Notes
Race went well! I wanted to run-walk-run (aka gallowalk) the race, with a 15 secondish walk every mile. I did this by counting 35 steps rather than timing it so that I wouldn't have to worry about anybody running into me, not that that was an issue after the first mile since there was a good gap between myself and the next person most of the race.
I forgot to stop my watch from my warmup, so all the starting line photos have me adjusting the watch so it was a wee bit off most of the race. Not that I really cared; I just used it to spot check and get a general idea of my time. After the first mile I made sure there was room around me, took my walk break, and watched the field run away from me.
With each walk break, they got farther away. Well, they did for the first 2/3 of the race, then they started getting closer again. But not too much; this field was pretty good.
I got to see the lead runner (Eric Hartmark) at the turnaround points, and he was cruising...of course, since he ran a minute per mile faster than me that shouldn't be too surprising.
Other than the very beginning, and passing people going in the opposite direction, and once seeing somebody sitting on the side of the road (with hypothermia I later learned though he said he was fine) I ran the entire race alone. I was a little tired towards the end, but I didn't fade too much. The wind coming back on route 2 in the second half did slow me down a bit.
The course was good despite being out and back (mostly) - the mile markers all lined up so 10 out was also 16 back, 11 and 15 lined up, 2 and 24, etc. With a race that only had 54 finishers, that worked out fine, but if there were many more people it would have been tough to have people running on the same side of the road towards each other.
It was nice for the "crowds" though...there were a lot of people cheering, although most of them were duplicates since they kept moving along with the racers. I think there were almost as many volunteers as there were racers.
I think next year I might do the Exeter (or Naragansset or wherever it happens to be) double along with Boston. Could be a fun new challenge.