overtaking haynes

I probably wouldn't have done this race if it didn't happen to be only 35 mins from where i live and have huge hype. you have to sign up the day it's open and there were 955 finishers which is absurd for a trail race! i wanted to see what all the hype was about. 

 i got to the race and there were already hundreds of cars, a bagpipe player and people everywhere! the race bibs were cool and actually had your first name on it. had it been last year i would have been aiming for a top ten finish but because of my training/perceived weakness i just wanted to have a good time and not embarrass myself. it was about 80 even at 9am in the morning.

 i saw a familiar face, a guy who has beaten me in a half marathon trail race (passed me in the last 5 miles) and i crushed him at a longer more rugged race last year. i expected to be crushed today and he did beat me.

 anyways, i lined up at the start in the front row. not many people seemed all that intimidating which was good. i found myself surprisingly in the top 10 across the large field and into the woods. it's always cool when the leaders are right there. the first half mile was about 5:40 pace which i knew was too fast. after about a mile we crossed an almost waste deep river which was pretty exciting and i started to settle in. i was passed at mile 2 or so by the guy i knew but he never got too far away. after about a half mile called the mud flats which were ridiculously muddy there was this huge sand hill with another bagpipe player which i was told i was in 10th place. there was a scrawny 17 yr old who for 1 sec overtook me but i shot by him once the hill was over. i put some distance on him but another guy came behind me and i could feel his breathing. i was pushing the whole time and i thought i would die because i had no confidence. i was passed after about a half mile and i stayed with him and he walked a few steps every once in a while on the hills and i caught up to him and passed him. we traded for a while and i had the lead on a long downhill which i knew he wouldn't pass me on. when it flattened out he passed me and i was sure he would surge away from me but i was able to hold on only about 5 sec back to the last field with about 0.5 miles to go. There was a tall grassy section and a bunch of people gathered and i thought  to myself i'm going to finish 10th, that's pretty awesome, i can't pass this guy. but the crowd of spectators were at the final water crossing! this crossing was also waist deep and the guy fell in and lost his footing. i saw him fall to his neck and i went around him on his right and surged ahead not looking back. i was sure the finish line was feet away! i'm going to win. much to my chagrin it was not and i had to go about a 1/4 mile uphill across the field beyond the original starting line. i had used up all my adrenaline and speed in the surge through the river and up the bank about a 100 feet. i was sure i was doomed, but i guess i had opened enough of a gap to hold on. it was pretty exciting and winning duels like that are always extremely rewarding!

i really needed this to feel good about running again.

3.4 mile hike after