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And that would be the half marathon. Little bit of rain in the forecast. I just want to finish without stopping. Wearing bib #10149 for coroner ID purposes.
Edit: Success. Finished in 2 hours, six minutes, and twenty seconds. Observations in a little bit after I recover.
Edit:
- Shout out to faithful reader Rob Daniels of Decatur who actually spotted me in the crowd and said hello. He finished the half marathon in a very impressive 1:51:48.
- Sheesh, the results show that I was in the 66th percentile for my very old division. I don't believe that. I'm in denial. Hard.
- At the beginning, I decided to slow down just a tad to enjoy the race so I wouldn't struggle to much at the finish. Good idea. Last year I finished at 2:02 but almost died.
- My nemises Barron Green, I see, ran the full marathon this year and finished in just over 4 hours. Barron scoreboarded me.
- Holy crap. I looked up runners from Decatur and saw that high school senior David Cude ran the half in 1:12:32. That's a pace of 6:35 a mile for 13 miles!
- It rained like a son of a gun on my drive there, but only sprinkled briefly during the raise.
- It was in the 40s but I'll take it over 70 every time in a run like that.
- Cost $5 to park
- Victory Plaza at American Airlines Center, where the race began, is amazing.
- The announcer urged the marathoners to "huddle up" to stay warm. He then announced, "The only people that are still going to be cold are the Kenyans because they don't have any body fat!" Easy there, hoss.
- With the trees changing colors, it was fantastic. Heck, I'll go one step further: Of all the things I've done in my life, today may rank in the Top 10 moments.
- The first part of the race runs you through Uptown (passed all the high rise condos and the new Ritz Carlton), then you wind through Turtle Creek through million dollar homes. It is absolutely incredible.
- I saw Steve Eagar of Fox 4 after the race. He looked like he just got out of make up.
- There are a lot of women that run. A bunch of woman. I saw so many guys on the sidelines with kids holding signs that read, "Go Mommy!" Edit: The official results show that 56% of those that finished the half marathon were female.
- And sooooo many people turn out to cheer the runners on. Amazing.
- Grabbing a cup of water and drinking it while running is hard. Very hard.
- For me, everything changes at mile marker 10. Up to that point, I feel fairly normal. After that, I wonder if my body will give out.
- They open up the floor of the American Airlines Center after the race. Various vendors give away free samples - mostly apples and yogurt - but two or three high tone restaurants showed up with pasta samples. And, oddly, they give away free beer.
- I saw one guy curled up in the fetal position in the AAC and I was worried about him. But someone from the race came by to make sure he was OK.
- The race benefits the Scottish Rite Hospital which promotes itself as being "free". How on gawd's green earth is that possible?
- I couldn't have done what I did today when I was 25. But I bought a treadmill 12 years ago and have never stopped. It may have been one of my best decisions ever.
