After a mile warm up, spent half an hour in line to buy spikes for my gel dirt dogs since I forgot mine at home I was still feeling sick but not as bad as the previous days. We were in the Division 1 Race. At the starting line we got a starting spot via pulling a number from a basket and going to the spot with the number on the sign. The start was divided in two by a line of flags with a podium in the middle for a gun starter. We got the spot just to the right of the dividing flags. Did a few stride and got a team cheer in and waited for the last runner in the last race to finish. The gun started and Mark and Jerrell had amazing starts at the cost of me, JD, and Sylvan getting boxed in, big time. At the funnel 200 meters from the start (according to a race official even though the starting line was huge, it was designed so that from any spot you start it was 200 meters to the funnel which was a hard right 200 meters from the start) we encountered heavy traffic. A runner slamed into a flag post and three more tripped over him with me getting push around but holding my own. At the funnel we had come to almost a complete stop. After wards the trail was small with not much room to pass but I saw a Davis kid Pushing people through so I followed the path he was making right behind him. There were tons of people so I was a little aggressive with arms moving or pushing some people a bit for both of our protections. The race was a two ordeal around a small lake. I kept making surges passing tons of people but there were still lots more ahead of me. My time seeded me about 40th in this race. Made more gains but soon I found out I had lit all my matches at around halfway through the second lap. Not much more left to go I kinda died but hung on. At the 3 mile marker I was done for I think due to all the surges in the middle. It was my quads that were tired the most. Zan from MC passed me at this point and he was cruising. I finished and just lost out in a kinda slow sprint finish with fellow teammate JD. Zan had surge so much and I died so much that in that last .1 of the race he got 30 seconds on me. Overall It was a great experience and Mark who usually runs in a pack with me and JD said that he got a bad start and can't imagine what the rest of us got. Overall it was a neat experience and I was pretty satisfied with the effort I put in. It was a fun bus ride and home and a unique birthday for me. | 