Race Day!!! 22 miles, 5,500' elevation gain
Wasn't sure how my body and legs were going to act today. Love ultras because they register the race through ultrasignup.com and they rank you going into the race, show all people entered in the race and develop an estimated finish time. Granted the place and time can differ drastically based on a number of factors. Helps me to know who my competition is. There were a couple of girls who were given finsih times within a couple minutes of mine so I knew it would be a tough race.
Felt good out of the get go and legs felt pretty strong and energy levels were good. Legs could have felt better, but they weren't as drained as they had been earlier in the week so I was happy.
One girl tried to run ahead at about mile 2, but I kept her close and passed her after about 400 yrds. Came into first aid station as first girl, with one right on my heels. I stopped for some orange slices, and she passed the station. Took off and caught her about 600 yrds. Had a nice pace on the flatter stuff and was able to put some distance between us. On the ascent up I grinded up the mountain, passing about 5 guys.
Steep downhills are not my strength. I go as fast as I can without being so out of control that I feel like I could go down. 3 guys passed me (including the hubby) on the downhill- I have no idea how they don't roll down the hill going that fast. Came into the 2nd aid station, grabbed electrolyte pills and shot of 7-up and headed out. Grinded through the next 4 miles of hills trying to catch hubgy- he was just ahead of me (about 2 minutes). finally saw him on the last crest about 200 yds ahead. Unfortuntaly he saw me too. Last 2 miles are a gradual downhill to the finsih and the race was on. We both put it in high gear and flew downhill. He ended up getting me by about 45 seconds- busted out a 6:06 last mile (which is no easy feet after that course). I was about 6:15 trying to catch him. At least he is about 10x more sore than me :)
Kept the other two girls at bay and broke the CR (only the second year for this route...)
Ran strong and felt pretty good the whole race. Wanted to be about 5 minutes faster- have to try again next year...
Now to road racing season. First half in two weeks- so easy few days to let my legs recover ( downhill muscles are tight!!!). Then I race just about every weekend so my milage will fall off for a couple of months.
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