Notes
Leg A-20: Et tu, Brute
In Short: Thank your A-19 runner for doing all the climbing.
Scenery:8
Difficulty: 7
Leg A-20: 6.3 miles
This was a really solid GLR leg, pretty much the whole thing just on the NCT. The first ~2 miles were fairly flat and winding through the forest. Took a while to settle in and get into a rhythm. Then popped out on a road and had 1 mile on pavement. Wanted to get after it here, but really couldn't get the legs moving much faster than the 6:35 I ran. Guess this is the lack of fitness showing itself. Probably for the best because the last 3+ miles were brutal. Got back in the forest and started with a big long uphill. Felt like the big hill at Swallow, where you just keep turning a corner and see it goes on. Then afterwards had several consecutive short, steep up/downs like the old NXN whoop-dee-doo hills. These hurt more than the big hill and by the end of this section, I was struggling pretty hard. Trudged in the last mile or so after, which was just a grind. Checking the map, this section was also very uphill. Definitely wasn't ready for the second half mentally, but we survived mostly well enough. Good end to day 1!