Sun 5/18 - AM 85 minutes incl. half marathon

Mission accomplished, not that it was easy. Woke up with the sun and made the long drive to Berkshire County for this race which has one of the more unique courses I've seen. 1.5 laps around the mall and then the rest of the way on the rail trail, straight and (basically) flat. Hoping for a sandbag situation for the old fart prize money, within a mile realized I had my hands full as a guy with white hair and beard moved in front of me. The next 11 miles consisted of me following him as we ran into a persistent headwind. After the first three miles in 5:40 apiece I was hanging on for dear life, knowing that the pace was unsustainable and figuring I would probably get popped eventually. Just to make it more galling the guy was quite chatty, telling me mile splits and waving and saying hi to volunteers. Left with the hope he would burn himself out and slow down. First sign of this happening was when we reached the edge of the reservoir which was particularly exposed to the wind. Pace slowed a bit although still there were various surges incl. whenever the rail trail crossed a road. By halfway I figured I had a chance if the right leg didn't stiffen up too badly. Some nervous moments in the tenth mile as it felt like stomach issues might be coming on, but that held off thankfully. By this point though I was also sensing some definite vulnerability from my personal escort. Pulled alongside briefly just after 11 mile mark, without wanting to, which was followed by a last sustained surge from him. While I had promised myself I would wait until as late as possible to make a move, at the 12 mile mark the pace flagged and I jumped. Some nervous moments for the next 3 minutes as I thought I might have gone too early given his sustained pickup in the previous mile but a quick peek 4 minutes into the 13th mile and I knew I was in the clear. Why this guy didn't slow down drastically and force me to do some of the work at any point I'll never know. While I didn't appreciate the early pace and having to cover it, I certainly didn't mind the wind break. Splits:

5:40
5:41
5:40
5:50
5:45
5:46
5:51
5:50
5:54
6:06
5:56
5:47
5:34