(Some will win... Some will lose... Some were born to sing the blues...)
I ran a half marathon on Sunday. My first. All things considered, it went pretty well.
Line for the bathrooms at 6:50 AM.We left our camping vacation half way through to spend a night at a hotel in Buffalo (Hey, a TV! I had forgot about TV!). We drove up Saturday. The race was on Sunday.
Getting there sucked. Registration sucked. The race itself was great.
Driving the course the night before was incredibly helpful. It's good to know when you're going to be running through abject poverty, abandoned factories and giant grain elevators. You don't want to be slowed down by the visual shock of all that.
Parts of Buffalo they don't show in the brochure.The people of Buffalo continue to impress. All the volunteers were incredibly friendly and supportive.
There was probably 2500 people there running the race. It was a good 2 minutes after the start of the race before I crossed the start line. That feeling of anticipation is a rush.
Right before the start.Conditions were just about perfect for a long run. 60 degrees. Mixed sun and clouds. Occasional light rain. I couldn't have asked for more.
Best line of the day - two minutes into the race, the guy next to me takes off his headphones and announces "I've just been informed that the Kenyan has already won".
I ran the first third of the race slow and steady. Didn't care who passed me. The second third of the race was a little faster. I begin to pass people as they stopped to stretch and go to the bathroom. By the last three miles, I was pretty consistently passing people. Now keep in mind that this is probably the bottom third of the order here that I'm passing... Not the elites. But it still felt great to finish strong.
The author at mile 5.The crowds were great. Very supportive. It sounds stupid, but you really get a rise out of people cheering for you after 12 miles. Some guy was blaring "Don't Stop" by Journey out of his truck at the 12.5 mile mark. I found this hilarious.
I didn't make my goal time, but I did just fine (Although... Holy shit! I think a Little Person beat me...) And I enjoyed the process itself. One guy gave me his life story. I spent 10 minutes trading Simpson's quotes with another pair of guys. It was a blast. Could I have squeezed out a few more minutes if I just kept my head down and ran? Probably. But I also wouldn't have had as much fun.
Despite constant fluid intake during and after, it was about 6 hours after the race finished before I finally peed again.
"Hey! Are you drinking my juice box?!"I'm taking 2 weeks off from running. After that, I'll see how I feel and if I've got any more races in me.
