Notes
Rick suckered us into Fox Mt. He said "adventurous route" then rattled off a few street names I didn't know. But you know, if you have a posse of guys and you give them options of "slight down hill", "flat" and "over molten lava" they will always end up doing the latter.
Before I knew about the hills the plan was do stick with 7:40 and keep near the guys. Kase didn't show, so I'd trail the pack alone. But at least the weather was great.
I did well through most of the run and the hills until we hit the two HILLS of Fox Mt. Pretty steep, never ending. At the base of the second hill (trailing Deric, who wasn't having a great time at this point) a 250lbs woman in a pink tutu called out, "You run the whole mountain?" I said, "Not yet," pointing up the road. She said, "Well, that hill right there; it'll get you." And get me it did. Had to walk up it for a bit.
I didn't do my 3@MP, mostly because the hills clobbered me. I was feeling okay, but couldn't muster any more steam. A 7:40 pace was all I was good for -- considering the more hills in front of me.
Not the fastest run, but certainly the hardest 20miler. Felt good, though. I'm not broken after it. Felt like 20mi wasn't a big concern. And certainly if not for the hills 7:40 was easily achievable. Amazing how things improve with the weather.