February 15, 2025
It was a gray, 45-degree Saturday morning in Graniteville, South Carolina, for the Sandy Rogers and Scotty Richardson Memorial Scholarship 5K.
The 5K raised funds and awareness for the Sandy Rogers and Scotty Richardson Memorial Scholarship, which honors Aiken police officers Sandy Rogers and Scotty Richardson. Rogers and Richardson were both shot and killed during traffic stops within six weeks of each other. Established by the officers’ families in 2013, the scholarship is awarded by the University of South Carolina Aiken sociology program, with preference given to students pursuing a career in criminal justice.
Many of the 5Ks we’ve run on this trip support charitable causes. It is nice to be part of such events. We were certainly glad to be part of this one, and were touched by the pre-race tributes to the officers by one of their surviving family members and one of their former professors and by the post-race conversations we had with several of their relatives.
The race was the first of a Saturday morning doubleheader. After crossing the finish line and having some post-race conversations, we hopped in the van for the two-hour drive to our Georgia 5K. While zeroing in on the intersection between our planned itinerary and the list of available 5Ks can create scheduling challenges, this was only the second time in eight and a half months and 42 states that we’ve had to run a doubleheader. (The first was our Minnesota-North Dakota same day 5K tandem.)
The out and back course wound through the athletic complex parking lots, crossed the highway pedestrian bridge, and circled the main quad of the University of South Carolina Aiken campus. The race began on Champion Way, turned onto Proud Pacer Drive, then funneled toward Heartbreak Hill. The one vertical exception to the mostly flat course, Heartbreak Hill rose from street level to the deck of a two-story tall pedestrian bridge. It was short, but it was steeeeeeep. Staircase steep. Walking up two stories worth of stairs may not hinder a stroll, but running up a ramped-up version of them can put a crimp in a race.
The top race times were respectable for weekend warriors, but not overly speedy. The first three to cross the line all came in under 22 minutes, with the winner finishing in 21:12 – a 6:50 per mile pace.
Ryan finished 5th out of 109 overall, 1st of 10 in his age group, and 5th of 53 males. Julie finished 24th of 109 overall, 1st of 11 in her age group, and 2nd out of 56 females. The only woman in her way was a 25-year-old whippersnapper. Despite the young’un not respecting her elder, Julie’s podium finish earned her a $15 Fleet Feet gift certificate. Her accepting of a cash-value prize may jeopardize her amateur status, but the discount on new running shoes will be worth it.
Detailed Race Report for Running Nerds
This was our second double header of the trip. Two races in one morning about two hours of driving apart. Despite knowing that we had a race later in the day, we both came into our South Carolina race ready to do some running.
For those who have been following along, you know that Julie started out these 50 states running relatively fast and strong, often running 8:00-8:15 minute miles. You would also know that, thanks to the pace of the trip, the relentless 5Ks, a thyroid that needed some medication adjustment, and the reality of getting old and tired (let’s be honest folks), she slowly started to lose steam, getting slower and more tired race after race as the states ticked on. She found herself mostly running up against a challenge of learning how to read her body’s dwindling capacity and properly pacing herself for the distance as the races piled on. At some point, 20 or so races in, Julie decided to run the rest of her races as recovery races, focusing on jogging and rebuilding fitness from the ground up, with the hope that, by the last 10 races, she could start to really race again.
Since Julie had slept like doggy doo doo the night before our North Carolina race in state #40 and realized we would be running up two parking garages, she had decided to postpone her reignition until South Carolina’s race. After a week of fantastic sleep and restful days, even though we would be running two 5Ks in the same morning, Julie showed up to the starting line ready to turn the juice on – not to full tilt – but to slowly ease back into it. This would be the first race in a long while where her mantra was not “just jog, don’t race, just jog”. Her goal was to run just on the other side of the line between jogging and running, picking it up just a little bit, but still giving her body a chance to get used to putting out real effort, to make sure she could still read her capacity and stay strong for the duration.
Interestingly, this race had us running on “Proud Pacers Road”, a name that was apt for Julie. When Julie finished the race, she was mildly elated for multiple reasons and was thinking, “Nailed it! I just ran the perfect race!” It was an added surprise to cross the finish line and be handed the ribbon for 2nd overall female. It was the first race in a long time that she clocked in under 27 minutes. More than anything, she crossed the finish line satisfied that this little 5Ks in 50 states adventure had become more than just a fun thing to do, but a real journey of personal growth. For so many races, Julie struggled against unbridled and idiotic ambition to run beyond her capacity, fueled by nothing other than zeal and misplaced competitive hunger. She did not expect that coming into this adventure and found that, by facing those instincts down on the race course, she was also, in parallel, developing a deeper sense of attunement and self control that extended outside of the race course.
In life, one of Julie’s main personal challenges to overcome has always been her enthusiasm and ambition. Julie remembers being a kid and going to Perkins Family Restaurant with her father. Julie is small in stature as an adult. As a kid, she was a teeny little thing. That didn’t matter when it came to ordering time. “I’ll have the chocolate chip pancakes, the waffles and the eggs and toast,” she would say with eyes open wide as her little face was drooling with hunger. “Your eyes are bigger than your stomach,” Julie’s father would say to her. To everyone’s surprise, Julie’s eyes were not bigger than her stomach as she would have the last laugh after finishing off every bit of it all – but, that doesn’t mean it was a good idea. Julie has spent her life learning how to channel and contain her zealous enthusiasm, ambition, and raw hunger for life. It turns out that these 5Ks have provided a training ground that has been 45 years in the making. So, when Julie crossed the finish line, showing steadiness and restraint when and where it mattered, showing herself that she has developed a dimmer switch between off and on, she was feeling pretty accomplished.
Her goals had been to run mile 1 at a pace where she felt strong and knew she could steadily eat away at as each mile went by and that those miles would all be just under 9 minute miles, and that is exactly what she did. With splits of 8:53, 8:48 and 8:39, Julie crossed the line feeling confident and strong, not just as a runner, but as a human. Not to mention, she had a blast for the duration. The weather was perfectly cool for a morning race, the course was lovely and the people were too. Wins all around.
Ryan started the race with some energy to burn and stepped to the starting line with the intention to run, but not necessarily run hard. Other than the college cross country racer that was set to be the head pacer (read, the fastest one there), when Ryan got into the first half mile of the race, he thought he might have a chance to win the whole thing. So, he decided to notch it up. Not to 11. Not even to 10. But to higher than he had originally intended. He wasn’t sure how the race would pan out, but he decided to keep the head runners in sight so that, if he had the juice for it, he would have the chance to overtake them in the end. He felt solid and okay keeping that higher pace, though after the race he wondered if that would catch up to him in the day’s second 5K. Ryan usually turns in negative splits, but in this race, for whatever reason (probably the short but steep hill before the footbridge), his second mile was just a touch slower than his first. His third mile, however, was his fastest mile of the trip, clocking in at 6:47.
He crossed the line at 22:30 and clocked miles of 7:34, 7:39 and 6:47. Not too shabby. Though it definitely wasn’t shabby, it still wasn’t enough to catch the four runners in front of him, landing him in a 5th place overall finish. But it was enough to land him one of his fastest races of the trip.
We both had a great time in the race after coming in feeling rested and strong and ready to run. And run, we did.
R and J in the USA 
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