7th time running this race and 4th time running the silly route that starts at the top of Big Mountain. I was a little weary going into the race because although I have kept my fitness up this summer I only did one run run over 20 miles and has two weeks at 70+ miles. Despite that I was feeling optimistic considering I ran a course PR at the Hobbler Half a couple of weeks ago. Still I knew beating Kotter would be a difficult feat.
Race morning I woke up at 2:20, ate breakfast then got on the bus at 3:40. Hung out for an hour chatting with Nate, Daniel, Steve Anderson and a few others then got ready to go. Race started at 5:30 on the dot and we were off zipping down the mountain. From the get go and until mile 24 Jon and I literally ran shoulder to shoulder and must have bumped elbows at least 10 times. We chatted for the first 13 or so miles then started to get more serious, and tired. Neither of us hinted at a blow up along Wasatch which is where we have parted ways in the past. I randomly threw in a few surges along Foothill Drive but every time Jon countered with no effort. That wasn't a good sign because I wasn't getting any faster and my legs were getting heavy. I stuck with Jon as we turned west on South Temple and pushed ahead of Jon one last time but again he seemed to easily counter and get back ahead of me. As we turned south on 200 east he slowly got away from and I could do anything to counter. He gapped me by about 30 seconds in mile 25 and ended up beating me by about 40 seconds. He ran a strong race so I give all of the credit. A guy from Michigan who won the US 100k road championships can in 3rd a couple minutes behind me and Daniel and Nate finished 4th and 5th. Miraculously Steve A. finished 8th overall while pushing Elsha in a stroller. Elsha was technically the first woman finisher. Congrats to Ben and Riley for 2 and 3 in the half and to any other bloggers who braved a semi warm warming and some calf busting downhill miles.
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