Luke - 13

Ridgeline Ramble 20k, 1:21:29 (4th place)
This recap is really long, so I think I can make it only show these couple lines on the front page and you can click through to see the whole thing.

I really needed a haircut, so I figured I'd cut it for this race.  I wanted to try a mohawk for the day, then just buzz the whole thing after.  Zack cut it the night before, but when I tried to make it look decent in the morning I was unable, so I ended up just buzzing it all then.  Probably took a few seconds off my time just doing that.
I had to be at the community college at 7am, so I got up at 5:30 to do the hairstyling and get breakfast and stuff, and headed out at about 6:45.  Got my packet and got on the bus at 7:20, and after pinning my number on my jersey I talked to the guy I was sharing a seat with, who had barely ever run before but was doing the 20k and shooting for under three hours.
When we got to the start I jogged around a tiny bit and then got in line for the bathroom, but realized I'd be waiting for at least twenty minutes...luckily I'd brought my own TP, so I headed into the woods (there were dozens of others doing this also).  Walking around before the start I saw a few fast-looking fellas.  One of the race directors asked me if I'd be trying to defend my title from last year, and I told him I wasn't so sure with some of the guys around, and he said something like, "Yeah, there's some horses this year."  The people doing the full 20k had regular timing chips on their shoes whereas the relay runners had a velcro strap that went around the ankle so they could hand it off to their partner, so I tried to look at the feet of the fast-looking guys to see if they were doing the relay or the full.  There was a guy in a Brooks-Hansons jersey and two guys in Rogue Valley Runners jerseys who looked formidable, and all three were doing the full.
At the start the guy in the B-H jersey went to the front, followed by the two RVR guys and then me.  Us four separated from the pack fairly quickly and B-H set a fast pace.  The second RVR guy fell back a little about a half-mile in, so I passed him to keep up with the lead pack.  A few minutes later the first RVR guy was lagging just a little so I passed him too and got right up behind B-H.  He led across the first road crossing and into the second section of trail in 11:57, which seemed pretty fast for ~2mi of rolling hills.  My strategy was to hang out in second for the first 5k, then bomb the next 5k (2mi downhill then up Fox Hollow) and then see if I could hang on the second half of the race.  He put a little distance on me in the first half-mile of the second section of trail, but I worked little by little to catch him and did so exactly where I wanted to, which was about a quarter-mile before the post that to me says Go Now.  At the post I passed him quick and bombed down the hill, and I think I did take him by surprise.  I put a good few seconds on him, probably 50m at the most, and came to the next road in the lead.  This is where the course goes down Fox Hollow and I hoped to put a little more distance on him on the descent since I know that trail better than probably anyone.  He was catching up pretty well and ended up being right behind me pretty much the entire way down.  At the bottom we take another trail up a short steep hill, across a stream, then out onto the road before heading back up Fox Hollow.  Up the short steep hill he passed me, as I'd been figuring he'd be able to do for the previous half mile, and he took off really well.  He put probably close to 100m on me by the time I got to the road.  My Fox Hollow ascent was a definitely-decent 7:58, but I could see a little ways back the RVR guy closing on me.  At the halfway point, B-H was 25 seconds in front of me (I only know because they took splits; I couldn't see him) and I was about ten seconds in front of RVR.  My split at halfway was 41:38, and I was thinking splits of 42:xx and 37:xx would get me under 1:20 (another goal of mine; the course record was 1:21:low) so I was happy to see that time.  The RVR guy caught me within like a half-mile of the next section of trail and we ran together for a short while.  He asked me what happened to the B-H guy and I told him how he'd taken off and said he should try to catch him.  I was hurting pretty well so it wasn't hard for him to take off from me after our short conversation.  Near the end of the trail, around a hairpin turn, I could see way way back there was a guy in gray who looked like he might have been closing on me a little.  I figured it was a relay guy and tried to pick it up so I could achieve my goal of beating all the relay teams (though I wouldn't be winning the race).
At the end of this section of trail the course went on the trail next to the road out a little ways and then turned around and came back on the road next to the trail.  I saw the B-H guy and counted ten seconds to the RVR guy, and yelled out to him, "He's twenty seconds ahead."  At this point I started passing 10k runners, who had started a half-hour after us, so about 11-12 minutes before I started my second 10k.  They were pretty courteous and I don't think any of them slowed me down at all even in the single-track trails up, over, and down Mt. Baldy.  I was feeling a bit more decent on the half-mile road section before the trail to Mt. Baldy, and the ascent of it wasn't that bad.  On the descent, I was going decently but wasn't able to keep up the breakneck speeds I love to do on downhill trails.  The guy in gray was definitely catching up to me; I didn't look back but could hear him intermittently.  By the end of the trail, about 5k from the finish, he was right behind me.
My goal pace needed me to hit close to 19 for the third 5k of the race, but it was 21-flat instead.  I figured I could still do decently if the last 5k went well since my first 10k was about a minute ahead of schedule.  The guy in gray caught up to me as we headed down the road, and I asked him if he was doing the 20k or the relay.  He said 20k and I said Daaaaaaamn.  He said he was hurting though.  He went a little ahead of me by the bottom of the hill, and then I caught him and passed him going up the hill.  When it flattened out for a second he caught me again, and then the road went down a hill that was steep and sustained.  I knew I'd have to really pound the road and lean forward even though my body wanted to put on the brakes.  The guy in gray was a couple seconds in front of me and it was all I could do to keep pace with him.  When the downhill leveled out a little my body felt like it wanted to shut down and I tried to figure out how to make it keep going.  I got to a decent pace, but the guy in gray was going away strong.  I hadn't seen the other RVR runner since about a mile in, and I wanted to keep it that way, so I pushed as much as I could.  There was one last uphill with a mile to go and it didn't completely kill me, and I was able to stride out down the gradual hill to the last road.  Not much happened in the last half-mile; I saw the guy in gray way up there but was able to hold off anyone behind me.  As I came through the chute the guy announcing said something about me being the defending champion and being 3½ minutes faster than last year.  The second RVR guy was less than 30 seconds behind me.
I did beat all the relay teams--the first one came in about a half hour after me.  The first RVR guy had caught the B-H guy with a mile or two to go and ended up winning in a blazing 1:16:41.  I think I get a little credit for his win since I took the B-H guy with me at my suicidal first-half pace, he he.  His time was 1:17:20, and the guy in gray's time was 1:20:24, so all three of them were under the old course record (I was 24 seconds behind it).
After the race I had a burrito and walked around a bunch to cool down (would have jogged if I could have) and talked to the top three guys a bit.  The guy I sat next to on the bus finished at 2:25, so he shattered his goal.  First and third place were 23 and 24 years old, and the B-H guy was actually a high schooler; I Googled him and he was third at state last cross country season.  So I won my age group and got a little medal for that, as always.  Because I wasn't top three I didn't get a sweatshirt, and I didn't win one randomly either!  So sad.  A fun race, though, and hopefully I'll be back next year, perhaps contending for another win.