I have not been training very hard the last 2 months, just kind of in maintenance mode, trying to not aggravate some little injuries. This course has a reported 5100 feet of climbing, at least that's what Garmin says. Felt pretty good at the start. Within 1 minute of the start I pulled ahead and stayed there for the first 16 miles. I think at one point I had a 3-4 minute lead. The climb up the front of grove creek around mile 12 I noticed several runners gaining on me as I hiked up the very steep section. I held them off for 4 more miles, but by the time we were closing in on the spring my uphill legs were not wanting to run anymore. After the spring the snow started, which lasted at least 2 miles. So 2 miles of hiking through the stiff snow, breaking through, almost twisting my ankle about every 5 seconds, the snow was just a bit too hard at this point. Going down battle creek, there are some very rocky/steep sections which I was taking kind of slow, trying to save the quads and my face, I was passed by another runner. When we made the turn to go up to curly springs the mud started. As I turned off the trail I noticed that the small stream was much larger and deeper and the only way across was to go right through. So running through 5 inches of water instantly got the feet drenched. Which turned out not too bad since the next 3 miles was inches of mud/clay/water. Drenched the feet in mud and muddy water, pulling myself up with trees trying to climb the very steep, very deep muddy section of trail. When we got to the dry canyon aid station where the half and full courses recombine the trail was in perfect condition the rest of the way. After trudging to the top of the trail 51 climb I started feeling more energetic so I started picking up the pace and ended up catching 3 of the people who had passed me with about 2 miles to go. The last half mile or so is on a steep gravel road leading to the finish. There was a young runner up ahead so I decided to try to catch him just in case he was someone who had passed me, (couldn't really remember, brain a little foggy by this point). So I started picking up the pace, and he noticed I was gaining on him and so he started going faster. We ended up going at about a 4:30 pace to the end of the race, I just barely couldn't catch the youngster, but he was in the half anyways. I was kind of surprised that I ended up in 2nd with the people that had passed me and I wasn't sure if I had passed those who had passed me, since the half and full runners were mixed up by that point. The first runner came in about 10-13 minutes in front of me. Gained 1 minute per mile the last 10. I had written down times when I thought I would hit aid stations for my parents and family to be able to see me and ended up within a couple minutes of all the times I had guesstimated at. Very happy with the run. Great day to be outside.
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