Luke - 15

Eugene Half Marathon, 1:18:59 (35th place)
Walk/jogged to the start at about 6am and did a little bit of jogging, pinned my number on my jersey, had a couple gels, and talked to a bunch of other runners I know.  Did some strides on the start line, listened to the nation anthem, and then the starter (guy who got 10th place at the Boston Marathon this year and, shall we say, knows his way around the inside of a giant foam representation of a popular breakfast food) tried and failed to shoot the starter's pistol.  The announcer went "3, 2, 1" and then nothing happened.  We all laughed at him, and then the announcer just shouted through the megaphone, "Go!" and about a second later the starter actually managed to make the gun go bang.
I settled into an easy pace early, and about a quarter mile in picked it up slightly.  I hit my watch at 1 mile but didn't look at it, deciding to only look at my 2-mile splits.  About a mile and a half in I was thinking "this is feeling really long," which isn't really a good sign.  My 2-mile split was right where I wanted it to be, though (11:31).  I'd talked to my friend Matt before the race and he said he would be doing about 5:55s since he had taken a lot of time off and only really got three weeks of training in...I told him he should go faster than that since I know he is way faster than me.  A little past a mile he caught up to me, and at two miles he said, "Yeah this pace feels good, I'll just run with you."  It was definitely nice having him to run with.  We passed Zack and our friend Thomas at about 2½ miles and they cheered for us and we waved.  The next 2-mile split was 11:38 with a slight uphill starting just before the end of it, so I was decently happy with that one as well. The next 2-mile split was also 11:38, with some uphill followed by a bit of downhill in the first mile of it.  Around 5 miles my stomach was cramping up and I decided I'd hop into the next bathroom I saw on the course.  I expected it to not be far since it seemed like they had a lot of them out there, but I was not seeing one at all.  I started speeding up to try and get to one sooner, and ended up feeling a little better just from being at that faster pace.  By the time I found one, just before mile 8, I didn't really need it too badly, but I went in anyway, as a precaution.  I of course timed my break and it was 58 seconds.  When I jumped back in to the race I felt decent for a couple minutes, but stopping had deadened my legs a good bit.  The next mile had a sizable hill in it and I was without my running partner, so things got pretty tough pretty quick.  I was hurting pretty good and getting passed by a few handfuls of people, and then just before mile 10 I got a sideache, which hasn't happened in like four years, and had to walk for a little bit.  As I was walking, Matt passed me, and I started running again so I could ask him what happened.  Apparently he had taken a pitstop about a mile after I did (and his portaloo split wasn't as fast as mine).  Difference is he felt really good, and I was only able to stay with him for a few seconds.  The next mile was another slow one, but after that my legs started coming back to me (thankfully!).  As I started accelerating there was a left turn followed 150m later by a right turn, and I looked over my shoulder at the second turn and saw, at the first turn, my friend Renee, who was leading the women's race of the half marathon!  I was happy for her and all but of course I sped up so as not to give her a chance of catching me.  As I came over the footbridge about 3/4 of a mile from the finish I passed a guy who said "1:18!" or something to that effect, I can't really remember.  The gist was that he was going for 6-minute pace, I surmised, so I said, "Yeah, but it's coming up quick!  Gotta dig deep!"  Entering the stadium I felt strong but not fast.  Finished hard, then after getting my medal I was able to cheer on Renee as she broke the tape.
Talked to a bunch of people in the finishing area, then grabbed a chocolate milk and a piece of bagel and headed out (it was no-reentry, kinda annoying) to the beer garden.  Even after standing around talking for like 15 minutes I was the first one there, and the guy wasn't even sure of the price yet.  Ended up paying $5 for a pint of I can't even remember what, and sitting and drinking it surrounded by empty chairs and tables.  Then headed out to talk with some friends, and attempted a cooldown with the guy who got fifth.  Made it probably less than a half mile of hobbling before stopping due to stomach pain, and ducked into the music building wherein I was able to find a very nice bathroom.  Walked back and watched a few people finished and talked to lots of people, then finally walked home with a couple guys and us and Zack went out to breakfast and demolished a ton of food.  There were three post-race barbecues going on in the afternoon, but I took a nap and ended up only going to one, but it was a lot of fun.  Unfortunately, the race being on a Sunday meant I had to leave early to get ready for the workweek.
All in all I wasn't really happy with the race--I thought I could BS a decent half-marathon time, and that didn't really work out--but other than miles 8-11 the weekend was a lot of fun.

Splits: 5:48, 5:43, 5:43, 5:55, 5:57, 5:41, 5:44, 6:41 (with :58 pitstop), 5:56, 6:34, 6:26, 6:01, 6:42 (1.1mi)