Notes
Race meeting was at 5am at the Start pavilion. Cram 900 bikers, 550 runners and a crews and volunteers into a tent at 5am and you get some serious funk. There were 8 waves of bikers with the fixies and elites heading out first at 6 and then every group following 5 minutes apart. It was awesome to see some of these people who were so far above and beyond stud it wasn’t even funny. The last group to go were the runners at 6:35. When we finally got to leave it had just gotten light out so it was perfect. Starting temp was 64 which, according to just about everyone, is completely abnormal…usually its mid-40′s. Ran with my Nathan pack on as the goal was to fly by all aid stations and be self sufficient. Because of Irene they had to modify the first four miles of course so we only made it .5 miles before our first climb which was 1.1 miles long. Usually the first climb was about 2 miles away according to the RD. The pack separated into about 40 smaller groups all sticking together. The group I joined up with (about 7 of us) stuck together all the way until mile 13. Miles 3-11 were all deep mud. There was nowhere to go but through it and you were either going straight up or straight down the entire time so by the time I made it to the first aid station at 13 I had no choice but to stop and change my shoes. They were beyond destroyed. Many people did the same and those that skipped this were the ones standing in the streams about a mile down the road regretting not changing.
Lost about 3 minutes on the shoe change but was 35 minutes ahead of pace so no biggie. New socks, new shoes, and I was back on the trail quickly. The next 10 miles were uneventful although cresting at 18 was pretty awesome because you could see all of New Hampshire and Vermont from the peak. I did stop for a moment to just take it all in and then started the bomb run down the other side. I say bomb run because it was 2 miles of sheer chaos. I split miles 19 and 20 at 7:13 and 7:24 respectively then as soon as we hit the bottom we had to immediately climb another 2 miles so it was easy to shift back to 9:30 pace. My group was down to 4 and we just all hung together not doing much talking but just sticking tight. Next 4 miles was all mud again but I couldnt change my shoes again until 31 so I decided to go the long way around the really bad mud pits and was glad I did. Lost about 5 minutes total overall with all of the traverses combined but that was fine. Coming up the big climb towards Margaritaville (Mile 27 Aid Station) I was daydreaming and stepped down on a patch of leaves which had a little secret beneath them. I heard the crack at the same time I went down hard. Got up and hobbled up the hill to the aid station. Sat down and took of my sock and shoe and the swelling had already started. Not much I could do so I grabbed a coke, sat in the shade and waited for the pain bus to come by and pick me up.
Overall it was a great race and redemption will be mine next year.