Notes
Governor's XC Race. This once again goes down as one of the best races of the year. Nutmeg got off the line well and straight to the front by the first hay bale jump. I caught him by the jump but was a little behind some others right off the line. Nutmeg took the lead into the single track with me right behind him. We had an immediate stream crossing that got us wet over our waist and then started slipping and sliding through some muddy trails. After the first single track section we came to an opening and had already kind of knocked the field down to about 5-6 guys. The others were definitely better than previous years though and in my head started to question if we would still be able to go 1-2. Nick Bowerman has raced us here before and is a very good runner, and Charlie Paul and Devin Albaugh were both outstanding D1/D2 runners. We were all pretty chatty yet at this point and I don't think any of us were really ready to get competitive yet but at this point last year Nutmeg and I were already on our own.
I knew the course and knew an abrupt turn into the woods was coming up. I tried to warn Nutmeg so he could continue leading but he either didn't hear me or ignored me so I ended up leading and he ended up at the back of the group. I enjoyed leading and kept a decent pace but it wasn't fast by any means. I was enjoying the obstacles and jumping around quite a bit compared to the runners behind. I think I'm the only one that went through a short tunnel. When we came out on an open trail again Albaugh was ready to roll and went right to the front. I'm not sure if he thought the rest of us were already pushing hard and he could just run away from us easily but it wasn't really much of a move to be honest as we all just jumped on the faster pace. After a few minutes of that Bowerman decided to really pick it up and we went into true race mode. I had a little bit of a side cramp here that I worked to stretch out so I slid back a little, but overall I was still feeling very in control and right with the pack. Nutmeg moved ahead of me and on the first turn into the woods there was a big drop with logs across it. I'm not really sure how Bowerman went through it but Albaugh got hung up pretty bad and Nutmeg jumped over him. I followed Nutmeg's lead and was surprised as the fall was probably 4-5 feet and a rougher landing than I was ready for. Albaugh was still in front of me so it was Bowerman, Nutmeg, Albaugh, me as we entered the stream crossings. I'm not really sure what happened to Charlie but we didn't end up seeing him again.
The stream crossings weren't really deep but they were still tougher than most years since it had rained recently. Nutmeg went around Bowerman after just a few of them and I managed to get around Albaugh shortly after that as he was really struggling with the water and the climbs out. After Nutmeg went to the lead he started rolling, slowly pulling away from Bowerman and I. I was feeling really good right behind Bowerman but he was really nice to talk to the entire race so I didn't want to just push by on the single track. Nutmeg was get 10-20 meters when tree was down across the course. Bowerman went left and over it so I used that opportunity to duck under the right side and go past him. I told him sorry to cut him off and to basically tell him that Nutmeg and I were going to run off at this point. He was cool about it and told me to go ahead with my teammate. It took a little more out of me than I had expected but I surged up to Nutmeg and the two of us just took off from there. Running out of control on downhills and hammering and other sections. I never felt like I couldn't keep up but I was definitely feeling tired when Nutmeg and I came the big open section. We looked behind us at the end of a long straight away and could tell we had locked it up again this year. Albaugh was within sight but we weren't letting up enough for him to have any chance. A couple more single track sections and 1 big stream crossing and we were coming up on the finish. Nutmeg said it was my year to win and even though I knew he did all the work in that race I was fine with continuing tradition.
4 years in a row crossing the finish line together and this was probably the year that was least likely to happen. Who knows if those other guys were going as hard as us or not but either way it is really good feeling to come out on top of a solid field with your best friend. It is crazy how even, and apparently strong, the two of us are on these types of races. It was also awesome to have a solid Luther group there as always (Hazard, Falco, New Guy). For a small race through the woods this continues to be the highlight of the year when it comes to racing.