Notes
Half marathon in my home town. Such a fun run. So many stories. I am probably in 1:18 shape right now. And I could maybe run 1:14 at the end of the summer. Maybe? I don't know. My plan for this race was to start out at 7:00 miles and pick up the speed, talking to people I passed on the way, trying to close the last mile in 5:00 or something. That didn't happen. Went out in 5:17. The adrenaline was pumping. This is actually a pretty big race in New England: there's a grand prize that Kenyans and Ethiopians come out an run 1:04ish to win. Thats sub 5 minute pace. Lol. So I roll through in 5:17 and don't feel that bad. So why not actually run the damn thing. And then a mile later, I come through in 10:40, and I realize I still have 9.1 miles to go and the longest run I've done this summer is 8ish miles, and I change my game plan. The thing is that at this pace, the field is so strung out that I'm basically running alone. So I start having fun with the crowd, just to give them a laugh in return for coming out to support us. So I slow down to 6:00 miles and start waving to people and talking to them as I'm running past, and they are confused as to why I am wasting breath. I pass a couple live bands that are playing and I waste twenty seconds dancing to the music. And the people are screaming GO! GO! GO! I am in the top 50 of a 5000 person race and I'm goofing off and these people don't understand that. Meanwhile, I feel really bad for the poor guys who pass me when I pause to entertain the crowd and then who I pass back because my natural pace is faster than theirs. At mile 11 or so, this one guy turned to me, and was like "you're killing me". Hahah. My favorite thing to do was to mess with the race course volunteers. At a point where the course turned left and was clearly marked, I'd say to them that I thought the course went right, and I'd start to veer off to the right. And they'd scream NO! NO! NO!, and then I'd smile and tell them I was kidding. I thought it was funny to do. I stopped for a minute or two to talk to my grandpa at mile 7 and I had a good conversation with Ms. Parrish at mile 10. People were so confused that I was stopping. My worst decision of the race was to entertain the little girls handing out water and gatorade. These girls would be standing there holding out the same cup of water for a long time, and I felt bad. So I went over to grab one from them. And when I did, she was so happy! A runner took my cup! Yay. Let me go get another one and give it to him too. So I took that one. And then the other girls wanted to give me their water. So I drank that. I did this at almost every water station at every mile. I drank so much water! And some girls were giving out lemonade. That did not sit well. My last mile was about 7:30 because the lemonade got to me. But I still kicked the last 100 meters all out. And so I cross the finish line, and this mom (she had to be a mom right), who was standing in the crowd, cracks off a remark "I guess you weren't trying hard enough". Oh my god, she does not realize what she just got herself into. Here was the exchange:
Oh I'm sorry was running 13.1 miles not enough of an effort for you.
No, that's really good but it seems that you had more energy left that you could have used to run faster.
Well I wasn't really going for a fast time today. Just trying to have some fun.
I get that. But you finished well and you should have run faster overall.
(And then I went into one of those sarcastic modes where my whole goal to humiliate this woman), I said something like, "What is wrong with you? Your Fairfield attitude of never being satisfied and always pushing someone to perform at a higher level is really disgusting. I mean, why can't you just be happy with the great weather, the friendship, the good music, and some physical exertion?" And I said some other stuff that made her feel like an idiot. I hope her kids are alright.