Happy Wasatch Back Relay morning! This is always the biggest and most enjoyable race of the year for me since it’s a team competition and an extremely challenging and scenic course. Riding in Van #1 this year, I woke up early and completed my non-running workout of 300 sit-ups and 30 push-ups. I met up with my teammates shortly after 6:30 am and we headed up to the starting line in Logan. This year I was runner #3 and of course late for first handoff. Extremely embarrassing, I took too long in the Honey Bucket and by the time I finally arrived at the exchange #3, a crowd had gathered around my teammate shouting our team number and cheering my arrival. Consequently, without the bathroom break I ran leg #3 (5.6 miles) in a time of 0:33:09 (6:02 minutes per mile pace), but officially, it took me around five extra minutes when factoring in the bathroom break. Consequently, I ran leg #3 in a time of 0:38:09 (6:56 minutes per mile pace). However, these are the moments that make the Wasatch Back a fun and memorable event.
In regards to my second run (leg #15), I was able to block out my disappointing earlier run and redeemed myself a little bit by knocking out 4.9 miles in a time of 28:45 (5:52 minutes per mile pace). It felt great running some sub-six-minutes miles as the sun was setting and the temperatures were dropping. | 