Notes
Got up at 5:00, not feeling particularly rested or bouncy, Showered, got DW loaded up w/cowbell. Drove to pick up DD, thence to Valparaiso. Sky was clear, didn't feel hot, but a bit muggy. Discussed whether we should run together or just run our own pace; finally I decided on the latter. Tyler was there, running in Jess's bib. Jess hadn't recovered sufficiently from his Ironman to do this. About 300 runners starting on very narrow trail made the first mile quite slow; after that, it thinned out for fine running. Bearing in mind tomorrow's race, I tried to keep as relaxed and comfortable as possible. The trail was lovely, mostly shaded with trees. Vibrams felt good on the gravel. There was good crowd support where the trail was crossed by county roads, and a few other places. Several cowbells. There was a guy playing charge on his harmonica. Around mile 5 and 6 I was hearing a gal's footsteps behind me, and I used the sound for pacing; then at the turnaround she made it quick and got in front of me. I stayed behind her the rest of the way, and I think she helped me keep the pace brisk. In the last 5 miles I was tiring, but still felt good enough that I wasn't too worried about tomorrow.
At the finish line, the race clock said 99:99:99. An official said it stopped, and pointed me toward a guy on the other side. I wandered over there, and that guy poked at his iPad a few times, said "Oops, sorry, I think you were around 1:53." So, that's my official time.