Weather was predicted as snow and wind, but we got sun and less wind instead. Gorgeous day to run. I must’ve seeded myself well because I quickly found a pack of long legged gazelles doing 6:30s to draft behind as the first half of the race would be into the wind. These guys were solid and steady, like mighty riggers on high seas. I usually run more like Captain Cook, surging and fading, with a few spells of crazy for good measure. We ticked the pace down to 6:22s and maintained there nicely.

I stuck behind this one Asian guy who could’ve been a hi-volume shampoo model his hair was so thick and bouncy. My mix of Animal Collective, Sleigh Bells, Springsteen, Phoenix and others was bumping dub-club mix, so I just rocked out and watched this guy’s head become one of those WMP visualization settings. Who needs ‘shrooms when you’ve got running, am I wrong?

These runners were tangent masters. They cut lines through the course I’d never have seen on my own. So I stuck with them through the turnaround (out-n-back) when hair model made me look like a knock-off brand and I faded back a couple of seconds per mile. Breathing was good, but the legs were starting to feel the deep down, still-recovering fatigue, so I held on to the heels of this other guy running in an Etsy style knit hat with two heart tattoos on his ankles, one red, the other black.

I spent miles 8-11 contemplating what those hearts meant. Ying/yang riff? God/man dichotomy? Drunk Valentine’s Day decision? Poker player with a wicked tell? Jury’s out on this one.

While I was running with this guy I could stand the suffering. He was steady as a metronome and it allowed me to shut down the demons that said slow down, you're in too much pain, you can't compete at this, you're a weak and shitty runner, so you might as well give up. Instead, I could enjoy the music, let him dictate the pace and truly enjoy myself.

Blasted though if I didn't crack a bit on miles 11-12 as a few of us jockeyed for position, feeling surges of suckage and those euphoric visions of crossing the finish. Throughout the last mile I was running well, though when I looked at my Garmin it showed an overall average pace of 6:25s and I was already at 1:25, with a few hundred yards to go. That’s when I noticed we were well past 13.1, so something was up. I kicked down the final third of a mile and clipped four dudes on the final straight. Sa da tay! Sepatown!

Schedule my races with ample recovery time

The great news is I got 3rd in my AG and top 25 OA, which I’ve never done in a mid-sized race. Super stoked about that!

The sort of disappointing news is that I ran a faster pace than last year's race, but I had a slower time. It looks by all accounts of everyone we talked to after the race that the turn-around section of miles 6-7 was 1.4 miles, so the turn around was too far out. Whatevs, I ran the best race I could and had a blast and my knee didn’t explode, so I’ve got that going for me, which is nice.

Update (4/4/11) from the race's Facebook page: "The half course measured long, at 13.4 miles. We have no idea how the turn around got there, but we overheard you say some crop circles were spotted in the area. The results will be posted to reflect the pace you ran for 13.4 and we're working on getting you a time for 13.1 based on that pace. Please be patient with us, it's been a long trip back to Mars."

Update (4/6/11): RD has corrected the times to reflect 13.1 miles. 1:24:18 new PB for ME!!!