Just finished the Big Lake half-marathon in Alton, New Hamster, by Lake Winnipesauke.
Run observations:
After being in the low 60s and at least partly sunny for most of the past week, on race day it's in the low 40s, rainy and windy. F'ing wet and cold. At the end of the race, I couldn't untie my shoelace to remove the timing chip because my fingers had gone completely numb.
I found it amusing to see the stream of runners (slowly working up the first of the big inclines) passing the "SPEED LIMIT 50" sign. I realize that this is probably only amusing to me.
The race sponsors a "Big Lake Battle" where there's a competition between the Water stations for the group that is the most spirited. Rain kept most of the fiddlers, banjo and acoustic guitar players playing out of the back of their trucks, which sadly made them hard to hear until you were just passing them.
Most memorable: scary clown woman juggling to the macarena (and earlier, that weird techno version of Cotton-Eye Joe).
Most enjoyable: barbershop quartet, around mile 8, singing in the light rain on a quiet stretch of road.Speaking of music, for practically the entire race, I had the "horns" from the Ben Folds' song Army going through my head:
Baaaaaahhhh---- ba ba bah-baaah---- ba ba bah-baaah---- bah-ba BAH
The whole race. Much less annoying than you might expect.
Ba ba baaaaahhhh---- bah-bah ba ba ba bah-- ba da bah-bah ba ba ba-da-dah
(in concert, the entire crowd will sing the two parts)
Actually, kinda cool. Certainly, better than the macarena.
Although I did try to do the macarena as I passed the scary clown woman.Thankful that I bought new shoes before this race. There were a few nasty downhills that would have totally wrecked my knees, I think.
Despite the hilly course, and the crappy weather, and being stressed with school and the new job, I still finished with a better time than the Boston race. (although I was getting sick at the time.) Chip time: 1:40:33
Ok, now I have to go and write a stupid paper for class.
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