Columbia, another little Connecticut town I’d never been to, home to a race with a slightly different setup than most: the first half was fairly straight downhill, and the course then doubled back and had us running back uphill the same way, which you knew was coming all along. Not exactly fun, but I managed to pass two people I’d had my eye on in the last tenth of a mile, which felt good.

Thanks to the rule about not double-dipping, the overall winner, who was in my age group, wasn’t also counted as our age group winner, allowing me to win the age group and get a lovely pint glass with “Age group winner” on it. In another nice bit of luck, the rain held off until just after we finished, and the race organizers provided tasty soup and cider afterwards.

Columbia Autumn Classic Road Race | 5K | 10/22/16 | 22:50 | 34/169