This half went about like I expected. I knew I wasn't going to be setting any PRs on this course; it was pretty flat, and the race temperature was far from optimal. My goal was to beat my previous best on a flat course, which I did by a minute +. I made it to the start line with about 20 seconds to spare. I didn't have much of a warmup, but it wouldn't have made any difference. Out of the start, there were about 12 people in front of me. I moved into 8th place in the first mile, which was important, as I was the last person to make it past a railroad crossing in front of a 3-4 minute long train. That kind of screwed everyone over except for the people who got out quick. Water stops were infrequent, only every three miles. They had no gels, no gatorade, only water. There were no porta-potties either. I know this was a first time race, but come on! The final water stop was at mile 9, then nothing till the finish line. This was a pretty lonely run. By mile 9 I saw someone up ahead in a green shirt. I wasn't expecting to reel him in, but knew if it was going to happen, it would be on the long, gradual uphill of Pages Lane. Right after recrossing the tracks in mile 12, I passed and gapped him a bit. Then I held on till the end, cursing the race organizers for omitting that mile 12 water stop. My mom and sister were at the finish, having completed their 10 miler to be there in time to wave me in. We had chuck-wagon breakfast after the race, but it could have been called upchuck-wagon breakfast. Oh well, at least mine was free with the race entry. So I ran a race, and got a meaningless high placing in a small field. Medium fish in a little pond. Still, it was fun, and good to surpass my Huntsville Half time from 2 years ago. | 