February 15, 2025
The Run for the River and Polar Plunge was the second 5K in our Saturday doubleheader. After finishing our race in Aiken, South Carolina, we hopped in the van and drove two hours to Danielsville, Georgia, for our next race.
The event raised money for the Broad River Watershed Association’s (BRWA) water quality monitoring program. BRWA’s mission is to preserve the Broad River as a free-flowing river system. The organization holds conservation easements and owns land in conservation use; carries out water quality monitoring; does trash cleanups throughout the watershed; supports citizens and municipalities in efforts to responsibly manage buffer zones along the river and its tributaries; and offers activities for its members and the general public.
The race unfolded on the banks of the Broad River at Camp Kiwanis in Danielsville, Georgia. Camp Kiwanis is a 160-acre facility with cabins, event spaces, and an amphitheater nestled in the woods and hills along the Broad River. Owned and operated by the Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Atlanta, Camp Kiwanis hosts year-round residence camps for the youth served by the organization, exposing them to experiences such as nature hikes, archery, kayaking, swimming, fishing, and orienteering.
The Polar Plunge that was to follow the race was canceled due to rising river waters and river debris from overnight rains, but the drizzly 45-degree day gave us plenty of opportunity to be cold and wet, and the course gave us plenty of opportunity to be uncomfortable.
The race was a trail run, our first since the Hurricane Hill 5K in Vermont 32 states ago. Like the Vermont race, the Run for the River had hills that made us whimper for mercy. Had this not been our second 5K in four hours, and had we not pushed ourselves as much as we did in the day’s first race, we might have been able to attack the hills rather than endure them. But with every uphill shuffle our quads let us know our legs were not fresh.
The course meandered along the river flats before turning uphill onto forest trails. And then there was more uphill. Then it leveled off. Then it went up. Then down. Then flat. And just when we thought we were done with the hills, it went up again. Steeply. And then up. Then finally down toward the finish.
What made the hills challenging, in addition to gravity and fatigue from the day’s first race, was the terrain. The trails were wet and uneven with sharp turns and switchbacks that interrupted running momentum. This resulted in continual, and irregular, changes in speed, direction, and stride length that put extra strain on the legs.
Despite our protesting quads, it was a worthy and well-designed trail run course. It was scenic, well-marked, and integrated into the varied terrain.
Julie finished 1st among female masters, 3rd of 37 females, and 15th of 67 overall. Ryan finished 2nd of 8 in his age group, 6th of 30 males, and 6th of 67 overall.
Detailed Race Report for Running Nerds
As previously discussed, this was our second race of the day and we had two hours of driving on our legs before the starting line. Despite these factors, thanks to decent sleep the week before and a general sense of readiness and well being, we both came into this race ready to tackle it, though not with as much gusto as we might have had it been our first race of the day.
For Ryan, the biggest things to report is how much his quads were feeling those hills. With all of the twists and turns of the trail and being in the woods, you couldn’t see the top of the hills, so you didn’t know when they were going to end. It seemed like there was so much more up than down. After all the up and then coming back down to the river flats where we started, Ryan thought we were done with the hills. And then, all of a sudden, he saw that right turn that went up towards the sky…and he wasn’t happy about it. Despite all this, he finished the race in 27:07, which for this race was a pretty decent time. The bigger accomplishment on this particular course was that he managed to turn in negative splits, despite the brutality of the last half mile of the race. Despite the fast race earlier in the morning and the two hours of driving during which he had time to tighten up in between and despite the pain in his quads, he managed to deliver splits of 9:22, 8:53 and 8:51. He carried through on running the whole race, despite many others succumbing to walking, though he will be the first to admit, on those hills, running or not, he was confident someone walking at a brisk pace could have easily passed him.
Julie’s race report is about the same, except her times and splits and except the story worth telling of the friends she made along the way. Julie crossed the finish line in 31:49 with splits of 10:14, 10:05 and 10:51. That last hill beat her enough to rob any chance at negative splits. It would have been much more disastrous if it weren’t for Julie’s new friend. You can read about that story in the People Along the Way post, Friendship and Fellowship Forged in the Forest. Julie finished feeling strong and pretty happy to have laid down a pace on such a hard course that was faster than her recent performance on a much easier course just weeks before without having had a second race on top of it.
The hills definitely made us sweat and they definitely made us whimper, but in the end, the joy and fun they brought was more than worth the pain.
R and J in the USA 
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