overtaking haynes

I was sick since tuesday when i woke up with a really bad sore throat that lasted until friday morning. The throat stopped hurting but i was really stuffy. My plan was to just start off without pushing myself and see what happened. The weather was atrocious. The worst weather in the 12 year running of the race. The start was 45F and pouring rain. I didn't feel cold though in a long sleeve technical shirt and a sort of functional 6 year old rain jacket. I normally wouldn't have brought with me an extra jacket as a layer but because i was sick I strapped it to my hip belt in a plastic bag. I immediately regretting bringing the jacket and felt that i was already overheating during the first mile. It seemed like a hundred people were ahead of me in the first couple miles which started on pavement. After about 1hr i no longer felt warm but not cold either as i was completely soaked. i held my place into the trails at the 27 min mark for me. At the marathon turn around at just over 1 mile high in elevation i decided it was time for my spare jacket. i couldn't feel my fingers because of my annoying poor circulation problem and needed help getting my jacket on under my rain coat. It felt like i was at the aid station for a full 5 minutes. I felt immediately warmer and knew i wouldn't have any problems with hypothermia. At the next aid station i was told that we were one of the last runners to go through because they were turning people back because of the deteriorating conditions. I was glad to have made the cut. The last mile was more technical than the jeep road and easy trails to that point. There was some good icy patches and you had to go off trail a bit. I unfortunately had to poop and lost another several minutes. I felt much better though and in the last 100 ft of elevation it started to snow! There were wind gusts of over 50mph i'm told although i'd say 30-40 is more realistic. I would later learn that 20 people had to be driven down the mtn due to hypothermia. The visibility was about 10 feet and although i was now standing at 6684ft, the highest mtn in the east, i could see nothing. i have no idea what the mtns look like in NC. I reached the top in 3hrs 39 minutes. I felt ridiculously fresh and i started passing lots of people on the first mile of technical downhill before it mellowed out a bit. it was an amazing experience knowing there was over 4000ft of downhill. Unfortunately it felt like it was flat because it was so gradual. The race was definitely not technical at all but quite easy for an ultra. I started flying on the downhill but had to lay off the gas in one section because i started seeing spots. i hallucinated a person that was a log as well. I did take one good fall and thought i was in trouble with pulling something but ran it off. I passed about 10 people total on the way down and didn't really push it until it became clear that two of the people i passed were serious about beating me. A woman (who would win the women's race) and this other guy. The last bit of the trail with about 6 miles to go got really steep and i pushed it and my quads started to feel it. Then the road called appalachia way was the steepest road i've ever run down and that hurt too. i had dropped them. At the last aid station i was told there was 5k left and i lengthened my stride and was hoping i could break 6hrs but i couldn't. Near the finish we had to run one 1/2 mile or so loop around a lake and not only was there a posse of 8 mean looking canadian geese who i saw lunge at this runner in front of me doing the marathon but i saw the girl come out of nowhere. i was sure she wouldn't catch me but was surprised she was only a minute back. I would find out that the top 5 men got awards...i came in 10th, but only 10 mins out of 5th place, 20 mins from 3rd. the winner was 5hrs 10 min. overall an interesting experience. i think i'll have a good ultra season. am planning on taking a full week off to recover, and start running again on saturday.