Day 2 of Wasatch Back. Started Leg 17 at exactly 1AM. I felt like I had recovered pretty well from my first leg, and was looking forward to running on rolling hills and asphalt rather than straight uphill on gravel. Felt very good, and finished the 5.4-mile leg in 29:58 (5:27/mile - the garmin measured 5.49 miles). Mile splits were 5:21, 5:32, 5:31, 5:25, 5:26, 2:41 (0.49 miles, 5:29 pace). Not necessarily an easy leg (~200 ft of net climb), so I was happy to get my goal of sub-5:30 pace. 
Caught an hour of quality sleep at Exch 24 (Rockport State Park). My legs felt surprisingly rejuvenated after that short rest. Started Leg 29 at 7:49 AM, so it was light out again, and starting to warm up. I had been looking forward to Leg 29, as it is only 4.1 miles and virtually all downhill, with an average downhill gradient of nearly 4%. Most of the drop comes in the first 2.5 miles, then it levels out over the last 1.5 miles, so the first half felt similar to the Alta Peruvian Dash (Little Cottonwood Canyon), with several stretches of 6% and 8% downhill gradient. My projected pace based on our magic spreadsheet (which uses elevation gain/loss) was 4:47/mile, which seemed a bit ambitious, but I decided to give it a try. Total time was 19:41 (4:49/mile), so I came very close. Mile splits were 4:50, 4:40, 4:46, 5:00. I was very pleased to hold 5:00-pace when the downhill diminished. 
I was feeling pretty good after my last leg and ran to Exch 30 (3.6 miles) with Sasha to cool down. (Burn: 192 miles) This race was a big confidence booster for me, as I was able to come very close to my projected times on each leg. Since the Ogden Marathon a month ago, my training quality has been up-and-down; I've been getting the miles in, but haven't felt so good about all my workouts. However, this race proved to me that I haven't lost any fitness and can still push myself to run well. Weber State ended up winning with 17:40:40. Congrats to them. BYU was second with 17:51:51. We were a distant 3rd with 18:29:29 (6:16/mile), with Little Team Provo behind us (without us knowing it) in 18:50:09. 26.2 Running Company rounded out the top 5 with 19:18:18. Full results are here.
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