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| bandana FAIL |
I did a short interview with Alex from Down the Backstretch about the race. It is here.
I was expecting temps in the 90s and/or a constant rain shower, but we wound up receiving neither, and we got pleasant temps and no rain.
I jogged around and shook the cobwebs loose for a while before the race. I had just healed up my bum knee, and hadn't done a step of fast stuff since the half in Duluth. I figured I hadn't lost a step, but who knows, it's a trail race - really, ANYTHING can happen.
I knew Josh Moen and course record holder Ben Kampf would be there, so I knew I'd have to bust one to get a win.
From the start, we headed downhill at a leisurely pace and struck up a conversation. We were pulling away from the pack pretty quickly, but not at breakneck pace. I couldn't judge the pace very well, and didn't have any idea where we were along the course, which was actually kind of nice. We just kept doing what we were doing, not really paying attention to racing, just enjoying the course and the nice weather. We were going fast enough to surprise most of the aid station workers, who were never ready for us to be coming through. I yelled at one of them to "pay attention!" when we came through the next time. I realized that sounded kind of dickish, the race had a ton of good volunteers who probably aren't professional aid station workers. Sorry about that. Anyway - the hills on the second half of the course seemed even steeper, and once we started climbing the steepest (named the "Meat Grinder") Josh said "see you guys" and Ben and I pulled away. I should note Josh hasn't been training much and was here for fun, I don't usually finish in front of 62 minute half marathon guys unless there's a good reason, right? I decided at the top I would need to put in a dig once the course flattened out some, since the last couple of miles wound through more serious single-track, and I didn't know if I could hang with Ben through that, or if I could win a short sprint at the end. I got a decent lead before the techy stuff and didn't eat it. I popped back out into the open and Trish was standing there telling me the finish was near. I looked at my watch and realized I was pretty close to the course record. I tried to surge a little more, but was pretty gassed. I managed to get the course record (set on a much less perfect day) by about thirty seconds. Trail running is way more fun that road racing.
To note - none of the top three runners were wearing trail shoes. I was wearing my trusty Karhu Flow2 (in Formula One Red) and had all the traction necessary.
Now it's marathon base time.
