<p>Hi Bob.... very nice improvement!</p>
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<p>HF..... don't you hate when you hurt yourself with something silly? i.e. ... not running! Good 10.</p>
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<p>Hi TW!</p>
<p>Have fun, Rip!</p>
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<p>Training partner arrived at my house right on the dot of 5:45 am for the 2.5 hr drive to today's race. 9°C in town when we left, and 6°C by the time we got there, with off-and-on rain and high winds. Perfect trail running weather. The 13.8K course started with about a km of muddy uphill before getting into slippery single track. I ran the first bit up and back as a warm up, trying to decide how much to wear and settled on my original plan of a LS shirt, shorts and ball cap. Plenty of runners overdid it and went out with knit hats, jackets and gloves and I'm sure regretted it. By 20 min in, I was nice and toasty. </p>
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<p>I went out at the back of the 3rd wave and we slogged up the first long climb... I was running it all (even the steepest parts) and feeling strong. In the single track I quickly got jammed up by a very tentative runner, with no room to pass on the very muddy and slippery trail. At the next stretch of double track, I zipped by her, but she was a stronger runner on the uphill and passed me back just before we hit single track again. Frustrated, I tailed her for a few hundred yards, found an opportunity and yelled "On your left" and passed quickly off-trail, pushing hard to make sure I gained enough of a lead that she didn't try it again on the next section of double track. Ah that's better! </p>
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<p>I hit the first aid station and not needing water, waved them off and followed the guy in front of me to the left of the station. A friend at the aid station yelled "Nancy, go!" as I went by, but within 5 minutes I realized I'd made a mistake, as several faster people started to pass me. Then I remembered that there was a small loop for only the longer course runners, and it slowly dawned on me that I'd cut the loop. My friend wasn't yelling "Nancy, go", but rather "Nancy, NO!" Ok...I'd gone way too far to go back so, disappointed, I kept going thinking this would be my first disqualification. Then it hit me that what I'd missed was a 700m loop that went out on the right of the aid station and returned on the left side, so that if I did that little loop twice on the second round, I'd have done the full distance. </p>
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<p>Near the turn out for the next loop of the course, I saw the RD at the side of the trail... told him what I'd done and how I planned to fix it, and he was OK with it. I checked with my friend at the aid station and told her what I was doing (she was my witness), did that section twice and rectified my mistake. Slipped and skidded thru the rest of the course... got covered in mud, but stayed upright and finished strong. I felt better on this race than I have in a while. </p>
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<p>No hardware for this race, finished 4th in my AG, but managed to place second in the series championship.....cold, muddy, and feeling good about myself!</p>
