to enter and had a field of about 400, I quickly surmised that the race organizers had found a way to tap into federal bailout/stimulus funds.  It turns out, instead, that I had actually won $20, which was still a nice return on my investment--especially since Erica paid my $5--and more than enough for some delicious postrace Chik-Fil-A.

Erica wasn't too far behind, cruising in at 54:14, which was the first female and 6th overall.  Her stated winnings of $100,000 turned out to be a tidy $50, which was promptly invested into provisions for her Fourth of July party.

The winner was of the race was Scott Strand of the Trak Shak.  Scott is a very accomplished runner and a Birmingham legend, so I couldn't feel too badly that he leaned at the tape and beat me by 4:07.  Full results are here.  After the race, Scott and I discussed his impressive run and the unique facets of the running store biz.  We were also joined at the race by spectators Wendell Braswell (famous for his crewing duty during the Hilo to Volcano relay), Jenny Clay (famous for drawing Big Island Running Company's logos), Robin Hollon (who took the photos in this blog post), and Jason Hollon (who shared in the running fun experience).

Jason H, happy to be home:


Jenny tried to inspire a finishing kick by Erica, but it was not to be: