Notes
Lots of hiking in this one. We still had some snow left on the trails from earlier in the week. In the morning when it was still below freezing it was crunchy and not too bad. A few icy spots but nothing too bad. As the temps warmed up, and since this was an out and back, the trails got really muddy later in the day. Mentally challenging as you had to pay constant attention. Still I tried to stay lighthearted about it and just kept it fun. At about mile 22ish I got caught up by some people and decided to make a race out of it. This really helped. I like being chased. It gets me out of my own head and lets me just focus on keeping them behind me. They pushed me and we eventually caught up to some more people. This was a small event so I spent lots of time on my own but in bigger races I want to use this as a strategy.
Overall I feel good physically. My biggest issue is my feet got really cold and wet. I realized when I got to the finish and took off my shoes that I had left out the insoles. Oops. I got my first real blister. I didn't realize it until after the race. I knew while running that my feet hurt bad but I didn't stop to find out what the problem was. Really there is nothing I could have done to fix it. This is Sunday and they are feeling a lot better. The blister still hurts but I should have no problem running on Monday (tomorrow).