cissalC llaF Race Report

You know the feeling. You're walking in a grassy area, and the ground that had been relatively solid suddenly goes, squish. Yep. You stepped in dogshit. Dan's race is done, but this is a good metaphor for his day. Let's consider Dan's race in reverse order so that it might have a happy ending.

Dan has some chili, but it's cold. He shouldn't have waited so long, but he had been talking with friends, and he had to get his second AG award. He gets to talk a bunch with racer extraordinaire, Alan Dravenstott, whom he hasn't seen in a while. He also recounts Theresa Wright's excellent race with her and her husband, Gary. He sees several other friends, new and old, including Roberta Gangl and Rob Lisy, both of whom he hasn't seen in a long time. The Fall Classic is a race where everyone knows your name. And they certainly know Dan's.

Dan, Alan, Theresa (photo: Gary Wright)

The finish line magically appears at 1:53:24 after the start. It's been a tough one for Dan. Real tough. Somewhere between mile 13 and mile 13.1, Hope and John Hnat pass Dan like he was standing still. It's a great run for them, especially Hope, who had been injured earlier in the year. Of course, John (at the start) had been talking Dan up and sandbagging it all as usual.

Rob passes Dan in the final mile or two. Dan isn't surprised. Theresa passes Dan with two or three miles to go. After a few encouraging words, Dan tries to stay with her. It's not even close. She is moving, passing everyone by. Dan? Moving isn't a good word for what he's doing at this point.

The nice thing about this race, other than everyone knowing your name, is that the double-out-and-back course allows everyone to see each other on several occasions. Dan sees Alan go by a couple of times, and he's really moving along in second place. He sees his other friends as well - you know, the ones who will pass him later on.

Dan has to stop and tie his shoe near the one-mile mark. It may be the first time this has ever happened to Dan in a race. Not a good omen. He had been concerned about his recent lack of training. Thus, expectations had been low from the start. Such matters were discussed in Dan's pre-race blog post.

Dan's loot

2025 Half Marathons