Seeing race morning forecast in the low 40s, I decided to return to the Danville Half Marathon in the titular city of Virginia on October 12, 2024, for the third time in the past four years. I have not been running at a fast pace all summer due to the insufferable heat and humidity, so, albeit typically in these conditions my body has been able to comfortably pull off a sub-two-hour 13.1, I did not know what to expect here.

The race commenced slightly warmer than I hoped and anticipated, as I spent the first minute or so anxiously reconnecting my earphones to my iPhone, and like I told many people pre-race the temperature drastically shot up not even halfway through. The norm now, I spotted a couple of inconsiderate smokers early on next to the course full of runners, followed by a group of potheads nonchalantly doing their thing as they walked toward the way I was running and whom every runner I spoke to noticed, which both irritated and confused me. While continuously conversing with God for help, I maintained a strong pace consistently for the first 7.5-8 miles, but I did not feel confident that I could continue at this speed without exerting too much and being relegated to walking later on; thus, approaching mile 9, I made a conscious decision to considerably slow my pace. I stopped looking at my COROS as frequently to avoid being demoralized, and I no longer believed sub-two hours was within reach. My only focus the last five miles became steadily running without entertaining walking in my mind, made more challenging by the boredom of my running a large portion alone without other participants nearby. Entering the final turn to the homestretch and checking my watch, I was shocked to read I still had two minutes left to two hours, but the end still appeared too far out for me to gauge the pace required. With a minute remaining, I sprinted and crossed the finish line officially in 1:59:55.2, with the volunteer celebrating this triumph that could not have been cut any closer; the gun time read 1:59:59.85  and I stopped my watch at 1:59:59.62. Perplexingly, even though my legs felt fine as usual, I dealt with unprecedented pain in both shoulders for a few hours post-race, to the point even driving turned difficult. This marked my 60th half marathon and the fastest one out of three on this course, so how could I not be content and grateful?