My half marathon...

I like half marathons. Wind me up and watch me go. I don't go fast, though I'm not last either. I wouldn't mind being last, as long as I was running the best possible race in me at the time.

Had a great day today. This was the first annual Boston's Run To Remember, 5M and 13.1M courses through boston. It's been a few years since I've done a half. It's such a humane distance. I know how long it takes me to do a whole marathon (4:50+), I've done two at remarkably similar times.

In general, perhaps one should avoid first annual events like one used to have to avoid 1.0 software; this went off pretty well. They changed the start time last week from 10 to 8am; the 8am start got off at about 8:18. The first mile was slow; there was a City of Boston pond in one of the roadways (but it means this slop is melting and I'll take it, even with a minute's delay). The water stops weren't frequent enough, with enough tables or pre-poured water, and they should have been set up on both sides of the course.

Besides that, though, I had a great day. There were plenty of finisher's goodies, the course was well-patrolled (it being a remembrance race for fallen police officers, after all) and well-marked. The expo was a lot easier to get through than the marathon expo. The post-race fest was fest-y. There was plenty of GU on the course for those who partake (I do).

I met a guy, Paul Martin, an amputee who smoked me with a 1:31 and has written a book "One Man's Leg." I promised I'd do the library thing and give it a read. Real friendly. The book's got good reviews on Amazon (which could mean anything or nothing).

For the numbers crowd, I ran my typical half time, 2:04, and am quite happy with things. Off for some protein and the rest of the day.