Talking Turkey race -- Sat. Nov. 28

Left at about 11:30 after a slow morning (late porridge breakfast; picked up a coffee & bagel en route), and as usual got a bit lost in Holyoke. Turned round and found the place enfin, parked same as last year, and jogged up to get bib number, etc. Crowded, and no loos except in the Lodge (not enough for 1300+ runners and all the spectators); back to car to change: *very* windy, but mild otherwise, so hat and gloves, but single T-shirt, with jacket on until racetime. Set digivice and jog off round parking lot field, then up to the start area, and at one mile stop and do ankle stretches, slowly. Then jog another mile scoping out the trail. Back to the start and meet up with Nick D (noone else I knew in sight), then wait for the cannon; he's aiming for sub-42, and I'm figuring I'll be happy ot beat 40. Shuffle start, given the crowd, but break out after a couple hundred yards; then find a pace and start to settle.

My goal was to split at around 20:00~20:30, and then do the second half a bit quicker. With the shuffle start, I kept the first mile to 7:03, and then carefully picked up a bit: next two were 6:45 and 6:44, so halfway was 20:32, leaving 19:28 or less to finish. Okay: I was still very nervous about numbleg, but feeling fine, so I didn't pick it up any more, and the next mile was 6:50. I was continuing to pass a person here and there, but with four miles gone I started to open up a bit: next mile was 6:30, and I realized I needed to go a lot faster to break 40 minutes. Passed Rich C. and chatted briefly, then really started to go for it. On the final uphill, after a good cheer from Steve L. and April's mum, overtook a younger female runner who'd been my target for a bit, and then she pushed me right through to the end (I stayed ahead, just). Really flew for the last mile: 5:38! Almost caught one lad in the final sprint, but then ended up dry-heaving while waiting in the chute. Here's the overall (per my GPS):

Time: 39:31
Distance: 6.00 miles
Pace: 6:35

BUT: there was a hitch! Two vols who saw me retching came over and one said she'd take my tag for me, so I tore it off, gave it to her, and then sat down to steady my stomach. Unfortunately, it seems that she never turned it in--when the results finally went up online, I wasn't listed! Gah.

I worked out that I placed #62, which was fine, and the pace was okay, given my condition. But it's not very satisfying to be dropped from the official record like that. I've emailed EORC explaining the situation. Just have to wait and see what happens. ところで, I ran 2.04 miles before the race (8:21s) and about a mile after, cooling down.