RACE: OUC Half-Marathon @1:55:52, Lake Eola, Orlando, FL

[UPDATE: Click this LINK if you're looking for the results of the 2008 OUC Half-Marathon]

The OUC Half-Marathon was this past Saturday, and I felt really good that morning -- got there relatively early and had no rush no worries since I picked up my packet on Friday. I knew that I was under-trained and to just take the run for what it was worth.

The Course:

Lining up for the start, I hung out with Liam from OFRW. We ran the first seven miles together at a 8:00 minute pace before I dropped off with a lot of walking breaks... my head was over-heating, and I know better than to push it. I took multiple liquids at every water station and could feel the heaviness on my feet but at least they weren't burning like they were at the Thanksgiving 8K (when I was wearing the thinly-soled lime-green racing flats).

Anyways, after a respectable first half of the race, I ran/walked the second half with my head held high. I had persisted and finished under my first goal of under 2 hours -- 1:55:52 (chip). Although it was my slowest time of five tries, it wasn't the slowest by much:

12/06/2008 - 1:55:52
12/01/2007 - 1:49:06
12/02/2006 - 1:45:18
12/03/2005 - 1:35:27* (really?!)
12/04/2004 - 1:53:24

I was in the Top Third of the field, Top Half of my gender, and Dead Center of my age group!

Field Placement: 702/2249 (31.2%)
Gender Placement: 488/1123 (43.5%)
Group Placement (male 25-29): 61/121 (50.4%)

I'd like to be healed and better-trained for next year so that I can actually pace with someone for the entire race. :P

Here's the sweaty ceddy jumping pics from this race:


Anyways, I didn't see Wendy Chioji this year -- probably because she moved to Utah this past May -- but I did see the guy that I ran the past couple OUC's with. He said that he was looking for me. He did really well -- ran a 1:41:32. Very awesome awesome and congrats!

The Mullets were MIA but there were some guys dressed as the Village People (cowboy, indian, construction worker, and leather daddy).

I like races with characters. For my part, I represented Team Ugly Shorts with the TUS singlet, compression shorts, and my sherbet-swirl shorts. Lots of compliments -- mostly from high school girls and older [CD] guys (woo!), and mostly during the second half of the race when I had slowed down and more people were able to see my shirt as they passed me. I even got recognized after the race when I was checking the results -- a guy said "Hey, it's Mr. Shorts!" and gave me a thumbs up.

:)

At the beer area, I saw my friend Minish who had also made comment of the shorts as he passed me.

See who else I saw there...


Okay, that's not Jimmy's Dan... just someone who looks like him. Whah!

I then found Liam with some of the OFRW guys. I also passed some OFRW people on the way back from the car who mentioned that they only see me twice a year: this race and Orlando Pride (which I Still need to post)... true. Anyways, here's a pic of Liam, who also did very well:


Anyways, the race experience was great, though I should've learned from last year that 10am is really too early to start drinking. Heck, I'll probably forget next year, as the race is already a tradition. I'm definitely looking forward to this race again next year!