This is the 2nd year this race has been a part of this festival. It’s also the 2nd year I’ve run this race. That makes me a seasoned veteran. One thing I’ve learned is that there are a few hills in the race. I had a hard time sleeping the night before, so I grabbed a bag of chips (carbo loading) and watched various documentaries regarding animal behavior hoping to doze off. It worked and when I woke up, my chest hair was littered with potato chip crumbs. What a way to start the day. Breakfast in bed!!!! Sweet. Since the summer season is winding down, DW and I decided not to vacuum the sheets. The hard part was deciding what to wear. I went with a black, ribbed Batman tank top and black running shorts. DW, DD #2 and I went on out merry way. We got to the start early enough to get a good warm up. I took the first hill at a gentle pace. Uh oh….it’s pretty good sized. One advantage was that I was able to find sections of road that were reasonably level before the race started. Pre race temps had not yet reached 60F, but it was very humid. DW and DD#2 saw me off to the road side. We said a prayer, a quick kiss - I was ready. About 50 of us lined up at the start and we were off!! The first mile was all up a hill. Gentle at first, then, not so much. I reached into my utility belt for hill repellent…Let’s see…An animal pelt….bacon….dictionary….Flintstones Chewables with Morphine…There we go. After a small handful, the hill diminished in size. I caught up with a handful of runners near the top and passed them all well on the down side. Up the next hill, they all passed me again. Before the peak, I surged and passed them all. On the down hill, we approached the end of the road. There was an arrow indicating we should turn left. One of the documentaries I watched showed a coyote painting arrows on the road to trick its prey into running off the side of a cliff. Half way through the race, a woman and a man passed me. I passed them. And we went back and forth for some time. My pace began to fade and the man gained more distance. The woman and I see sawed when I heard steps behind me. A quick glance and I saw a woman in my AG catching up. I dug a little deeper and stayed ahead. She caught up and I ran harder. With the finish in sight, I hammered it. The other runner hammered it more. She beat me by a few seconds. My time: 27:09. DW, DD and I watched the rest of the runners come in. The smiles on the under 10 AG as they finished we priceless. The woman, who beat me, took 1st in her AG……25 – 29. I thought she was my age!!! It’s a good thing I didn’t mention that during the race, her time may have been worse. I might not have finished. I took 1st in AG. 28/48 OA. DD#2, DW and I went a town over, had Brazilian French Toast at Trick Dog. We ate outside and watched the boats of Co-Ho hunters come in and out of the harbor. After breakfast, I got cleaned up for Church. I washed up in the restroom and DW wrung the sweat out of my back hair. Though we left a slippery puddle on the floor, I knew it would eventually dry. When we left the restroom, there was a line of people, wanting to get in. Some gave us a look like DW and I were doing something weird in the public restroom. The door closed behind the person who was behind us, we heard a yelp and a thud as I thought, “Boy did they have the wrong idea! There ain’t nothin’ weird about us…No sir, no way”.

Great race report. (At the Crim on Saturday I was "see sawed" with Batman and Robin although I think they eventually pulled ahead of me by the finish.)

What a great...and hilarious...report. Your time was great, your age group win was better, and the before-during-after race commentary was best. Good job... DickyG

I'll second the vote for hill repellent - I could use some of that in my neighborhood.... Glad to see you're still racing in fine form, Steve - great race and report!

So fun to read as always! Like that other guy said, never know what you are going to read with a SteveP report! Congrats on the AG placement. I always wondered how people could say "I believed I passed someone in my age group".

Well done Steve

. Now Steve, you do have enough race experience to know by now you don't have to gun it when someone you think is in your age group starts to pass you if that person is of the opposite sex, right?

It's more of a matter of digging deeper than anything else.

Holy Co-Ho Festival, Batman! A fine race and funny report. But that last part in the rest room was TMI ...