Notes
Should have known that this would be a clusterf$ck -- it certainly was. But it was good racing. :)
1. Standing around for the start and everyone is around 20 feet or so back from the mat. Without saying anything, they say on your marks and go. Never said to move up to the line or anything? Fortunately I closed the gap when I heard her start saying on your marks (and motioned to others to follow), but still hadn't made it to the line.
2. Half mile in we caught the first of the back of the pack for the half. Must have started late. Before the mile, we were slaloming around the full back of the pack. It just got worse from there. I think I even elbowed a few people trying to get clear space. I feel terrible about that.
3. Course was long! Did my garmin mess up that much? I doubt it. Two most important things at a race -- get the distance right and the time. ARGH!!!
Now to the real race. Once we got started, everyone around me got out HOT!!! I had a brief lead due to the snafu at the start, but 5 or 6 guys quickly overcame that. By the half mile, I figure I was in 6th or 7th place. Looked down at my pace and saw 5:09. Too fast!!! So, just relaxed a little bit and then gave back a bit going up the hill on Kellogg. At this point, I started gaining on some of the people ahead of me. One guy (the eventual winner) just took off. I knew he was gone. By the mile, I had moved up to fourth and by the time we made the right on Market, I was in third. Second had me by probably 30 yards, but I was just trying to smooth things out.
When we made the right on Jackson to head down to Shepard, he opened up a bit on me. As we went down the hill, it was dead in the sun and I couldn't see. Knowing that there are potholes, I was a bit cautious -- he wasn't. Once onto Shepard, just trying to lock into a rhythm and put a target on his back. VERY crowded with half marathoners. Started catching people I know and it was nice to get encouragement. Fairly close to mile three (not sure if just before? I think just after), I caught second. He had slowed just slightly. I thought briefly about sitting on him, but then just decided to keep on it. From this point, I just ran and didn't worry about him. Never really looked back. When we made the turnaround, I saw that first had me by quite a bit. Unless he totally fell apart, he was outta reach. So, just kept the effort up and kept moving back toward the finish.
The hill up from Shepard and then the hill on Wall absolutely sucked (mile 6). Pretty much took any kick I had out of me. So, glad I had buried third early. So, UNOFFICIAL results show me second in 38:21. First was 36:30 and 3rd was 39:39. Nice to put 1:18 on him over the second half of the course. Given the course was almost a quarter mile long -- I would say that was a pretty good effort. :)
Just looked at the course map -- they didn't even follow it! Why have a certified course if you aren't going to follow it???