13.1 miles @ ~9.0 min/mi

After a mile my crimson shirt is sweat-soaked and comes off, to wrap around an arm. It's my first run in new scarlet Brooks "performance" shoes; they feel good on the old feeties. Approaching the finish line I put the shirt back on. "You don't know how lucky you are!" I tell Karsten Brown as he takes my picture there.

Hot, humid, and hilly—that just about summarizes the 2010 Riley's Rumble half marathon. I'm two minutes slower than last year (2009-07-26 - Riley's Rumble Half Marathon) when I did 1:55:33 on an uncertified course estimated to be ~0.4 miles too long. Before the start I take two S! e-caps and along the way I drink salty Zelectrolyte lemonade-tea. An ice-pop from Don Libes at about mile 10 is refreshing, but nevertheless the final uphill miles are slow, with rough GPS-estimated splits of 7:40 + 8:07 + 8:17 + 8:14 + 8:53 + 9:02 + 8:49 + 9:41 + 9:38 + 9:02 + 8:37 + 10:39 + 8:54 + final fragment at 7:56 min/mi pace.

Hills dominate, as this elevation profile from GPSvisualizer suggests. Before the start I give Gayatri Datta and Barry Smith electrolyte capsules. Gayatri later tells me that she gave one of hers to a runner in distress during the race. Ken Swab gets overheated and breaks out in goosebumps. Temperatures during the race rise from the low 80s, with dew point in the upper 60s. Before the start the race officials declare today's event a "Fun Run" to discourage competitors from trying too hard and getting into medical trouble. There are no official results.

(cf. RileysRumble (2003-07-27), 2004-07-25 - Riley's Rumble Half Marathon, 2006-07-23 - Riley's Rumble 2006, RileysRumble2007 (2007-07-30), 2008-07-27 - Riley's Rumble, 2009-07-26 - Riley's Rumble Half Marathon, ...) - ^z - 2010-08-10