AM Ran the PCEF relay with some people from my work. We were an open male team for Backcountry.com. Everyone is in pretty good shape(runners, triathletes, mountain bikers) so we figured we could place in the top 5 at least....depending on who showed up of course. Lacy was also recruited onto team "The 4th R". I think she was the fastest on her team, but she didn't wear a watch, so not sure of her pace. Not sure how they placed either. This was hrist time running hard since Arpil and she looked great. I know she's gonna be in awesome shape by the ned of the summer!
Woke up to snow and 35 degree temps along with semi sore legs from my workout on Thursday. Good news is the weather cleared up and warmed p for most of the race, and my leg soreness didn't seem to affect me very much. We started out great and were pacing about 6:20 per mile in the first 6 miles, but then we started to hit the nasty climbs. The first 1.20 miles of my run climbed about 480 feet and switch backed up out of the Utah Olympic Park. The next 2 miles were a screaming decent of 700 feet. I would have hit my lap button for splits, but I was delirious upon reaching the top. The pace on my Garmin consistently read 5:20 to 5:40 on this part, which was an awesome feeling. My shins are gonna feel it in the morning! Everyone was charging and looking good to my next leg. A storm started to move in now and when i got the handoff for my last leg there were really strong headwinds. My second leg was flat for the first mile, and I rocked a 6:00 flat time, super stoked! After that was 1.5 miles of crazy up hill(500 foot vert) into the wind and part of the climb was on a utility road that wasn't the greatest surface for road flats. Then was 3.5 miles of cruiser down hill on trail, with the last mile on paved trail. This would have been great, but I got a horrible cramp towards the end of the climb, and was just trying to get it under control for the first 5 minutes of the decent. Plus the winds were kickin and it was a head on battle till the end of the leg. I felt super slow during this and was getting bummed, but I just kept thinking that everybody else is dealing with the same thing.
We were passed by one team around the halfway point, but they were in the mixed group, so not in our division. They had 2 recreational runners, 2 decently fast, and 1 amazingly fast guy. He ran 3 legs in a row totaling about 15 miles. I got to speak with him before my second leg started and his GPS read an average 5:40 pace. This dude was quick! We were also being chased down by the Wasatch High School track team who started 5 minutes after us. We were able to fend them off during the race, but their total time was 3 minutes faster than us, so they took first in our division. Overall it was a fun day and felt great to race!
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