Notes
Pretty crazy race due to conditions. Zumbro 17 mile. Drove through steady rain to get to race, then it just got worse as I sat in my car waiting for it to start. Those poor 50 and 100 milers are still out there, I thought, and this is probably coming at the worst point in their races. Downpours, lightning , and hail pre-race combined for some serious mud and lots of cold standing water. Even John, the RD, who competes, and has won, the Arrowhead 135, started off saying the weather conditions are about as bad as they can be right now, so I knew it was really bad. But after all is said and done, I can't do anything about the weather and we're all in it together so lets just get it on!
Race itself was executed fairly well I thought. I feel like what really clicked for me in this race was getting into a good rhythm of power hiking ups and maintaining energy for flats. I actually thought I had at least another mile left since I had forgotten to turn my watch on until about a mile into the race! It was a nice surprise when I popped up into the campground on the way to the finish, but I could have gone a bit further at a pretty strong pace if I needed to. I was experimenting with Tailwind for this race and was really pleased with the results there, only thing I need to work on here is in making a smoother transition at the aid station since I had to carry powder and mix there. Probably just need to find smaller bags. The rockstars of the day were my shoes! Salomon Speedcross 3's. Bought them for the Superior Trail, thinking they'd be overkill for most trails I run, but they were the perfect shoe for conditions like today's. I felt like I could handle the mud better than 90% of the other runners around me, and it was these shoes I have to thank. All in all, this was a really fun training run, on a kick-ass challenging course.
Overall results not in yet, but I think I'm top 20, but who knows how many of the 215 signed up actually ran it due to the conditions.