Notes
Race day was cloudy, wet, and kinda humid. It had rained earlier in the morning. I got there just before 7:30 so I could do a 2 mile warm-up. Bob showed up right after that. We helped Ian get the trailer into the field. Then Glenn and I did an easy warm-up on the other side of the park. Later we ran a short warm-up with Bob. Wore my water bottle belt with the bottles about 3/4 full. I had a GU right before the start. Lined up in the middle of the pack behind the fast guys. Started out pretty fast and people got sorted out pretty quick. I was at the back of a good group and there wasn't anybody close. I kept the pace up and felt pretty good, figured I would try to maintain that pace and if I blew up on the second loop then so be it. I hiked only the steep hills to the top and came back down pretty quick. Slowed on the flat section back to the parking lot before the slog up to the aid station. Ran slow all the way up and didn't stop for water. Started the Summit trail running until it got steep then hiked at a steady pace. I passes a few guys who really slowed down. Didn't feel too bad at the top, was pretty out of breath, but I recovered fairly quickly. Ran all the way to the top. Passed a guy on the way down and then passed a woman. At the bottom I still had some water left, so I just filled up one of my bottles at the aid station. Had a GU on the flat section to start the next loop. I hiked the steep section on the ski trail, but ran hard on the down hill to the Boundary trail. Ran a bit slower but still a pretty fast pace and hike the steeper sections to the top. I got passed by a guy with a TROMMer shirt and a guy in a blue shirt. My legs were getting heavy on the hills, but still felt good on the downhill. I ran pretty hard again passing the Trommer guy about half way down. Then started out hiking the climb to the aid station but finished by running the last part. Stopped to fill my bottle again and took a drink. Ran again to start the Summit. Hiked at a bit of slower pace as my legs were pretty beat, but I pushed hard at the top and passed guy at the top when he paused to the right and I kept running to the right. I had the blue shirt guy in my sites and slowly closed the gap. Hiked a couple of the hills on the way to the top, I finally passed him on the last push to the top when he started walking. I pushed hard knowing I could recover on the downhill. However, at this point I was really hungry and felt like I was going to bonk. If I had had another GU I would have taken it before the final climb. I was hoping I could make it down without bonking. Ran pretty hard, about as fast as I could go and stay in control, trying to stay ahead of blue shirt guy. When I got to the bottom I took a look back and didn't see him coming down so I knew I had him. Looked at my watch and figured I could break 1:50 so I kept going hard. Really pushed hard to the finish. I was out of gas after I crossed the line. Really happy with my race, felt good the whole way and ran harder than I thought I would. The cooler temperature helped. Also 2 training runs on the course also helped. Nothing hurt, legs felt ok after, just tired.