What a day! I thoroughly enjoyed this race, it was an early start (4am) which ended up being great because then we didn't get as roasted by the sun. It was still shady in Hobble creek when we got to it. My pack held up great, especially since this was my first trail run with it. I didn't bring a headlamp, so I relied on other runners for the first hour or so, which ended up working out fine, but I think I'll bring my own if we start that early another time. One of the people I ran with in the morning was a girl named Teresa, who was the winner of the Wasatch 100 last year, as well as several other ultramarathons. What a legend. I made friends with a Dermatologist named Jim McDonald, we ran together from miles 14-30 more or less, super awesome guy, just makes you feel super good about yourself. I hit the halfway point at about 4:16:00, which was ahead of my goal pace, I really wanted to get under 9. Turns out I really underestimated the back half of the course. There was steady climbing with some flat to downhill sections from about mile 24-39. That next mile and a half was basically straight up, I think it's called Bozung hill or something like that. It was wild, and just slow trudging forward. Kinda awesome now that I look back at it. The views back there were incredible! Needless to say, getting to the next aid station felt so good, and from there it was almost entirely downhill. It wasn't easy of course, finishing those long races never are. I was in 7th I think until the last aid station, some guy came blasting through, but I didn't really care, I was just happy to be drinking some water and eating grapes. I started cruising down the canyon road and a couple of things happened, Sam drove by with my whole family (minus Anna) in the car, and that was a big boost to morale!! Then, a little further down I heard some people cheering behind me, the first place girl was closing in. Somehow I found the energy to really kick it down the canyon, which I was proud of. Overall, the race was a fantastic experience, I want to come back and do it again and see if I can do even better.
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