This is my favorite race but I planned to skip it this year because I'm running the Slam. I've been trying to convince others to run it but so far no one is up for it. Along this line, Kathy had expressed some interest and in trying to convince her to do it I signed up for it myself so as to not be a hypocrite. Of course Kathy wasn't there but I was. The start is less than a mile from my front door. So I slept in til 5:00, then walked over with plenty of time for the 6:00 am start. I am not fully recovered from UVM so my plan was to just run and not push very hard. I wore my Garmin but never looked at pace, splits, or time. I pushed a bit for the first mile just so that I could hit the single track without too much traffic. Still there were quite a few runners around me. I chugged along till the real hill and then got caught up in the climb and started passing people. Unfortunately this surge did not last for long. On the ridge line I started feeling nauseous, which is not normal for me. I felt a bit better on the steep decent but once on the flats I just felt kind of sick. So I pretty much jogged down the canyon to the finish, unwilling and unable to run strong and just wanting to finish. My finish time was about 20 minutes slower than it has been in past races, 3:11:31. Most of those 20 minutes were lost in the last 6 miles. I expected nothing for this race and so am not disappointed. I rested at the finish for over an hour before walking home, then showered and took two long naps. I'm not sure what was up with my body. I never felt hot or dehydrated. 1-8:36 2-12:19 3-10:45 4-11:45 5- 12:08 6-13:44 7-22:18 8-19:46 (still on sub-3 pace) 9-9:59 10-9:11 11-7:54 12-8:20 13-9:44 14-10:33 15-11:17 16-10:14 16.3-forgot to stop Garmin | 