NYC 100k
About half as hard as I expected, but only because I did half as much as I was supposed to. Actually, my race was pretty much over before it started. First I get woken up before my alarm by _thunder_, and then on my way around the half of the course between larrygreenfield's apartment and the start, I become the first person to discover that the low point is full of a 20' diameter puddle deep enough to contain a submerged speedbump. The start gets pushed back an hour to wait for the rain to lighten up. Meanwhile, the rest of my team decides there's no point in risking a wet race, except for the two only signed up for the marathon, and I figure I'll join them and take it easy, since I've already trashed a set of bearings and have nothing else to do. Apparently at least half the non-pros either didn't start or switched to a shorter distance, which makes for a harder race since there are fewer people going any particular speed to form draft lines. The organizers tried to compensate for it by changing the start spacing and drafting rules at the last minute, but the end result was that nobody knew what they were.
Thus, when they started the 42k, I don't think half the people in front of me realized the pro division was starting at the same time and took off much too quick for the first lap. Teammate K later told me he was shocked I didn't try to keep up, since I easily could have on the uphill. I instead was what had happend to M who'd been right behind me until then. Turns out she, along with most everyone else behind me, was having more trouble with the slippery road than I was. So I figured I'd try to make up the 200 yards or so between me and K. Took 2 laps by myself to do it, largely because I'd lose on the downhill half of what I'd gained on the uphill. Replacing the oil in my bearings with muddy water probably had something to do with that. That and the downhill wasn't steep enough in most places to be really useful. The 21k leaders caughte up after their delayed start, and I managed to fall in with them until they finished at which point I took it easy until the group behind caught up. They somehow thought they'd lapped me since they had the lead woman, and I was pretty sure they hadn't, but when we all lapped M the corner before the finish, I figured I do another lap with her just in case I'd miscounted. And now the slackers who've been sitting out the race, not knowing that I'd already planned to do an extra one as M's windbreak, tell me (falsely) that I do in fact have one more, which means 2 more for M. By this point the road is starting to dry out, so 2 more doesn't sound too bad. Of course, their deceit is revealed the next time around when the officials tell us we're done, but by then I'd gone past the exit, so I do one more cooldown lap to make it over 50k. I thought about trying for the full 100 again, but I'd have been dead tired when I finished, and I didn't really want to be one of the last people going around by myself. Turns out there would have been plenty of others, just spaced out enough never to see each other. The 42k time was 1:54.44 for not really trying that hard. The kicker is, if I'd planned to keep up at the start and risk wiping out, I'd almost certainly have finished no worse than 4th. Oh well.
Thus, when they started the 42k, I don't think half the people in front of me realized the pro division was starting at the same time and took off much too quick for the first lap. Teammate K later told me he was shocked I didn't try to keep up, since I easily could have on the uphill. I instead was what had happend to M who'd been right behind me until then. Turns out she, along with most everyone else behind me, was having more trouble with the slippery road than I was. So I figured I'd try to make up the 200 yards or so between me and K. Took 2 laps by myself to do it, largely because I'd lose on the downhill half of what I'd gained on the uphill. Replacing the oil in my bearings with muddy water probably had something to do with that. That and the downhill wasn't steep enough in most places to be really useful. The 21k leaders caughte up after their delayed start, and I managed to fall in with them until they finished at which point I took it easy until the group behind caught up. They somehow thought they'd lapped me since they had the lead woman, and I was pretty sure they hadn't, but when we all lapped M the corner before the finish, I figured I do another lap with her just in case I'd miscounted. And now the slackers who've been sitting out the race, not knowing that I'd already planned to do an extra one as M's windbreak, tell me (falsely) that I do in fact have one more, which means 2 more for M. By this point the road is starting to dry out, so 2 more doesn't sound too bad. Of course, their deceit is revealed the next time around when the officials tell us we're done, but by then I'd gone past the exit, so I do one more cooldown lap to make it over 50k. I thought about trying for the full 100 again, but I'd have been dead tired when I finished, and I didn't really want to be one of the last people going around by myself. Turns out there would have been plenty of others, just spaced out enough never to see each other. The 42k time was 1:54.44 for not really trying that hard. The kicker is, if I'd planned to keep up at the start and risk wiping out, I'd almost certainly have finished no worse than 4th. Oh well.