I am not a big fan of the long relays so when Kam asked if I wanted to join his Wasatch Back ultra team I did not hesitate to accept the offer. Yes, I have issues. I was runner 5 and 6 so I had the Avon ascent and descent, the climb up to East canyon and got to finish with an easy 6 miler through Heber.
My first run started at 6:40 p.m. and due to the late start there were hardly any teams around us. There were a couple of straggler teams ahead and a group of super fast teams that started 30 minutes after us. Even though I knew that I could not treat each leg as it's own race, I found myself starting out way too fast. My average pace was under 7:00/mile for the first 1/4 mile despite the elevation gain. I backed off to a more comfortable pace but was moving well. The WRC ultra team passed me after 3 miles and the WSU womens cross country team was not too far behind. My goal was to not be passed by them by exchange 5. I asked their van how close she was but they were not offering up the information. The climb was not as relentless as I feared. Having the little breaks in between hills helped a lot. I made it to the exchange ahead of the WSU team but was pretty sure she was really close. It wasn't more than a minute before their fresh runner blew past me. She pased me and flew up the hill. I had it in my mind that leg 5 was all uphill and leg 6 was all downhill. I forgot that the first mile of the second leg was uphill as well. It was actually harder than anything during leg 5. Finally got to the top of the hill and was ready to cruise down the hill. I did not want to trash my legs too much on the downhill so my plan was just to run smooth and easy. Did the best I could to maintain good, efficient form but it was difficult because the dirt road was torn up with a lot of exposed rocks. Kept the pace at or below 7:00/mile to the end. I started to feel some signs of glycogen depletion towards the end and my legs were burning. Came in to the chute, passed the bracelet off to Natalie and was ready for a break.
I got super car sick on the drive to Snow Basin. I'm not sure I could have been in the car much longer than we were. Found a comfy couch in Earl's Lodge for a while then decided to try to catch a quick nap in the car before the next set of legs started. Got about 10 minutes of solid sleep and felt a lot better.
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