I started nice and easy and felt fantastic for the first five miles at least. The race organizers seemed to have learned their lesson from the 2009 water debacle, because there were a total of six water stations (three stops that you hit on the out and the back), plus random bikers roaming the course with extra water in between stations. I made sure to drink at every single water station, plus I hit up one or two bikers -- I DID NOT want a repeat of 2009, when I felt miserable by the end.

Unfortunately, the race organizers found new and creative ways to screw up -- somehow they managed to not have any person or thing to mark the turnaround. Ha! I was far enough in the back (plus, I actually needed to run well over 10 miles for the day) that I found this more funny than problematic, but man, the front-runners were pissed, and I don't blame them. My coworker ran at least a mile over, and my other friend ran about half a mile over; my coworker's son, who should've finished top 10, got lost entirely with another group and ran at least two miles over. Yikes.

I found out about the mistake at about mile 4.5, when large groups of returning runners were yelling at those of us still heading out that there was no turnaround marked. By the time I got to what was roughly the halfway, someone had left an empty bottle to mark the spot, and a runner had generously stopped and was guiding everyone else. Nice guy! Although I think he was just having a rough race and looking for an excuse to rest.

The next mile was tough because it's lots of very, very steep uphills. I managed to "run" the worst hill, which I was very pleased about (I'd walked it in 2009, and I passed probably five or six walkers this time). From there, it was a pretty easy run the rest of the way back, although I'd forgotten that the return run is most uphill -- even when it looks flat, it isn't. But I ran all the rest of the hills no problem -- again, much better than 2009 -- and I had plenty left for a nice little kick to the finish.

Race it. Although if I'd raced it, I would've been super pissed about the turnaround fiasco. Otherwise, nothing. I was 12 minutes faster this year than 2009, and while I'm sure the heat in 2009 was a huge factor, I'm still pleased.

I found my friends at the finish and let them fill me on the details about the turnaround screw up. I drank several cups of water and ate some orange wedges and half a banana. Then I went home and napped, and ate a lot, and went for a short run later that afternoon.


Not racing. Also, it was hot again, but not as hot as 2009.


I really want to give these guys a good review because I like the group and I think this is a fun race. But after running out of water in 2009 and then not marking the turnaround this year, I have to say, their track record kind of sucks.