Original 42K Relay

SO instead of running 12 miles with Indy Runners today I ran half of the Original 42K relay. But not as a relay, just straight 21.7K (21.1K officially). After I found out I was going to be running it myself I thought I would just use it as a regular training run and do it at training pace. Right... Even though I was a LONG way behind everyone else from the start, I went out WAY to fast...like a minute per kilometer. I backed off, but even so I ran all of the splits (except the last two which were about my intended pace) too fast. But other than the humidity, I felt pretty good and I liked the course. Once the sun came out it was a little warm in spots, but the breeze and the shade helped. The last lap I felt pretty spent so I power walked most of it. The course was a little different than what I was expecting. It was ungroomed gravel to a multi-use paved path. The path went around River Road park and then to the back side of a subdivision, out to 126th Street and then folded back on itself part of the way. Then it turned on to a groomed gravel path through a prairie. That came back out to the parking lot where the transition zone was. There was no course support (water, etc.) since it was a loop relay race. I had brought a large bottle of water and my gels and salt tabs. After lap two and four I jumped off the course to refuel. After lap four I forgot the baton, but it wasn't a big deal since I was running solo. I picked it up when I stopped after lap five. I hadn't been planning a stop after lap five, but it was getting warm and I needed the baton anyway. No food post-race either and I hadn't really planned for that. I had some water left, but not enough. I moved my chair to watch AJ Hacker finish his solo 42.2K. And then I started to black out. The guy sitting next to me handed me a water and a banana. Told me to take as much as I needed. I was so thankful. I ended up taking two of their waters, but they had planned well. I helped with taking down their tent as a gesture of thanks. I did learn a lot that will help for Howl at the Moon in a few weeks. I need to bring MUCH more water and food that I thought. Every time AJ lapped me he ran with me for a little bit and we checked in on each other. Since we were both running solo, it was nice to have a friend out there. In any case I finished under 3:08 including my water/gel stops. Not too bad for a summer half since I don't normally do them in the summer because of the weather risk. The temperature today was great, it was just humidity and then the warmth of the sun when it came out that were a little intense.