I was invited by Jeff to run this race a week ago and it ended up working out. He got me a free entry so it was pretty good. The main goal of the race was to run as slow as possible and still win. I knew there shouldn't be anyone here that was real fast. Jeff and I arrived about an hour before the marathon and we went for a short warm up run. Weather ended up being really nice. I got a nice shot of Jeff coming out of the start and then headed up to wait until the start of the half. At the starting line no one would get on the line but me so I thought ok no too bad. There was a kid behind me that said he wanted to run low 1:20's so I thought not bad. After the national anthem they gunned the race and I mean right after. It took me by surprise as it did everyone else. We started out and immediately the kid and three other guys surged out ahead. I was thinking that I might be in for a race but wasn't comfortable with what they were going out in so I just sat back. After the first mile I passed one of them and then had a guy pull even with me. He was breathing really hard. I just was thinking "really???" a mile in and you're already dying. He fell back at a mile and a half. Then there were two guys that traded postions a couple of time that came back around two and a half. I passed both and made some small talk with the second one for a few seconds. Then I just had the kid in front of me. We started a long climb around three and a half and I could see him slowly coming back to me. At four and a half the road turned from pavement to hard packed dirt/gravel. I pulled even with him and we talked for a few seconds and then I had a decision. I really thought about just slowing down and running with him and taking it easy until the turn around. I decided to keep hold pace and make him work hard if he wanted to stay with me. After a water station I knew I would be coming up on the turn around and nearly missed it. They didn't have any volunteers marking it and the police escort I had didn't have clue. I turned around and the proceeded to yell to the next few guys were it was at. After the race I found out that the cop had turn around the second place guy a tenth or so too early. After the turn around there was a climb that just didn't stop until just short of ten. I was pissed a couple of times because I sure didn't remember that much of a drop on the way out. I just focused on relaxing and running a good effort up and pushing it on the slight down hills. At ten and a half the course had a hard turn and I got a good look back. I could see I had a pretty big lead so I went in to shut down mode and kept telling myself to take it easy into the finish line the big goal is in a couple of weeks. At the finish I guess the people were disappointed a local guy didn't win by the way they acted. But no big deal. I found out that the kid was 14 and it was his 15th half marathon???? A bit crazy but he was a super nice kid. Jeff and I proceed to get hosed after that. We both received a $25 gift certificate for the win and the 2nd place guys won a free pair of Pearl Izumi shoes. We asked the race director about it and he said he would look into it but had no idea that was all that was in the winners bag. I went from excited for a pair of shoes to feeling a touch upset. I think I even made the comment to the RD I guess I should've slowed down and taken secon then. This still ended up being a fun race because I was able to be there with Jeff. We both won and that's why we went. So mission accomplished. I didn't have to push and was able to run an ok time and still feel great afterward. I was joking I should go run a shake out tonight because I still feel fresh. Awesome couple of days. THANKS JEFF. | 