#HighFivesAthlete Justin Pines competed in his first race in a chair – Staten Island 1/2 marathon!

“Sole chair athlete at the line with 10,000 runners behind. Crazy feeling starting like that; so so good to be back racing!!” – #HighFivesAthlete Justin Pines

“I learned a ton Sunday, some of it pretty hard-earned. A few factoids about the race:
– It poured rain
– Racing wheelchairs lose glove-handrim traction when wet, so especially on hills my pushes were slipping. It was fucking brutal. Rookie move – need to get a glove resin for rainy conditions. 
– The brake on the front wheel isn’t great to begin with, and worse when wet. Some of the downhills that ended in sharp turns were near misses with the outside barrier. Exciting! Need to get that one figured out…
– Unbeknownst to me, the brake was rubbing against the wheel the whole race #resistancetraining
– I finished!
– I got to race alongside some of my best friends in the world – brothers from our time racing XC & track as Princeton tigers. What a privilege and joy to be competing with these guys again!!
– Technically I was the fastest wheelchair athlete in my first race…counts right?
– My time wasn’t all that bad considering (about 6:35/mile)