I came off a weak week, still full of crap in my lungs, but ready to try a 10 hard pace on the murderous hills of Midway. This is a tough course. There were a lot fewer people than last year, and it was a very hot, late start. I felt a good pace at the beginning, 5:53, and started hoping for a sub 60 time. Down and down we went after the initial uphill, I maintained my relative position as the deathmarch to the east began. Aggg, the sun! It's so, so, sunny. At last I turned the corner to head towards Memorial Hill and my watch clicked through mile 3. Seriously? I've been running hard for, like, an hour and it's only mile 3? Time to sleep. So I started going up the spiral. It doesn't seem reasonable, but that road is actually a mile from bottom to top! It isn't much of a hill but you really start to feel it after a mile. I walked for 10 seconds near the top. Then I noticed that Amber was right behind me. She's a terrible taskmaster, and this time was no different. We ran down and she was right on my heels. We started the 100 mile climb to Wasatch State park and she was right there the whole way. As we passed a girl I heard her complain about how her calf seized up, and I thought I might be able to pull ahead. Turns out it was the girl we passed and not Amber that had the calf problem though so when I stopped to take a decent drink at the water station, she blew on by and I never caught her again. She beat me by 10 seconds. On the bright side, the lungs are much cleaner now :)
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