Craig's Running Blog

Up in the Uintas. Did 3.5 miles up and then back down. Base elevation was about 7000 feet, and I went up to 8500.

Got off the plane on time and met up with Andy B. We waited around for an hour or so and then greeted Mark P. The 3 of us got the van and went up north. I knew Mark would be hungry, and he was. We stopped at McDonalds (maybe not the best choice) and got some grub. We continued up to Bellingham for the first major exchange. Decided to stop at Fred Meyer for some food. Bought way too much. Oh well.

We hung out for a couple hours at the major exchange and finally met up with van 1. A good bunch of guys that I hadn't met before, except for Cody (briefly). Cody did 2 legs in the first set, so he was running #6. He got in and we sent Andy on his way. All of a sudden, it occurred to us that we only had 3 guys in our van. Logistically, that makes things difficult because one person has to drive and the other has to be getting ready to run. That means the guy driving is likely the one that just ran.

Ok- Andy's first leg was pretty tough 'cause it had the biggest hill of the course (I think). We got a little lost, but fortunately turned around and had plenty of time to get me ready at the exchange. I got the wristband from Andy and took off on my 2.94 miles. It was a pretty good climb up hill and then downhill the last mile. Avg pace 6:33, which isn't terrible considering the hill. I also showed .2 miles longer on my Garmin, so I think the leg was longer than projected.

We sent Mark off on a 6 mile leg, then I had to follow with another leg of 5.31 miles. This wasn't as bad, and I had a pretty good pace of 6:04 for the leg. We weren't passing many people at this point, because we were still in the back of the pack overall. After I ran, we sent Andy off again for his second leg. I got in touch with Dave N and he was waiting at exchange 11- just in time to run. Perfect timing.

Mark and I wanted to go to a Denny's to get some light food that we could digest easily. It worked out pretty well. I didn't have much, but I forced myself to eat hashbrowns and 2 eggs.

Andy put in the longest leg of 8.5 miles. It was pretty much around the perimiter of the Indian reservation. I got ready and took off on my leg about 1:15am. Not the best time to run, but there were a lot of people to pass during that time. About the last 1/3 of my leg was on an asphalt trail, which was kind of weird because there were no lights. In fact, I had to cross a bay on a running/biking trail. Pretty strange, but enjoyable. This was a tough leg because of the distance. Total: 7.7 miles @ 6:16 pace.

The last leg was a real challenge because of a decent hill and because I was so tight. After the first mile, I had a hard time keeping my pace below 7:00. Blah.