R and J in the USA

February 2, 2025

The train pulled out of the station at 9:00 AM in Chattanooga, Tennessee, for the Couple Shuffle 5K. The Sunday morning race ran along the Tennessee River with a bright sun in the blue sky, a nice crispness in the forty-degree air, and hearts on the crowd’s minds. The Valentine-themed race gave out pastel-hued conversation heart t-shirts, pink-sashed heart-shaped medals encasing small conversation hearts, and boxes of conversation hearts at the finish area snack table.

Beginning and ending near the downstream side of the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Chickamauga Dam, the out and back course paralleled the Tennessee River along the concrete running/walking/biking path of Chattanooga’s Tennessee Riverpark. The fast-feeling course had some small ups and downs to keep it interesting as it followed the river’s curves.

The field of 53 included some fast runners, with the top two finishers both running a sub-6:00 per mile pace. The overall winner came in at 17:18 – a 5:34 per mile pace. The top female finisher came in at 21:58 and finished 4^th overall.

Julie finished 1^st in the Female Masters group, 4^th among all females, and 12^th overall. Ryan finished 1^st in his age group, 5^th among all males, and 6^th overall.

Full results here.

Detailed Race Report for Running Nerds

The weather was a perfect brisk and we both came into the race well rested and having gotten in a few workouts since our prior run. Once again, Julie came into the race with a focus on keeping her recovery run status and focusing on good race management and Ryan came in with a little energy to burn, but not planning to push it to the max. We both had the highest race success, which is to say, we both ran exactly the race we came to run. 

There was one other important factor in this race. We had been in Tennessee for four days so far, and Missouri just before it. If there is one thing we did in those four days, and the day before in St. Louis…it’s eat. We had St. Louis barbecue, followed by Memphis barbecue, followed by Nashville Hot Chicken…2 nights in a row. French fries accompanied each of those meals. By the time we hit the start in line in Chattanooga, our bellies were still full from 5 days in a row of some serious eating. With no regrets and only a little worse for the wear, we both had to carry our leaden stomachs the 3.12 miles.

Ryan’s primary focus was to run sub-eights. It took him about a mile to get warmed up into it and he was aware of that heavy stomach the whole race. It didn’t totally bog him down, but it never left him running free and light. Such are the sacrifices of being a culinary tourist. All in all, he felt decent – better than he thought he would before the race. Clocking in at a 23:20, he ran only a touch slower than the previous race in Missouri. Despite these not being his fastest times on the trip, he is clearly back in business after a handful of recovery races. The race went by fast for him, and not just because it was over in 23 minutes. Based on that feeling, he left feeling pretty good that he is in better shape than he thought.

Julie logged another race on the books that was exactly, to a “T”, the race she hoped she would run. Her race goals continue to be mastering her ability to pace by feel and ride the line of running a recovery race while still running it just on the edge of being a race rather than a pure jog. Her goal is to be able to find that first and second mile pace where she KNOWS she has the strength to run it well and speed it up for mile 3. Though much of her earlier struggles with this could be attributed to her thyroid medicine needing adjustment, it was still an issue to work on. Now, she has got it down. She ran mile 1 committed to running it with the feeling of jogging rather than running. Unlike the previous race where she had to work to rein in the pace, the french fries and bbq ribs in her system were heavy cargo to carry and it felt like work just to go for an easy jog. She put her focus on running 9:30’s and did pretty decent sticking to it, clocking in mile 1 at a 9:22. Speeding up just a touch in mile 2, she clocked in a 9:15, but with the best part being that she knew she had plenty left in the tank and knew she could do a little running in mile 3 and be just fine. She picked up the pace in mile 3 to a modest 8:46 and took the last little bit of the race at a nice solid sprint pace of 5:53. With an average heart rate of 156 and a modest time of 27:53, Julie crossed the finish line extremely satisfied with the ease and strength she felt throughout and the good feeling of a race well run.