MISSION ACCOMPLISHED AM- For my final short run ever in Logan, I wanted to run my favorite- Jardine Juniper. And I wanted to set a record, which would be challenging- 9.5 miles with 1900 ft of climbing. Plus I had done two hard runs the past two days, and my foot was killing me. Cody was trash-talking me last night, saying I would never be able to set the record after last night's run. The old record was 1:16:56, with fastest final 4 mile descent of 23:51. I knew my legs were very tired from the previous 2 days, but I had tons of desire. I thought I could break 1:15, and always believed that the best I could ever do would be a 1:12. I knew the difference today would be running a fast uphill, so I went hard right from the start, maxing out the whole way up. I didn't feel great, but I reached the first ridge in 27:00, 2-3 min faster than normal. I reached the 4 mile intersection in 37:47, 2 min faster than normal (splits up were 9:05, 10:05, 9:29, 9:15, and 7:59). I cruised the rest of the way to the top and then really picked it up on the downhill. My legs weren't happy with the fast downhill, but they would get no reprive from me today. I reached the intersection after the loop at 48:43, then pushed even harder the rest of the way down. I was flying as fast as I could, with my eyes watering from the wind. Splits down were 6:09, 5:53 (first sub-6 mile in months!). At this point, I saw an old, bearded trail runner moving briskly up the trail towards me. He told me there was a moose 2 switchbacks down on the trail. Not wanting to run into a moose at 10 mph, I slowed down and started calling "Hey, moosie, moosie". I also got out my camera. Sure enough, in less than .2 mile, I saw the moose 30-40 yards off the trail. I stopped and took the best pictures I could before he disappeared into the woods. My slowdown cost me probably 10-15 seconds. I resumed my run, harder than ever. Last splits were 6:08, 5:45, and the final 1/2 mile at 5:13 pace! 5:13 pace!!! Total descent for the last 4 miles was 23:07, 44 seconds faster than ever before despite tired legs and my crazy run last night. Total time was 1:11:46 (7:41 avg). I had done it- crushed the old record by over 5 minutes!!! This is a great last run for me and I am very happy to set such a great record on this course. Not to say that Joe or Cody won't ever be able to break it- they might. But it will be darn tough. And I am sure that they will NEVER break it after running Ben Lomond and the Wellsvilles the two days before. I am proud to leave this daunting challenge to them. Guys, I challenge you to break 1:11:46. Good luck. My first moose picture ever- made it worth carrying the camera the whole way 
Proof of final time  
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