The rains continue for the first 30 min. of the slightly delayed race; at least they didn’t cancel it. Time was <58min; my two decade older friend Bill will recall a race in Halifax in my 30s. 38m? And in my 40s 48min. Still, better than the 1.05 completely off the couch a couple of years back.

Classic last couple of k’s with a muscular Brit (I spoke with him afterwards). Unbeknowst, he’d been pacing me. Then I stopped to tie my shoe around 8.5k. He moved ahead (which is when I became aware of him).

The course looped back and so he gave me a thumbs up, even though he was ahead. At 9k I thought I could apply myself and did, moving ahead comfortably. 200m or so from the finish I looked over my shoulder and the damn guy was 10m behind me! I had to sprint really hard, to finish just ahead of him.