Notes
I situated myself about three rows back of the crowd, which led to an ideal start. These are always hit or miss for me, getting bogged down in the pack or passed by the hordes. From the banks of the pemi up to the ski hill I was surrounded by the same runners I'd finish with. An agressive little lady in fireblades and colorful shorts hopped right in front of me at the start, she had finished just ahead of me in a different fancy pair of shorts at Cranmore. I tried to keep up, but she led me by about 50 yards after the first hill. On that hill began a game with a guy in red shorts that had an agressive run/walk pattern where I was content to run it all. Slowly he'd gap me a few times but I'd catch up. There was a tall older guy, a young guy with a white-boy aftro and heavy beard, and a non descript middle aged dude that formed the pack I stuck within 10 paces of for the second half of the race. In the last three miles I was only passed by 2 people, Dorcas W. and an older guy. These are tanks of the masters division so I didn't feel bad. On the long downhill I caught the whole crew I was with except for white-fro. Non descript guy made a move on the steep stuff, but stayed just behind me. I was the only one who wanted to run the last switchbacks to the top, which allowed me to catch white fro right at the crest. He was toast evidently, I ran my tail off down the hill towards the finish to stay ahead. The finish was apropriately vertical for about 50 feet and I gained a good head of steam across the line for a PR by a minute, I believe. I used a visual run/walk strategy for all the vertical stuff. Several stretches are basically straight up, steepest slopes I've ever run. If there was a visible short relief in the grade, I ran it. I ran the switchbacks but walked up the vertical switch parts, etc. I was cruising, my powerhiking form was much improved by wilpower alone. The heat was blistering on the exposed ski trails and access roads, so I did temper my pace a bit and drank as much as possible at the 2 aid stations. I was a little bonky and dehydrated on that last downslope and could not coordinate well enough to go as fast as possible. Wish I could have kept up with the spunky shorts girl or the red shorts guy, but I did out power-walk a couple people and PRed in nasty heat (last year was rainy and cold). I chalk this one up as a success, and my favorite race of the bunch. The views at the top were breathtaking, and there was a lookout tower with a map of the peaks you could see - a nice preview for my summit-cool-down-du-jour ...