Notes
Jamestown Half-Marathon. Gun time was 1:26:26.
So this happened. Getting to the race was a mess. Tons of traffic going to the casino parking lot, I think because they were slowly leading cars in to fill out the parking spots one by one. Got parked around 6:00, got my number and race bag, then got on line for the shuttles. Got on the shuttle at about 6:25 (race was supposed to start at 6:30). Got to the actual course a little after 6:30, but the race hadn't started yet. Kinda had to use the port-o-potty, but there were really long lines, so I just figured I'd start, then get to the bathrooms out on the course if needed (I ended up not needing them).
Dropped by bag, then tried to find the start line. The gun went off as I was wandering over, so I started jogging. Hit the line and just rolled. First mile was mostly downhill. Thought I was way far back in the pack, but I ended up seeing the leaders a bit up ahead, so I just kinda worked my way up into the top 10. Split the first mile under 6 minutes, which was surprising.
Tried to just stick with the people I was near, which worked out pretty well. Was hitting roughly 6 minutes and change for several miles. Rolling hills for the first 3 or 4 miles, then really long, gradual hills (up and down) for miles 4-9. They were seriously like, a half-mile to a mile of uphill, then similar for the downhills. Probably gradually got slower at this part. The race really started to spread out over time, but for this stretch I was usually in like 7th or 8th.
Started to tank hard around mile 8 or 9. A couple people passed me, and I was probably splitting like 7:30s despite feeling like I was pushing. Was kind of funny to have groups of people cheer me on as I was going that slow. Fell back to 10th place. Just wanted to get the race done, but of course there was a really long uphill (like 2 miles from miles 10 to 12). There was some downhill for like a half-mile after that, then the last ~half-mile was flat. I looked back and thought I saw people gaining on me, so I tried to kick and just finished. 10th finisher, but 11th based on gun time.
All in all, I'm very happy with this time because of how out of shape I am. Also, this was on like 4 hours of sleep. Went back to Chas's, took a nap, then went to Five Guys and binge ate. Oh yeah, and right near the start of the race, there was a low basketball hoop, so I ran up to pantomime a dunk and pissed off some guy who then called me stupid for doing that "while people were behind me." It was just him. I felt kinda bad but stuff happens in races. He'll get over it. I figured I was far back enough where people wouldn't care if you goofed around and went slow but I guess I wasn't lol.