April 5, 2025
It was a drizzly Saturday morning on the campus of the University of Charleston in Charleston, West Virginia, for the UC 5K. The sky may have been gray, but the mood was bright.
Unfolding near the banks of the Kanawha River, this race had perhaps the most enthusiastic volunteers of all the races we’ve run on this trip. Races on college campuses during this trip have typically involved college students, who tend to be an enthusiastic bunch. But this group took it to a new level. Stationed in groups at each of the course’s ten turns, the volunteers were just plain happy. Course volunteers direct runners in many races. They clap for runners in many races. They cheer runners on and voice encouragement in many races. But these volunteers seemed to really mean it. It seemed to be the thing they most wanted to be doing with their morning.
This good cheer was not limited to the course volunteers. The staff at the packet pickup table. The race director in her pre-race comments. The university president in his post-race comments. The mayor in her post-race comments. The students conducting the awards ceremony. All were as happy as could be. They were happy for the people the race brought to Charleston and to the university. They were happy for the student programs the race proceeds would support. And they were just plain happy for the day. The mayor told us in a conversation after the awards ceremony that West Virginia had the nicest people in the country. Residents of other states might disagree, but in that moment on that day, she had a pretty darn good case.
The course was a flat out-and-back that started and finished on the UC campus and meandered through an adjacent neighborhood during the in-between. The homestretch was backdropped by the river, with the 292-foot gold-leafed dome of the West Virginia state capitol looming above on the opposite bank.
The overall winner had a respectable time, but the half marathoners were even more respectable. The top three runners in the longer race ran a faster per-mile pace the than the entire 5K field.
Ryan finished 2nd of 71 overall in the 5K, 2nd of 29 males, and 1st of 5 in his age group. Julie finished 20th of 71 overall, 8th of 42 females, and 3rd of 9 in her age group.
Detailed Race Report for Running Nerds
The West Virginia race was a lovely, flat course and our 49th race out of 51 total.
It also was a very telling race. Any jury that was out about where we are each at on this 5Ks in 50 States (and 1 District of Columbia) adventure, is officially in. Ryan, ever the consistent and even-keeled type of guy, has found what his steady race pace is that he can consistently deliver without training and while traveling through as much of the 50 states as possible at a fairly quick speed with a jam packed schedule for almost 11 months straight. He finished his race in 22:27. To put this in context, the race prior was a 22:30. The race before that only clocked in at 3 miles – he finished that in 21:30. If it had measured the full 3.12, it would have been around a 22:33. The race before that he took it easy and finished in 25:34, but the race before that he finished in 22:19. So, the man has found his stride. Prior to the beginning of our 5Ks in 50 states, Ryan hadn’t been running or training at all. Thus, he ran-walked the first few races just to shake out the cobwebs. Then he started getting in shape. This was also when Julie was in her peak running shape and was still able to beat Ryan. By state 10, he was starting to get even with Julie’s solid paces. From then on, he was dropping almost a minute every race. At some point, he found this home in the low 22’s, and except for when he has gone through a tired spell or a purposeful recovery spell, that’s about where he has stayed. This race was no different. A lot of his mid-race stretch was spent observing the young man in front of him that he would eventually overtake to score a 2nd place finish. You can read more about that young man in our People Along the Way section. Ryan ran steady, solid, and strong and crossed the finish line at a 5:49 kick pace.
For Julie, the jury is also in. It is official. Her goose is cooked. In the last race or two, she started suspecting that she has entered “overtrained” territory, which is a very specific place of training limbo that any serious athlete would dread, because once you are in it, there is only one way out. Resting. And lots of it. Not that she has been, technically, training – but it is the same concept. It is, essentially, where you put your body through more sustained strain than it was prepared to handle and it kind of just blows a fuse. Julie encountered it one other time when she had been training for a half Ironman years before during a particular busy and hectic time of work. The strain from work plus the strain of her training got to a certain point that her body said, “Nope. Sorry. Come back later.” She had to stop training completely for over a month to get back to baseline and rebuild from there.
Julie is recognizing the familiar signs. Post race recovery is now taking days. Just from running an “easy” 5K with no speed, her heart rate is quickly getting to ridiculous heights and then one or two nights of rocky sleep follow until she gets back into regular sleep mode. Julie suspected this is where she might be when the race started, but it wasn’t long into the run until her suspicions were confirmed. Julie had to keep slowing down her pace to keep her heart rate from going off the charts, but, just by running a nice and easy 10 minute mile pace, her heart rate was still above 180. This is crazy. She tried to convince herself to run slower, but it was hard to do. During the race, Julie distinctly had the feeling, my legs are bored. She started to get all the signs while running that her system was needing some serious rest and recovery time. Each mile, Julie backed off a little bit more to see if it would give her system any relief. She ran the first mile in a 9:57, the second in a 10:03 and the third at a 10:08. All of this at an average heart rate of 172, which is insanely high for those paces. Fitness wise, Julie felt strong and steady and had no trouble running the distance, feeling strong the whole way. With plenty of fitness juice left in the tank, Julie couldn’t help but enjoy a sprint to the finish line at a 5:41 pace.
After she crossed the finish line, her body was sending very clear signals that it was in a rough space and demanding some serious recovery time at a level that just won’t happen until after the trip is done.
We only have two more races to go (three technically, since we are going to redo our Maryland race that ended up being a 3-miler and not a 5K), so Julie is just going to rest as much as possible in between and hold out for a nice long rest and recovery when the trip is done. Despite a cooked goose, she still had a great time on the course and felt physically strong. All of this is just causing further flames to be lit for getting back into 5K shape post-trip after a nice long recovery period in order to be able to reach towards a PR. For now, the goal is just to finish the goal of 5Ks in 50 states (and 1 District of Columbia).
A few more races to go!
R and J in the USA 
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