Race started, went out faster than anticipated (I got sucked out with the front), but I usually have to start faster on these types of races because it narrows down to single track real quick. This one didn't; it was pretty open for the first mile or so. No disappointment when it comes to mud on this course. The rain for the 2 days before helped immensely in that department. I hit the 2 mile mark at around 14:08, and slowed down after that. I wasn't trying to win anything, I just wanted to run it. Rolled my ankle at one point. About half-way through, we hit the first major water crossing. it was a "creek", about 15m across, and came almost to my waist at the deepest point (muh boys was none too pleased about that, lemme tell ya). Come out of the water, continue on. Slipped once, would've made a baseball coach proud with that slide. I was battling back and forth with some tall skinny kid, but I eventually won out over him. Then it was me and some older guy with a nice ponytail. We were together, then he took off at the 2nd water stop, then I caught up to him around 8 miles, hung with him through the 2nd major water crossing (same as the first, just going the opposite way, and again, boys not happy). I finally overtook him on the real steep uphill (the only major one of the course, which is a damned miracle), and he finished right behind me.

I was already freezing. No need.


The mud, the water crossings that almost counted as swim legs, the fact that I burned myself up on Friday, and went out too fast.


First time doing this one. It was fun, but that's partly due to the conditions. The amount of mud was just crazy. And the fact that we crossed the creek twice certainly added to the interest level.