Luke - 6.2, Chris - 6.2

This is our joint blog post for our race.  I (Luke) will go first since I ran the first leg of the relay, and then I'll hand off (har har) to Chris.

So I didn't run much in the past week (I'll catch up on those blog posts later tonight), and was just running this for fun, but I definitely tried to run well.  I ran the full race two years ago and was way back in 19th, so I was surprised when I went right to the front at the beginning of the race today.  Right away 4 of us separated ourselves from the rest of the group.  A guy in white was at the front, I was a step behind him, a guy in green was a step behind me, and a shirtless guy was a step behind him.  The first mile is uphill, and although I was breathing pretty heavily, I didn't feel too bad, and I could hear the other guys breathing too so I figured I wasn't out of my league there.  After the first mile it's mostly downhill for a mile and I felt really good on that.  The trail was only wide enough for one at most points, so I figured once we got to the road at 2 miles we'd sort ourselves out by how we felt.  Coming down the hill I felt good enough that I was thinking about going to the lead once the route crossed the road and went up the second big hill...but there was a small uphill before the road and once I hit it I knew I wouldn't be making any big moves up the hill.

At the road the shirtless guy went to the lead and took off, with the rest of us retaining our order.  I was having a tough time up the hill and figured the guy in green would pass me, but I made it up the first uphill of the section still right behind the guy in white, and when it went to downhill for a bit I felt good.  After that, though, there was another big section of uphill, and green passed me, and white started pulling away then too.  After about a quarter-mile of that uphill I couldn't see either of them any more.  When it turned back to downhill I made it my goal to catch white by the time I got to the next road (around 4 miles into the race).  I was booking down the hills and was back to feeling good, and saw him ahead of me about a half mile from the road, and gradually caught up to him, and was with him when we got to the road.  At this point in the race the course goes down a hill for a mile and does a small loop and comes back up the same hill before handing off to the second part of the relay, so I saw Chris before heading down.  The guy in white let me go ahead of him into the trail since he could tell I was beating him on the downhill sections.  I've run this section of trail many many times and have a section that I always time myself on because I think it's about exactly a mile, so I hit my watch at the top and tore off down the hill.  

There were a lot of switchbacks, so it's really hard to get up a ton of speed...I think the fastest I've ever run that mile is 5:09.  I was definitely going pretty fast down it, but the course turned off a little before the place where I think the mile mark is, so I didn't get to gauge very accurately, but I think I was around 5:20 or so.  At the bottom of the hill there's a creek, and I didn't get my feet wet or anything, but I had to slow down to step on rocks to cross it.  After that it went back up the hill I just finished gleefully running down, and I had purposely not saved anything for it.  I knew it would be slow going up, and decided to just do my earlier running fast and concentrate on just making it up the hill.  As I was going up, people were coming down, and I had to dodge them...at one point a guy didn't give me quite enough room and I sorta fell, but I was able to get back up pretty easily.  A lot of the runners said "good job" as I passed them, and a few told me the next guy was really close and that I could catch him.  I didn't really believe them since I hadn't seen him in like 4 miles.  One guy said "I've been running for twenty seconds since I saw them" so I guess he was about 40 seconds ahead of me.  I never did see him, probably because there were a lot of switchbacks.  At the top of the hill I tried to kick, but it was really too steep to go much faster.  I managed to make it to Chris, and slapped his hand with my last bit of energy...

This was my first trail run I've done, it's definitely a lot different than a normal road race. Pretty fun though! I was glad Luke came by us before doing the loop so I could cheer him on some before we slapped hands and I took off. I was pretty much by myself running through the woods for the first mile or two. I'd done a lot of mountain biking on this section of trail when I was living in Eugene, so it was fun to be able to know all the little twists and turns. I was feeling pretty good going through there, it's pretty rolling as far as up and downhills, so I could really let my legs fly on the little downhills let them carry me back up the little uphills. Toward the end of that section there's a fairly decent hill with a few switchbacks, and I knew once I hit those that I would be pretty slow going up the longer hills in my leg. I glanced back and saw a guy on a white shirt a bit back, and was hoping I could hold him off for awhile. Once that little hill tops off it goes straight back down and comes out by a road. It took me a few strides to get tall again after the climb, but I flew down it pretty quick. In fact the white shirt guy didn't pass me until after I had done the 180 onto the road and had been on it for a minute or two. He passed me fairly quickly so I felt good that I had held him off for as long as I did. After the road section it went back onto more trail that I've done mountain biking on many times before, and I knew I was in for a serious climb. I was feeling fairly decent going up the first bit, but as it continued and made a switchback my steps were becoming shorter and slower. Another guy in a white & black penny came up behind me pretty quick, so I waited a couple steps for when the trail widened a little and asked him if he wanted to pass. He said please so I stepped to the side off the trail a little and let him go on by. It continued uphill from there, and just when I thought I would have a little leveling off, they had us turn 90 degrees to the left and go straight up the side of this STEEP hill. (Normally when I mountain bike there, I byass this and go straight, since this hill is so steep). I hate to admit it, but after taking some strides up that part I realized I was barely running and seriously struggling, so I walked that tiny little uphill section and started running again as soon as I got to the top. Since there were so many hills on this course I was concerned about using too much energy early on trying to attack the hills, because this happened when I ran the Butte to Butte 10k a couple years ago - you go up a big hill for the first mile and I went out way way to fast and was really struggling the last few miles. I was by myself for a long time after the black & white penny guy passed me. There was a lot of downhill so I had fun careening down that and really letting my legs fly. At some parts I couldn't pick up a ton of speed because it was gravel and very short distances between switchbacks. This dumped out into a neighboorhood and from there I saw a few ladies that had started the 10k about 10-15 mins before I started out my leg, and the penny guy in front of them. I passed them but never came close to catching the penny guy. After that I passed a few more ladies (while I was passing some people I tried to be nice and say "keep it up" or "good job") and the course took a turn and went down a huge, steep section of road. It was kinda lame because it was so steep and long I couldn't get very tall and use my strides to my advantage. But after that it leveled out back onto some gravel. I was feeling pretty good at this point and passed a couple more 10kers, and then the gravel road went through a wooded donwhill section. I went absolutely flying down this section, and after the switchback I passed an older guy and said "finish strong!" to him and he said "likewise, and watch your step" - probably because I was going recklessly fast down this gravel decline. Then it turned into road again for a little flat section. An older guy that was running the full 20k passed me on this section, but as it went up a little hill up to the road (3/4 of a mile to the finish) I tried to push it and actually passed him a little by the end of the hill. But then as it leveled out and then started to go downhill again he passed me again and it was clear I wouldn't be able to keep up with him. I ended up passing one more 10k lady pretty close to the finish and came across the line by myself for a total team time of 1:28:06. Luke finished his leg in 44:15 and I finished mine in 43:51, so this obviously means I'm faster than Luke now! Then we stuck around for about 45 mins to wait for them to hand out awards. We got first in our "combined" age group, and third overall for the relay! So we got medals for that, and then some stupid people that did the relay didn't stick around for the awards, so they did a raffle for some extra swag and Luke and I won some sweatshirts! So that was pretty sweet, plus they had fresh fixings to make yummy burritos while we waited. Good times!