Sun 01/11 Cascade Half marathon

It felt nice to be racing again, it feels even nicer to know that more races are just around the corner (like Hagg Lake). I had not forgotten how exciting is to be surrounded by people who as excited about running as I am. The excitement was palpable and contagious. In the time before a race starts I like to relax by people watching and trying to pick out which folks might beat me (which is a lot) and the ones whom I might race close to. The main fashion related indicator of speed is generally is the length of someone's running shorts, unless that person happens to be on the local high school cross country team, in which case all bets are off.
The fact that this was a road race did little to curb my enthusiasm. Road races are fun in their own way. I enjoy trying to keep an even pace throughout, especially when all the miles are marked. I started with a 6:40, and averaged 7:09 min miles. The last few miles were into a headwind, so I know I slowed down there, but other than the last few and the first, almost all my miles were 7:10 to 7:15. Unfortunately I could not catch up to they guy running in long cargo pants, whom I was eyeing from a few hundred meters back for almost the whole race. (As a side note: There always seems to be one guy in some ridiculous outfit that puts me to shame at every race. In the Turkey Trot 5 km, which I took 8th, I was destroyed by a man who was 15 years older, 50 pounds heavier, and ran in long sleeved striped and collared cotton polo shirt. So much for spandex.) The course was an out and back, and on the way back, I passed 5 people, and was passed by 1 person, which I think speaks well to my pacing. Its always interesting to me to see how the die is cast so early in these races, despite so much internal struggle on whether to come out fast or slow and then speed up or down. One thing to note about this race: I am pretty sure than I don’t enjoy drinking coffee and running distance anymore. I just felt like the caffeine was wearing off before I finished. For now on I'm not drinking coffee before any race over an hour long.