Monthly Archives: November 2020

By David Freeze

In a normal year, Salisbury and Rowan will have about 30 races. Some have a long history, a few are brand new but every single successful one requires a lot of work. I once had a woman representing a charity call me and tell me the date and location where she wanted to have a race. Then she said, “So, do you need anything else from me? You’ll take it from here, right?”

That is certainly not the case! The Salisbury Rowan Runners provide some guidelines and plenty of answers for questions, but we won’t manage the race for you. Being a race director, usually someone who either is a volunteer or adds the responsibility to their regular job, is not easy. There is a long list of to-do’s required. Those details make or break the race.

One of the best long-term race directors in the area is Rayna Gardner, head of the popular Butterball 5K. She’s won SRR’s Race Director of the Year award twice and probably deserved it more than that. Rayna, also the general manager at The Forum, adds the annual director duties on top of her other work. Always detail-focused and forward-thinking, she works through a long list of early decisions. These include confirming the date, making sure the course is available and getting an event permit from the City of Salisbury. Since 2020 is an unusual year, right off the bat decisions had to be made that resulted in the Thanksgiving Day race being moved to Salisbury Community Park. That makes for a new course and other logistical changes.

One of the biggest parts of the preparation for a good race is the initial race brochure, crammed with information to make the event interesting to local runners and walkers. Once the brochure is completed, then the race gets set up for online registration. About 80% of all registrations come in online now, with the percentage increasing each year. Participants register later and later in today’s market, making for a guessing game to get the right amounts of commemorative shirts, awards and food.

Once all this is in the works, then begins the long list of questions that come by email, text or phone where possible participants want to know things that might affect whether they attend. Rayna is one of the best at this, sharing immediately or finding the answer. This year’s race had questions about the difficulty and layout of the 5K course, availability of parking and bathrooms. And the biggest question of all; what was she doing to meet coronavirus guidelines?

Meanwhile as the registrations rolled in, Rayna worked with the race bibs and other details to make race morning easier. I could write a whole column on disasters that race directors caused, usually coming to light as race day participants began to arrive. Heading up various check-in processes is Rayna’s strength. She handles any issues and complaints, and keeps the lines moving.

Once the race was underway, she monitored course volunteers who keep the participants on course. And finally, Rayna gave out the race awards to the socially distanced finishers. Once done, with the runners and walkers headed for home, Rayna managed the removal of all the race day paraphernalia. And from experience, I hope she got a nap that afternoon.

When all was said and done, Rayna, who is super fit and resembles Jennifer Marion from TV’s Randy Marion car commercials, said, “The feeling of putting on a good race is like no other. Getting organized is a lot of hard work but when it comes together with the aid of volunteers and sponsors, we support worthy charities in our community. I get lots of help to keep the world turning during race prep.”

By David Freeze

Sometimes circumstances come together for something big. That’s just what happened for Lorie and Mark Cauble over an incredible month. I got to play a small part in this journey and it’s certainly worth sharing.

Lorie started running with the 2014 Greenway 5K where her second-place age group finish led to lots of other 5Ks and another second-place finish in her age group in an 8K. She pushed it up a notch and competed in the Mayberry Half Marathon followed by her first marathon in Myrtle Beach in March 2019.

Mark started running when he enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1990. Nearly every day for almost nine years, Mark ran at least three miles a day. After ending his active duty in 1999, he quit running all together.

After getting married in November 2019, Mark and Lorie were already enjoying long hikes when Mark mentioned doing the Marine Corps Marathon together. He said, “2020 would be a great time to do this because our daughter, Jenna Cauble, had been in the Marine Corps for six years already and was finally going to be stationed close to D.C. around the marathon date.”

The Caubles found out that a lottery was required to even get into the event. They both applied and a few weeks later were selected to run the 45th MCM. Lorie said, “That was a great day! We were both so excited! Then, reality started to set in, and we were on the clock to get ready. Sometime after the virus shutdowns, we learned the event would be virtual. We were bummed at first but decided to embrace this opportunity to improvise, adapt, and overcome.”

The MCM organizers also offered another opportunity to do a Trifecta, not only the marathon but a 10K and 50K. All would be virtual, meaning that Mark and Lorie could do the distance on any course within the month of October. Mark said, “Why not? We decided to go big or go home. We may never get this chance again.”

They did the 10K (6.2 miles) in Salisbury on Oct. 3, a day already scheduled for a long run, and then tacked on another 12 miles for training.

The marathon (26.2 miles) followed on Oct. 17. Mark said, “It would have been nice to run in D.C. and finish at the Marine Corps Memorial, but we got the next best thing. Our daughter, Sgt. Jenna Cauble, enlisted some help from her former commanding officer Capt. Kristen Baldwin (five-time MCM participant) to help us facilitate our run. They really motivated us and made it a memorable and special occasion.”

And finally the 50K in Virginia. Just five days after the marathon, was completed on the Virginia Creeper Trail on Oct. 22. Lorie said, “No pressure, just us and the mountain. This was a disaster! We had no trail experience, and it was our first time running with hydration packs and we had no support. We are glad it’s done, but you probably won’t see us on a trail again for that long.”

Mark added, “The biggest and most important takeaway is how much we love each other and share so many similar interests. We got up on weekends to do long runs at 3 a.m. to drive an hour and then run to avoid the sun and summer heat as much as possible. Nothing beats seeing the sun rise while running alongside a river with the person you love. We depend on each other for motivation, especially on a morning when one of us didn’t want to run. In the end, we drove each other across the finish line and have the rest of our lives to continue pushing each other to be better.”

Lorie concluded, “We found difficulty in juggling everyday life and staying on a grueling schedule with sometimes painful tasks, making the journey all the more rewarding when finished.” They plan to do mainly 5Ks and 10Ks while Mark needs a half marathon and an 8K to match Lorie.

Rowan’s next race is the always popular Butterball 5K on Thanksgiving morning, held this year at Salisbury Community Park. Look for this and other upcoming races at www.salisburyrowanrunners.org .