6:30 AM - Woke up to gorgeous weather. It was sunny and temperature in the mid 40s in Pittsfield. Had some breakfast and headed out to Monroe, MA by myself this year, as Emm had a lot of wedding things she wanted to get done. Got there without a problem about an hour before the gun. Got my bib number and warmed up in the woods a bit.
WARM-UP: 1 mile @ 9:50 Jogged through the woods on a side trail that had pavement that abruptly ended with a wall of trees. Then went down and followed the first .25 miles of the course. Course started coming back to me. Remembering the bottle neck effect from last year and how placement is key to running a successful race.
THE RACE:
MILES 1-5.6: The first mile and a half are somewhat harrowing. It is first a single track slanted trail along the brook that generally consists of moss and wet leave covered rocks. I pushed a bit harder than last year just to have a more enjoyable race and to be able to settle in to a pace I liked. I was not sure going in how great of a race I would run, however I was confident that I would have a blast. Yet, Emmy also gave me an ultimatum. As we are getting married this week, "NO FALLING, NO TWISTING ANKLES, NO BROKEN BONES" Got it?! Good! Haha! After mile 1, there is a beastly and humbling ascent up the side of a mountain to a fire road. It is single track and quad killing. I was definitely feeling the soreness from the race yesterday. Ut oh! Made it to the access road and picked up the pace. Felt more confident than last year. About 5 people passed me on the fire road but I looked down and was averaging 8:15-8:25 a mile and I felt like I was flying so I let them go. First aid station was at mile 3.6. I grabbed some water and pushed on with 2 gentlemen. We shared the load leading, and were plodding along, though as we got closer to the top of Spruce Peak (~2200'), I had to walk more. My legs were just dead. Crested the top and began some of the most harrowing, most fun, and most AWESOME running possible.
MILES 5.6-10.5: When it comes to trail running, though I enjoy ascending and going uphill because I can control the pace more easily, I think I am actually better at running downhill. I hit the crest of the mountain and literally jumped onto the trail to descend. I passed someone right away, but then it was single track with multiple foot drops, so it became more of a maintaining kind of tempo. I soon caught two more including a guy I had let pass me a mile before on the steepest part of the uphill. He yelled out, "Ha. Looking good! This is MY achilles heel! See you at the finish!" I was flying! Next aid station came right before stream crossing #1. I stopped, grabbed two cookies and water, and pushed on. Water was only 1-2' deep and wasn't bad as it didn't go above the knees. From experience last year I knew to take it slowly coming out of the water as the feet can go numb and also slosh about in the shoes until the water comes out. Recovered quickly and pushed on. At about mile 9 right before the second stream crossing, my hamstrings felt like they were going to seize up so I scaled back the pace. I looked down and I had been averaging a 7:30 pace on the descent. Woah! Got to the second stream crossing and had 2 options. I could either go across the stream via a bridge, OR I could go the normal way and do the 75 foot stream crossing. STREAM CROSSING BABY! Hop, skipped, jumped across and had a blast doing it. Got out of the water and continued on, backtracking on the original mile of the course. Got passed by one person towards the end but that was okay. I pushed on to the finish and was surprised. I still managed to eclipse my time from last year by :02! Finished in 68th place in a time of 2:02:50, good for 6th place in my age group. Headed home to see Emmy. The views going back by the hairpin turns were amazing! | 
