Notes
Started out in the second row. Something like 149 people signed up for the "elite" race.
At the start, I was passed like crazy. I bet I was somewhere like 50-70th at the 100 meters. I was thinking holy crap, what have I gotten myself into?!
There were some very fit looking high school and college age kids, and there were some younger high school age kids. I expected several to take off too fast and come back, but not that many.
At about 400 though, people started coming back. I was passing them fairly consistently. I even had to swerve a bit at times to get around people.
There were no distance markers anywhere. I checked my watch a couple times, but it didn't help at all. I didn't know what the times meant. So I just kept going.
I finished pretty strong, but didn't quite have a full all out sprint.
Finished in 4:58.2... :-0 Way faster than expected. Also I was in 18th place overall.
The down hill was more than I expected. I'm surprised it was as much as 30 seconds better, but with good competition and the downhill, I am not shocked with the time. I bet the course is pretty darn close...
Happy overall... Gotta keep plugging away.