Jaron Hawkins- Fastest Savageman Run

[dclsnailpace]

Jaron posted the fasted 13.1 mile split at Savageman on Sunday in propelling his relay team to first place in the Coed Relay Team division. His time is listed as 1:15:54 (5:48 avg). No other runner broke the 6 minute mark.

Great job! His team actually would have taken second place in the Male division as well- and even that is in doubt as the first 7 swimmers were told to turn at the wrong buoy. Since the first place male team's swimmer posted an 18 minute swim time, I'd say that swim time is very suspect. The difference in swim times between Christa on Jaron's team and that team is 13:19. The difference in total time was 9:11. I say......"Jaron WINS!!! Jaron WINS!!"

I saw John Moon (Jaron's biker) twice on the bike course and he was crushing it.

[dclsnailpace]

It Keeps Getting BETTER!! I just got an email from the Race Director saying that Jaron's team (Trophies Unlimited) had a run split that seemed a little suspicious, and was there an Olympic quality runner in Garrett County- and did I know who ran... I replied- Oh H_LL yes; and pasted into the email a screen shot of Jaron's Boston Marathon results. I even pointed out that he was "a little off", since his half split at Boston was 1:10:29...

Kyle is a great guy and a straight shooter. He was really agonizing over the mistake in the swim leg yesterday when we talked on the bike course. He's just not used to seeing someone smoke it like that! Again, GREAT JOB, Frojoe! I really enjoy it when the locals do well.

On a related note, Jen Sober won her age group and was 8th woman overall...

[kevinspradlin]

Jaron's on it, that's for sure. Going to be fun following along (perched from a chair many miles away) at Marine Corps. I would loved to have seen him run Sunday in the Bachman Valley Half-Marathon in Westminster. 1992 Olympic Trials Qualifier Steve Kartalia (10,000m) won in 1:13:50 (masters course record). Maybe next year, Jaron?

[frojoe23]

I've looked into doing Bachman before, but it never seems to work out, so this year I didn't even think about it. Would be fun to do though.

As for Sunday at the Tri, man was it tough! There were a bunch of factors that contributed to my demise out there. Saturday night was spent guzzling coke and swallowing Italian Sausage at the Pirates game, followed by 5 or 6 "energetic" songs by Lynyrd Skynyrd. Anyway, got home at 1:30 AM, asleep by 2 and back up at 6AM to drive to the lake. After Johnathan took off on the bike, I tried to sleep in my vehicle but it never worked out. I didn't really feel tired, so it didn't seem like I big deal.

The big deal was starting the run just past noon - it was 80 degrees on the car's thermometer. It actually was very warm even though most of the course is shaded. I didn't take in any fluids during the run - there were way too many people in the way at some of the stations. The course was an absolute beast. I despise running at Snowflake Chase anyway, so throw in the campground loop (horrible) with the Fire Tower Rd (nasty) and it just wasn't very pleasant. I really felt like I was hammering at about 5:20/mile to run 5:48 pace or whatever it was.

I'm really excited that our team ended up winning, but I owe all of that to Christa Hollingsworth and Johnathan Moon. Both of them did outstanding and they really made it easy on me for the run. It would have been nice to beat the top all-male relay team, and looking at the splits, we probably would have except for the swimmer cutting the course short.

I imagine that for the guy that got fourth place, it is a little upsetting that the swimmers out of the water so early were allowed to continue with no penalty assessment. It would be nice to see what the "actual" time would be for those guys. I'm sure it would only be 10 minutes faster, but as for course record purposes, there is no way that those times should be allowed to stand.

It wasn't an intentional cutting of the course - I believe the lead kayaker was the one that messed up, but in the long run, it still means that their time is skewed.

So, a decent race - and I had a good time at the event. Thank you to Johnathan and Christa for being top-notch athletes and making it easy on me. Christa was the only swimmer that sprinted to the transition area as soon as she hit the beach. I was getting periodic updates on John and was told that he was looking very, very impressive on the bike. He really put it down out there. Also, a big thanks to Lynn Brenneman of Trophies Unlimited for being our "team manager" and sponsor.

[dclsnailpace]

Kyle emailed me that they've assessed a 12 minute penalty to that team's time, so the 4:42:04 has that baked in. I did the math, and they were just over 4:30 otherwise. They were cooking. Their biker put in one of the best bike splits of the day- 5th best of the day in fact at 2:49 and change.

He was also impressed that you beat their local legend Mark Wardian at Boston...

[kevinspradlin]

That'd be Michael Wardian, I think - he who runs a marathon every other day (and a pretty decent ultra runner on his days off). Anyway, great race, Jaron. Look forward to see you race GAR.

[dclsnailpace]

That would be correct- the mistake was mine and not Kyle's. I went back and checked the email. Shows what I know.

Can't imagine what it would be like to feel you have to explain the failure of a 1:15 half...

[bevj]

Nice job Jaron. I know what you mean about the run course being a beast. I previewed it this summer as one of my long runs. I whole-heartedly agree that the campground loop and the firetower road were no walk (or run) in the park! Congrats to you and your team nontheless!