13.1 miles @ ~13.6 min/mi

"Stop touching that!" Christina Caravoulias tells me every time she catches me rubbing my arm where the wasp stung me. We meet at Chris's home at 5:30am and ride north together to Westminster MD, coincidentally not far at all from yesterday's Gunpowder Falls run. On the way we pause to take photos. Venus gleams like a brilliant diamond in the eastern sky, less than a degree away from first-magnitude star Regulus. Geese swim in the mist-shrouded pond near the course for the Bachman Valley Half Marathon.

Chris and I sign up for the half-hour early start, and at 7:32am we set off with a dozen or so companions. We meet young Rachel and chat with her; she's getting back into distance running and seems somewhat nervous. My socks keep slipping down at first, and I stop to pull them up and retie my shoes. Everybody else is soon far ahead of us, out of sight on the hilly country road.

The day is cool compared to last year and the race goes uneventfully. I eat prodigious amounts of pretzels and candy at every aid station, to Chris's amusement. At mile 7 I find an electrolyte capsule on the road and, since it looks clean, take it. I text in tweets at start, middle, and end. A mile from the finish line we overtake Rachel, who is suffering slightly. I think that I admonish her gently for going out too fast; Chris scolds me later for saying, "I told you so!" We come in a few minutes under 3 hours, with Rachel just slightly behind us. Chris gives her an energy gel to help her recover more quickly.

After we eat and drink we set off for home, hoping to find an ice cream parlor like last year. Wrong turns and mistaken directions get us to a Burger King drive-through window where I snag veggie burger, fries, and Dr Pepper. Our splits, by my watch:

(cf. official results at [1] and last year's notes at 2008-09-21 - Bachman Valley Half Marathon) - ^z - 2009-09-25