That's A Wrap.

What a fantastic morning for a race.  Today was the B.A.A. Half Marathon which wrapped up the B.A.A. Distance Medley for 2014 with a big old blue and yellow bow on top.  What a great trio of races throughout the year.  Starting with the 5K in April, 10K in June and the Half Marathon today.  Great courses and absolutely the best organized and run races anywhere. 

I ran this same half last year so I knew what to expect along the way.  I loved it then and still loved it today.  It is one of the more challenging due to the many hills throughout the course (especially that beauty at mile 11).  Maybe that is why I love this course so much.  Maybe it is the beautiful scenery along the route in the Emerald Necklace.  Maybe it is the throngs of spectators who cheer all the runners on with their cow bells and goofy signs that make us runners giggle as we are pounding the pavement.  Maybe it is all of these things that makes it one hell of a wicked pissah race that wraps its shoelaces around you and makes you run it year after year.  Just maybe.

Race day started with the alarm clock rudely waking us up at 4:30 AM this morning.  How dare it?!  What was it thinking?  Well, if it wasn't the alarm clock, it would have been the alarm on the iPad or the alarm on the iPhone both set for 4:35 AM.  Yes, I am always paranoid that I'm going to wake up late and miss a race.  Always have to have a backup to the backup.  Ah, I totally forgot that I could have set my son's devices too so that there could have been a few more backups!  Darn it.

We got on the road and made it to the shuttle bus location at the Bayside Expo Center in Boston wicked early.  Like seriously wicked early.  Early bird catches the bottle of Gatorade or something like that.  We boarded the bus and made it to the field at Franklin Park next to White Stadium where the finish line is.  Boy (or girl if you prefer) was it friggin cold out this morning!  It was so cold that you could see your breath as you crunched the patches of frost on the ground.  Perfect weather for a run. 

My plan for today's race was to just beat last year's finish.  Plain and simple.  Well, that plan worked out well as I finished with a PR for both a half marathon and for the course as well as shaving 5 minutes 30 seconds off of last year's time.  "Gillette, the best a man can get".  Sorry, "shaving" made me think of that jingle (now it is stuck in my head)!  I'll take that "stubble", sorry, "faster time" and the stats below any day:

Net Time 1:37:53
Pace 7:28
Overall 553/6211
In Gender 451/2682 (Male)
In Division 52/330 (M40-44)

The B.A.A. distance medley was such a great trio of runs to participate in as they were nicely spread out throughout the year, are great courses and well run.  I'll post my final medley time and place as soon as they are posted on the B.A.A. site.

Thank you to my wife Jen for getting up early today to go and support me in the freezing cold!  We both got to listen to "Back in Black" being played over the event speakers while we waited for the race to start!  How appropriate (see my last post before this one)!

Until next time, keep on runnin'!