Day 1 of WBR
This year was more relaxed for me than last year was, probably because I am in a lot better shape, I had to run half the mileage, and I have a little relay experience now. Last year was fun because we got a bunch of us nobodies from Logan, plus Sasha, and ran under 20 hours with an ultra team. This year was fun because I knew most of our team, and we would be a Top 3 challenger. There is something about being on a team like this that has a bonding affect on you, and I was honored to be a part of such a talented team of runners and people.
My first leg was at about 11:00 pm. Leg 12 was new this year and started somewhere on the road going up to Snow Basin. It was a 1100 foot climb in 4 miles, not near as tough as "Ragnar" or "You've go to be kidding Me!", but still one heck of a climb! It was very dark when I got the baton from Jon and started up the mountain. There was only one other vehicle that passed me besides our own SUV, and that was for the runner that I caught about 3 minutes into my leg. It was kind of trippy being out in the middle of no-where and not seeing anyone. I had no idea of my pace during the climb, I just knew that I was working extremely hard up the mountain. The run seamed to take forever, and I would look at my watch after what seemed like 20 minutes, and only 5 minutes would have passed. I just kept pushing along, knowing that eventually I would see the exchange and be done. I almost ran over Sasha when I handed off to him, he must not have been able to tell how far away I was because I sure wasn't going very fast. I was glad that was my first leg and could get the exteme uphill in the dark out of the way. I did the 4+ mile leg in a blazing 29:02. It was said to be 3.9 or 4 miles (It is amazing how close Paul comes sometimes), but according to the BYU guy's Garim it was between 4 and 4.1 miles. It doesn't really matter to me, either way I was about the right pace (7:00-7:15). The BYU guy that I was running against only ran 4 seconds faster than I did, so I felt good about that. I lost track of BYU after our first two legs, so I never got any other details. I can see why people like to have their Garmins on legs like that.
 I ran into my Dad, who was on a masters team of all plus 50 year old guys (CUPS), after my leg and cooled down with him until my van was ready to head to the next major exchange and try to get some sleep. | 