Arrived 8:50 am
2:50 from Start, 5 minutes in the aid station
I arrived at the gym with enough time to check in, though not as early as the past two years. As usual, everyone sort of milled around the High School, preparing for the race, shaking hands and wishing "Good Luck" to old friends and new and taking photographs. I have learned that the nervous energy before a race can really drain a person, so I have tried in recent years to let it add to the energy I have before a race rather than just burning it off. After I had dropped my finish line drop bag, applied sunscreen, set up my bottles, checked my clothes and generally made sure that I was ready to go, I started looking for friends to take photgraphs with:
Joe took a photo with 5 of the 6 WMRC runners (we were missing Jamil)
Photo (courtesy of Mike Bur) with a few VHTRC members (missing John DeWalt and Joe Clapper)
We started walking outside when Dale said '5 minutes!'
Everybody sang 'Happy Birthday' to Honey Albrecht (what a present for your 50th Birthday, run Hardrock!)
I decided to just go with a handheld bottle and a throw-away bottle for a backup until Cunningham and then pick up my pack there. In fact, I decided to leave the camera; this meant that I would not take any photos, but it also meant that I would be lighter and a little more focussed (I hoped) on moving forward.
Started the countdown...3, 2, 1 Dale said "Get Out of Here!"
Shuffled slowly down the street and turned left and followed the crowd.
Down Reese, turned right, passed the Wyman (waved to Tana, Jimmy and family as we passed) It was great having everyone cheering, but it made it too easy to set too fast of a pace from the start.
-got ahead of Liz as she pulled off the side of the trail, I knew that I would see her fly by me later, it was just a matter of time.
-stayed with Kirk a while, though he pulled ahead before Arrastra crossing
-Kept up with a group, though some pulled ahead and some fell behind.
-met John Sharp from Texas, the guy that Joe Prusaitis had mentioned calling him from the top of Grant-Swamp pass on a training run
-Don Platt must have gotten ahead of me, I thought I was ahead of him
-caught up to Jody just before the first pass, She obviously wasn't feeling well, since I caught her...normally I wouldn't see her after the first mile or two after the start
-As we dropped down toward Cunningham, Jody was behind Rickie Redland and they had quite a line of runners stacking up behind them. I finally got past on a switchback and flew down into Cunningham hootin’ and hollerin’ and singing ‘Blazing Saddles’
-I crossed the creek, saw Nick and told him to take care of Jody because she looked and sounded bad…
-Naresh (who paced me at Cactus Rose last year) was at the aid station crewing his fellow Texans, and he even helped me out along with Chip Gosewich, who was crewing and pacing for Andrew Heard. I thought I asked Naresh for some Fritos, but apparently I said Cheetos, so he got a bag of those for me to take with out of the aid station. I knew I wasn't going to eat them and handed them back, apologizing...Naresh took it all in stride. While Naresh was getting my Fritos/Cheetos, I had the bottles in my pack filled, loaded up my pockets with gels, shot blocks, etc. and made sure that everything was ready to go. I knew I spent more time than I alloted at Cunningham, but I wanted to make sure that I brought what I had planned since the next drop bag wasn't until Sherman, 19.5 miles away (with Maggie Gulch and Pole Creek in between)
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