At the start I took off slowly, I was nervous about how my nutrition was settling. I'd taken a gel about 10 minutes prior and drank some water. I felt it sloshing around, which made me wary of the way I was absorbing. At Mile 1, I still felt it there, but I felt fine. My pace was quick, in the 6:40's so I knew I was pushing it.

I saw Pete just after Mile 2 and he told me I was in 15th overall, 11th guy. Pete looked strong!

By Mile 3, the gel and water had absorbed and I was feeling okay. It had taken me THIS long to get to feeling comfortable. I hadn't raced in Newtons for a while so I'm sure I was just readjusting to the Newton running style. I had missed it. It felt good. My 3.1 mile split was just over 20 minutes so I knew I wasn't going TOO fast. This pace was good. I'd passed one male runner between Mile 3 and 4.

Took a gel at Mile 4 and some water...went down just fine and I kept going. I was still feeling really good, but knew that even last time at The Halloween Halfathon, I still felt good at Mile 4. Mile 10 was the breaking point.

I took a split at 6.2 miles and it was 40:51...only a few seconds slower than my 10K PR, so I got a little nervous, thinking I was going too fast...but I kept feeling good so I went with it.

Another gel at Mile 8, this is where I'd have started feeling bloated if it was gonna happen. I shot some water down and ran along. Mile 9 came and I didn't feel like I was holding the nutrition, it was absorbing...I let myself smile a bit.

Moment of truth...Mile 10. I was still running consistently at sub-6:45 pace and no cramping, no sloshing, no pain or power fall-off. It was working!! Saw Pete again...I waved (it was all I could do at that pace), and he yelled to me "just another 20 minutes...suck it up!!". So that's what I did...I had about 23 minutes to get to a sub-1:30 finish.

Up til about Mile 11 I'd been passing a bunch of people that I let get in front of me at the beginning of the race. But I wanted to conserve energy so I didn't make any more pushes for overall places. I knew I was in 13th, and I just wanted a top 20 finish so I was fine with this. I was 10th overall for men, and was content to stay there. I didn't want to lose it, but I wasn't gonna go for 9th or 8th. I needed to keep my energy constant. I did a really good job of it in this race. I think I've never been more consistent with my pace.

I was getting really ready to be done at Mile 12, so I just told myself to hang on and run it in. I was at 1:21 on the clock and I knew I'd have my PR if I just kept the pace up for the next mile. Soon I saw the turnoff to head back to the park and I looked at my watch. 1:27:54 was on the clock as I approached the 13 mile mark. Another few seconds and I was at the finish line, a new 13.1 mile PR of 1:28:33!

I figured I'd placed in my AG since I was 10th overall male and 13th overall runner. But nope...4 of the top 10 men were in 35-39 and I was the 4th! Ya just never know!

Nothing...this was my COMEBACK!!

Got some water and food (something I haven't been able to do after a race all season because of the stomach problems), walked around, looked at results, went to the car to change clothes, waited for Pete to finish.


Nothing.


ARC has come a long way in recent years. They've been great with their race organization lately, been very thrilled with it. Enjoyable race, good venue, and great people!