~13.1 miles @ ~8.4 min/mi

Hills, horses, and happiness! Before the race, the sun rises over a foggy Bachman Valley in northern Maryland.

Pushing hard to maintain pace, the result: overall 48th place of 202 finishers, 3rd male in the 60-69 year bracket. Official results: chip time 1:49:37, in agreement with the watch. Splits by mile markers: ~8.0 + 8.4 + 8.4 + 8.8 + 8.0 + 8.4 + 8.3 + 8.2 + 8.6 + 8.8 + 8.8 + 8.3 + 8.1 and ~45 seconds for the final fraction to the finish line.

Before the race we greet comrade Christina Caravoulias, who accompanied me here in years past. (cf. 2008-09-21 - Bachman Valley Half Marathon, 2009-09-20 - Bachman Valley Half Marathon, 2010-09-26 - Bachman Valley Half Marathon, ...) Along the course I see only one wooly bear caterpillar on the road. I carefully step over it.

Many thanks to Don Libes for snookering me into this insanity, and for driving to and from. Don also gets photo credit for recording my prize: a small apple pie. Note that it originally is for another age group, where nobody hung around long enough to collect it. I correct the label using my ballpoint pen.

Runkeeper records route, pace, and elevation profile.

^z - 2014-10-15