First leg of the Wasatch Back Relay (leg 8). It was inspiring to watch Verdon pounding up the dirt road for the handoff as he was giving it his all. I felt well rested and took off up the dusty road at a comfortable pace. It was hot, but it really didn't affect me for the first mile or so. I loved running on the dirt road especially when I got to the shade provided by the trees. There was also a beautiful stream running by the road for much of the way. It would have been perfect if it hadn't been for all the dust kicked up by passing vehicles (one of the volunteers said that some of them were van 1's that didn't want to take the long way around to the next major exchange). Ran first mile in 8:12, second in 8:47. Was pretty hot by that time. It was a relief to get water from my van mates and have them cheering me on. For the third and fourth miles, the steady climb started to take its toll on me and my pace dropped to 9:07 and 9:10 and to 9:12 pace for the last .31 miles. Overall pace was 8:51 or about 11 seconds per mile slower than I was shooting for. Finished in 38:10 (56 seconds slower than projected). I don't think I could have pushed it any harder than I did. Recovered fairly quickly after drinking a few cups of cold water. My GPS showed a net elevation gain of 359 instead of the 487 in the race book. | 