Notes
Leg B-6: The Deadman Run
In Short: Tough hill in the first half and then nice run after.
Scenery: 10
Difficulty: 8
Leg B-6: 9.9 miles
This leg was named very appropriately. I definitely took an L during this leg. Legs were sore this morning, and after a sub-par nights sleep I was feeling it. Didn't do any sort of warm up which was a mistake. Matched up against Brett, Spillone, and Weem for this. Only saw a handful of people the entire time.
The first mile of this was pretty standard GLR, started off on a dirt road, turned onto a trail that was over grown and had poor footing. After a couple minutes I had warmed up and was feeling good. At 1.5, the trail turned up Deadman's Hill, which was about a half mile long and gained roughly 400 ft. Definitely one of the hardest hills I've run in the Midwest.Took 2 walk breaks going up, each roughly 30" long.
Once I got up to the top, the trail turned gradually downhill and for like 4 miles I was cruising along having the time of my life. I naively thought that the trail would stay like this the rest of the way. Around 6 miles, there were a series of smaller hill that started to climb back up. The took me off guard, and my legs did not respond well after the big hill earlier in the run. Breathing sky rocketed, and the last couple I had to stop and hike up. I distinctly remember looking at my watch at 6.8 miles and thinking that I wasn't going to make it.
Got passed by one guy around 7 which helped to snap me out of my downward spiral of negative thoughts. Missed a turn at 8 miles and ran about a quarter mile down the wrong path before I turned around. Ran back to the turn I missed and got upset about the directions for over complicating the turn. The last mile or so was on an actual road and I was able to move a bit quicker, but I was extremely ready to be done. Got to the end and was mental defeated for a couple hours. Lost a good chunk of time to all the other teams and Will passed me while I was going the wrong way. Got a shirt for the leg.