I had no idea what to expect at this race- I was real sick this week, sick enough that I took a day off work (first sick day in 2+ years) and went to the doctor (first sick visit in 3+ years). Fever off and on all week, plus painful sinus infection. No fun. I just wanted to finish the race. It was tempting to run with some of the other bloggers (Walter, Chad, and Cody are all competitive), but I let them go right from the start. Temp was ok, but there was a strong head wind the whole way. Mile 1 was was 5:43, then miles 2-6 were all 5:56-6:05. Then I did 7 miles between 6:13-6:29, with a finishing kick of 34 sec. I got caught in no-man's land at mile 1 and thought of catching the FRB group for wind aid, but then I started having trouble breathing at mile 1.5. It was a sort of runner's asthma that normally I get after marathons, and made it difficult to take any deep breaths. I had to really concentrate on breathing the whole way. Was in 15th place at 2 miles, including behind Emily Jameson. Caught Nate Pollard at mile 3 and we traded breaking wind for 1/2 mile each for 9 miles. I'm not sure I would have finished if he hadn't been there and we didn't work together, honestly. We caught Emily at mile 10 or 11, then caught one other guy at mile 12. Nate was hurting at this point and didn't take his lead, so I tried to burn him. He caught me with ~1/4 mile to go, but then I think he ran out of gas and I started a decent kick and beat him. But I'm so glad we helped each other- very helpful. Awesome sight at the finish- there we 6 FRB singlets standing around, and only maybe 2 other guys. Logan, Clyde, Walter, Chad, Steve, and Cody all ran great races, and there were a bunch of other bloggers not too far behind. I was exhausted when I finished and could not have gone any faster. Can't ask more than that. Bad time compared to normal, but it is a heck of a lot better than a DNS or DNF. It is unfortunate that I got sick, but not much to do about that. Chad beat me by 5 minutes, Cody by 3.5, so my lead in the series is gone. There is no way I can make up 4+ minutes on Chad in the 30k. I'll do my best to get better before then, and then hopefully secure 3rd place and maybe give Cody a run for second. Should be fun. I'm also looking forward to finally closing on my house this week (knock on wood) and getting rid of that major stress from the last month of my life.
Tangent- 165
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