66F??? Didn't feel like it. I felt fine, but it was interesting to see multiple EMS vehicles on the course today. We have had only a handful of sunny, warm days this year. The past two days were warmer, but today felt hot.

Started out not expecting a lot. I was thinking that I would like to finish under 1 hour, but before the race started it was a very flexible goal. This was my first race of any distance over 5k and while I have many training runs at this distance or longer, it was mainly a training run in race form after a low mile week.

Start was slow as expected with a large field of runners, once it thinned a bit I was able to fall into a comfortable pace a bit under 8 minutes per mile. We started hitting a majority of the uphill portion between mile 1 and 3 which was expected and while I pushed the hills a bit, it was still comfortable. I fell into pace with a great guy named Gregg who was actually right next to me at the start of the race (line-up in the proper pace spot, unlike many runners). We maintained about a 7:45-7:30 pace through a majority of the remaining distance. As we ran, I found out that Gregg is in training for his first triathlon and we talked for a bit about that. With about a mile to go, Gregg let up a bit and after a brief thought about slowing down I headed to the finish on my own. I met back up with Gregg briefly after the finish, thanked him for the company and congratulated him on his run.

I could have run harder which is encouraging, but I am very happy with the results of this run. I feel like it was a confidence builder going into my first half marathon and gave me an idea of what pace I can maintain over a longer distance. The hills added to that feeling as well.

Despite what the weather report says, this race felt much warmer and by looking at the past results it appears that I was not the only person who was feeling the weather a bit. Lots of people were hitting up every aid station set-up along the route and were also running through the sprinklers that locals had put out along the entire course. I took one cup at the 4 mile mark to wet my mouth, but spit most of the one drink I took back out. This has been pretty normal for anything under 2 hours that I have done.

Nothing unless I was looking to leave everything out on the course. I know that there are people out there with the mentality that every race is an "A" race, but this was to be a successful learning event and it was.

Walked around and drank some water. Ate two orange slices, a quarter bagel, half of a banana, and picked up my BEER (finally, I have signed up for other events that were to have beer at the end and didn't. I wasn't expecting it here and didn't even see that a local brewer was one of the sponsors. Tasted GREAT!!!).


Current base and past experience at distances longer than 5k.


30th running of this race which means that they know a bit about what they are doing. Volunteers were great and everywhere. I am used to the support that other athletes give to each other at triathlons and it was not the same here. Runners are a good group, but it seems that once thier race is over it is all over.