beautiful day, great vibe surrounding the run, i love the ultrascene...doesn't seem to be about winning, just giving your best on any given day, be happy to be alive and be out running!

race started with a quick out and back on the road, which was great, b/c it thinned out the field before the trail began.

so, miles started just started going by, and by and by and by.

course was NOT flat, and very technical, required lots of attention to avoid slipping/falling/running into trees/or just veering off course.

big break formed early on and i was lucky enough to see the tail end of the 8ish pacers disaperaing, made a few quick passes and really picked up the pace around 4.5 miles in...this turned out to be a great tactical move, b/c i would have ended up in no mans land, and running alone on a trail isn't always the best.

so, there was a group of three of us. running and running and running.

pain wasn't too bad early on, but the 2 others were destroying me on the downhills, but i would catch right back up on the climbs (and there were A LOT of short, steep, heartracing climbs)

the garmin was awesome to have, as usual.

last aid station broke up our little group and we started making our way through the 50k runners. it wasn't bad, but the mud was starting to get OLD, and that is when the mud got BAD. long straight stretches of 6" mud was between us and the finish, i just didn't care anymorre and ran right through it.

lost my shoes twice, but it really wasn't too bad i guess, muddy, but at least it wasn't mud mixed with rocks.

overall, i was happy with my finish, i wanted 205, but knew i could proly get sub 2 if i had a perfect race, might have gotten it, if i didn't lose the shoes.

very happy with what i chose to wear, shorts, tech t, arm warmers and gloves were perfect, i rarely broke out in sweat, and was comfortable all day long



nothing, it was a great time

SPLITS:
1 00:08:04 1.00 230 23 08:04 05:43 172 184 0 106
2 00:06:51 1.00 7 203 06:51 05:22 175 185 0 97
3 00:07:44 1.00 26 43 07:44 06:25 178 187 0 112
4 00:08:18 1.00 92 52 08:18 05:50 183 191 0 125
5 00:08:18 1.00 43 75 08:18 06:15 186 193 0 130
6 00:07:25 1.00 52 20 07:25 06:48 178 188 0 107
7 00:08:00 1.00 161 72 08:00 06:09 180 188 0 117
8 00:07:52 1.00 46 131 07:52 05:58 179 183 0 114
9 00:07:46 1.00 33 62 07:46 06:05 179 187 0 111
10 00:08:32 1.00 135 39 08:32 06:23 180 205 0 122
11 00:07:59 1.00 7 89 07:59 06:52 180 198 0 114
12 00:07:55 1.00 16 26 07:55 06:16 181 195 0 108
13 00:08:38 1.00 72 39 08:38 06:50 179 190 0 122
14 00:08:17 1.00 39 62 08:17 06:30 176 187 0 111
15 00:09:10 1.00 72 66 09:10 05:47 175 182 0 125
16 00:00:48 0.08 -- 7 09:38 07:29 175 176 0 11

stood in the lake/iced legs, ate some awesome veggie soup


mud, technical aspect of the course


1st trail run....longest running race ive done. felt great, feel i could do a 50k someday, but prolly never on this course. the pounding downhills were tough on the legs, and keeping a sharp mind for another lap would have been impossible...that said, the winner of the 50k was finished in 322, which is freaking INSANE