Running race 2:11:36 [3] 9.5 mi (13:51 / mi)
Wellsville Ridgewalk "15 mile run"
Distance is a guess. The Ridgewalk is notorious for their poor distance estimation. Last year the 14 mile course was remeasured at 15 miles despite not having changed for years. Splits from the "1 mile to go" sign suggest strongly that it is almost 1.5 miles from the finish line. Not too long after passing the "3.5 miles to go" sign, one passes the "3.6 miles to go" sign. And so on...
To top matters off, this year the course was shortened and rerouted due to concerns about inclement weather and steep snow-covered hillsides being traversed by hundreds of runners. The new course was announced as 9.5 miles, but I wouldn't put much stock in that. The beginning of the course and one middle section were rerouted on to roads.
Cutting off the road at the "4.5 miles to go sign" (although the announcement said this was the "5.5 miles to go" point), I was following a woman into the woods on a snowy trail. She offered to let me pass, but was running at a good pace and I declined. We started talking and it turns out that she was the college best friend of my ex wife! We had never met because the racer was on a Peace Corps mission throughout the courtship and marriage! Furthermore, I went to college with her older sister! The conversation was wonderful, bizarre, and invigorating. We both got a jolt of energy that could not have come from any other source. When you consider the odds of us being in the same race, meeting up and running at the same pace, chatting, AND discovering these coincidences, WOW! Definitely the most unique run I've ever been on.
Alas, at one point, she asked me if I thought Erin was thinking of us; I promptly face-planted and said, "I guess she must be". This is apparently when I accidentally stopped my watch; I didn't get my time at the end and it's not yet posted on the net. *sigh* So, the time is a total guess, too. Nice way to log things, eh?
Oct. 22 edit; results now show the correct time. Distance is still a guess.