Huntsville Sprint Tri Race Report by Mark Hudnall

-->

Huntsville Sprint Triathlon, June 22^nd, 2013. 400m Swim, 7 mile bike, 3.1 mile run.  Early start helping with set up and then bodymarking.  Volunteering definitely takes the mind off worrying about all the details on race day, but it didn’t allow for a warm-up run or swim, oh well, minor detail.  Transition setup was pretty simple, since it was such a short course there wasn’t much concern with how much water to carry on the bike or any nutrition during the bike course.  I dropped 2 Hammer Endurolytes Fizz in my aero bottle and I’m ready to go.

I was bib number 57 and hoped I would avoid most of the congestion (and maybe edge Ricky Bobby by a few seconds J).  By 150 meters I had passed 5 or 6 people and was stuck in the pile up at the end of the lane.  I managed to avoid the “pileups” on the next few turns by getting under the lane early, and working to the inside of the turn direction each length.  Passed a few more in the last 200 meters and off to T1.  

Quickest transition to the bike in my limited experience and time to pour it all out on the bike course.  Objective for the day was leave it out on the road and hope that I could still muster a half-way decent run.  Started off strong and enjoyed passing a handful of cyclists, before Dennis Mix came blazing by me at the turn onto Triana.  No chance I could keep up with him…he was on fire!  Uneventful course otherwise.  Managed to have a moving avg speed of 21 MPH, which is pretty fast for me.  “Process Improvement” from Monster Tri - I successfully extracted both feet from my shoes before the dismount line, waved to the camera, and headed into T2. 

Almost forgot I was on the first rack and tried to run down row 2.  Otherwise another quick transition and out for the run.  Remember, I planned to leave it all out on the road.  Checked the Garmin at the run start and the HRM showed 180bpm.  Picked up the number 19 swimmer and ran with her for the first half mile.  She said she was planning to run a 7:30 pace, so off she went.  I know my limits.  Nathan Graves and Tim Pitt came cruising by on my first lap.  Yes, they entered the pool way later than me and finished well ahead.  As I finished the first lap, Josh Pierson was cheering on the runners…I offered him cash to carry me on the second lap – he declined.  Caught back up with “Number 19” and passed her about the 2 mile mark and paced it out to the finish line with Jess Ahrens at just under 8:00 min mile (according to my Garmin).  Any run course that makes me run multiple circles is mentally defeating, but my pace turned out okay.  Great to get the chance to see lots of the Fleet Feet Triathlon Team out on the course.  Finish time 53:45 and 7/22 in my AG.

Great race weather and a very well oiled machine by the race director and all the volunteers.  Looking forward to cheering on my daughter at the Pesky Piranha Youth Triathlon and a little off-roading at Tri for Ole Glory.  C’mon out and get your tires muddy at the Space Rocket Center on Independence Day (unless you’re in my age group and fast, in which case they need volunteers out on the course). 

Monster in Pulaski - Mark Hudnall

Monster Tri 2013, Pulaski, TN.  200 yd pool swim, 16.3 mile bike and 2.9 mile run.  My last race report somehow had numerous superhero references.  Not to continue that trend, but I must divulge a small token of my pre-race routine to all aspiring triathletes out there.  I started off the pre-race mental prep by seeing Man of Steel at the Friday afternoon matinee…coupled with the Ultimate Chicken Nachos to ensure a “balanced” carb and protein loaded nutrition plan.  No I did not race like Superman, but it’s the thought that counts.

Triathlon-camping

 Race day started with a 3:30 wake-up.  Downed the standard leaded coffee (it’s a treat on race day since I usually go decaf), peanut butter toast, oatmeal and banana.  On the road at 4 am and arrived uneventfully in Pulaski at 5:00.  Apparently, this is not early enough as Carrie Wilson and Rick Greif were already there and staking out their tactical spots in transition.  However, I did get there before the race staff had cordoned off the upper parking lot and got “rock-star” parking right next to transition.  I chose to set-up nearest the bike in/out despite not getting the end cap position.  After this I joined Rick and Carrie around   the “campfire” as they enjoyed their hot coffee and waited for the sun to rise. While admiring the sunrise I pondered the irony in having the finish line right next to a cemetery.  Oh how mortal we are, despite our perceived achievements in this sport where the crown jewel is called IRONMAN.  

View from the FINISH LINE

 Now back to reality, as there was still pre-race paperwork to do… a new question came to mind, “Why does this race not have a fleet of port-o-lets nearby transition?”.  Race start time was 7 a.m.  Good thing triathletes are type “A”.  Some of those that thought the race started at 8 a.m. still made it, albeit slightly rushed.  The crowd moved into the pool area and I noticed that some of the folks that had finished their warm up laps were now shivering in the cool morning air.  I elected to forego the warmup since the swim was really short anyway, and spare myself the enjoyment of shivering.  I was number 26 this time and felt that with the short pool swim that I could at least stay ahead of Rick Greif (#91), even if he would probably beat my total time.  The swim went pretty smooth, I stayed well ahead of #27 and closed the gap on the #25 swimmer ahead of me.  Conclusion here was - I am not a big fan of pool swims and would take the longer open-water swim any day.  I had relatively fast transition (0:57) and off on the bike. 

This bike course was as advertised, with some nice rollers and few good climbs (Please don’t laugh if you are part mountain-goat and enjoy intense suffering and steep grades).  The good news is that [most of] what goes up must come down.  This was evidenced by the Garmin recording a 47.9 MPH descent just past mile 6.  Coming in at mile 9 was a shallow curving ascent up a narrow road riddled with potholes.

  I couldn’t understand why I was catching up to some of the stronger cyclists, but I passed them nonetheless and enjoyed a fleeting moment of victory.  Shortly thereafter we made the turn out onto HWY 64 and the long, slow climb began.  Most if not all of the cyclists that I had slipped by in that short climb promptly passed me again as my legs were regretting the exertion from earlier.  The course was smooth most of the way in, and the only other excitement came as I was nearing the end of the bike course.  The quaint tree lined section off of Elkton Pike towards the high school had a nice 5-6 inch drop off on the edge of the pavement.  Somehow I decided to bring a little off-road triathlon into the mix and slipped off the side.  Held this position for a 100 yards or so and was able to hop it back onto the road at the next gravel driveway without flatting or crashing.  What is about the edge of the road that just mesmerizes?  It’s like a shiny object you can’t help but be drawn to….

Interesting to note the slight uphill at the bike dismount line --  I only mention this as my fear of stupid human tricks is greatest here when weighed against saving precious seconds by performing the Batman flying bike dismount.   I dutifully un-velcro’d my right foot approaching the finish line and attempted to get the left foot clear but my legs were not cooperating.  The slight up-hill approach to the dismount line wasn’t helping either.  I stopped at the dismount line with my bare right foot and the left still strapped into my shoe and clipped in.  Took a few seconds for my brain to get my leg to unclip and then off to transition.  T2 was slower (1:00) than I would have liked but the HWY 64 climb must of have done a number on my legs as they refused to cooperate. 

I was a bit worried that my run time was going to suffer due to the lost training after Guntersville and the slow run performance at Mach Tenn.  I targeted an 8 min mile and started off through the cemetery.  I suppose any cardiac events at this point in the race would be quite convenient assuming there was an open plot nearby.  The run course had lots of turns but plenty of volunteers.  Where was the water station coming out of transition (whine)? At least the temperature and the clouds were helping.  Kept the pace near 8 minutes and got a couple of high fives on the run course from fellow Fleet Feet Triathlon teammates.  I did let out a sigh of relief that Rick’s bib number had given me the head start I needed.  As we passed on the run, I only had about 1 mile remaining.  He is still the master and edged me by 55 seconds.  My finish time 1:22:32, 60^th OA.  Incredible weather and great race day! Great podium representation by the Fleet Feet Triathlon Team and overall big turnout from the Huntsville/Madison triathlon community.  The only downside was not getting my measly 1 point for the Southeast Championship Triathlon Series…11^th place in my AG is worth zippo.  Post race checkout revealed the ample amount of Body Glide applied inside the heel of my running shoes took care of any blistering in the Achilles area that I had from the last race. 

Beth Barry: Rock 'N RollMan, Macon, GA

This past weekend I made my 5 hour way to Macon, GA for the Rock ‘N RollMan Half, which is a Setup Events event (B2B is another). This was my first race of the season so I was finally able to sport that awesome Fleet Feet kit that is imprinted with two places I have lived – Nashville and Huntsville! My goal race this year is IM Louisville, so to take the guesswork out of training I partnered with a pretty fabulous coach from Endurance Concepts in Atlanta. We chose the race in Macon as a B race to gauge training to this point. I have been missing many local races with the team making sure that most every race I do this year has some purpose towards the IM.

I had originally signed up for the complete Half, but due to various running injuries since Pine Mountain 40 trail run in December, I changed to Aquabike. For many of you who have swam with me in open water, I have had some problems with anxiety in the water over the years. I have had a DNF because of open water anxiety, yet the next month do just fine in another race. I practiced an OWS in Guntersville the week before this race and it did not go well. I was a total mess.  The week before the race I practiced some imagery and mantra’ing, and as hokey as it sounds, it worked.

This race is at Lake Tobesofkee, a beautiful lake surrounded by some constantly rolling hills. I was able to get to the race site early the day before, pick up my race packet, listen to the race briefing, and check-in my bike. The next morning, my coach met me at the race site (did I mention she was fabulous!), gave me a sweet pep talk, and warmed up with me in the water. Thankfully, I was feeling little to no anxiety about the swim aside from race day excitement. The water temperature was a balmy 82 degrees, somewhat like bath water. The Aquabike division was with the second wave of swimmers, mixed in with the men. My first mass start ever, so I moved to the outside front, which worked out perfectly. I am happy to report that other than feeling like the swim went on forever, I had no problems with the swim. I took it slow – very slow – and steady thinking of it as a training swim, not a race. There were 12 in the female Aquabike and I came out of the water 7^th (44:33).

As in most lake/river swims, there was an uphill run to transition, so I walked once I crossed the mat to calm my HR down for the bike. Transition went smoothly (1:21). The bike is where I am most comfortable and my stronger event, so I was in my happy place for 56 miles. On the bike I had one water bottle, one bottle with EFS, 2 gels, and one Lara bar. There were two aid stations that I grabbed the water bottle as I rode by and used to drink a few sips and cool off with but tossed soon after the aid station. The route was constantly rolling but the time I lost on the hills I was able to make up on the downhill and use some of the momentum on the next uphill. I moved up to 2^nd Aquabike on the bike course, finishing in (2:42:31, 19.8mph avg). I was aiming for between 20-21mph, but that was before I really knew the course!

I highly recommend this race if you are willing to travel - great venue, well run event, with some good competition. Next up, IM Louisville!

Mach Tenn Race Report by Kasandra Garner

It wasn't cold, and it didn't rain.  I want to start out with that, because after the first few races of the season, those two conditions alone meant that I was a happy racer.  I don't usually think of myself as a wus, but I have definitely gotten more sensitive to cold wet weather in my "masters" years.  When I was in my twenties, I wanted to race the Iditarod one day.  Yeah, that window has slammed shut and been painted over.

But as usual, I digress.  I was really looking forward to Mach Tenn this year, because it is a swimmer's race.  For a sprint, it has a relatively long swim and long run, which plays to my strengths.  Add in extremely choppy water and I was happier than a river otter in rapids.  The only slight handicap to my having a great race was that I had gotten a nasty bite from a dachshund at work the day before.  The feisty little dog had taken on a coyote and was lucky to be alive, and to show how grateful she was that I had sewn her chest back together, she latched onto my thumb as she was coming out of anesthesia.  Friday night it was swollen to twice the normal size, but by Saturday morning I could almost bend it.  I practiced switching gears using my pointer and middle fingers, and I was good to go.  It was my first transition set up that included antiseptic wipes and band aids, but probably not my last.

As usual it was awesome to see all of my tri peeps pre-race.  The weather was perfect, and packet pickup and body marking were quick and easy.  I racked between Suzanne Erickson and Rick Grief, so I was surrounded by positive triathlon mojo and experience.  Of course, I now know that Rick Grief likes to sling his bike up any old place on the rack when he gets back in to transition to the run, but when I've done as many triathlons as he has, I think I might feel entitled as well.  I finally made it to the pre-race photo, usually I'm wandering up as everyone else is dispersing.  There was quite a showing of Fleet Feet team members, which made it the race even more fun.

The swim was awesome.  Waves and bodies everywhere.  It was by far the most challenging conditions of any triathlon I've done, with swells bigger than the ocean swim at Gulf Coast a few weeks ago.  I loved it, even though it meant I wasn't going to be laying down a smoking fast time.  A little dizzy on the run up the hill to the bikes, which is to be expected after all that bobbing in the lake.  The bike course was a bit hilly at times, and the one good flat section felt like there was a head wind (but then doesn't it always feel like a head wind?) but I managed a decent bike split.  The wind was refreshing on the run, and cloud cover kept it from being unbearably hot.  Brent Sherman and I played leap frog on both the bike and the run.  My style is to slog it out at a near constant pace, he apparently prefers the sprint-then-coast method.  His method proved to be faster...at least on the run :)

After the finish, I enjoyed beans and corn bread and beer while trash talking with the guys I train with in Scottsboro.  Overall, we couldn't have asked for a better day to race.  And I received a beautiful piece of pottery for coming in third masters female, so really, life is good.  I can't wait until the next one!  Train hard and have fun, tri peeps.

1:36:56    swim  15:16    2:15    bike   47:21    1:01   run   31:05

Mach Tenn race report - Mark Hudnall

Saturday June 2, 2013

Mach Tenn at Arnold Air Force Base.  First time racing at Mach Tenn, so if nothing else I set a new PR today!  Superstitious nutrition plan…don’t change it, EVER!  Oatmeal, peanut butter toast, banana and coffee. 

Showed up early to get the pick of bike racks and set my self up on the end of the rack right next to the bike in/out.  Got settled in and took the bike for a spin on the run course to warm up the legs.  I had driven the course the day before but this warm-up reinforced how much fun the rollers would be during the bike and run.  Kudos to the race director and volunteers, the transition area was well organized and body marking was easy to find.  Another nice touch was carpet coming out of the water all the way to your bike rack.  Burning time…headed to the FINISH line for the team picture…the one that was happening 45 minutes before race start.  (Note: Race start was at 8:15.)  Ran into Wes Johnson on the way… yep, picture was already over.  I took a selfie.  I’ll be 15 minutes early next time.  Time to don my neoprene super hero disguise  I really want a wetsuit that looks like Spiderman or Superman.

The swim started and the best part of my race was over 15 minutes 22 seconds later.  Lots of chop for the swim, but I was able to keep a steady pace and minimized the zig-zag.  I passed lots of other swimmers and ultimately only drank a little bit of lake water.  Stumbled out of the water and up the hill to get started on the bike. 

Bike mount line was a little tight with lots of folks jammed up right outside the timing mats.  No place for my Batman flying bike mount (superhero theme…I don’t know why).  Finally got moving and began the rollers.  It felt like crosswinds or headwinds the entire bike course, or it could be my lack of miles on the bike in the last few weeks.  Most importantly, I held off Rick Greif until almost mile 8 on the bike.  So what.. that he’s (almost) old enough to be my dad and that he started 15 swimmers behind me.  He told me to look the other way as he passed me on the bike so as not to hurt my feeling (singular), what a nice guy.  I watched him pass others as he went out of sight singing, “Merry Mach Tenn to all and to all a good ride”.  I thought maybe I’d catch him on the run….Nope.

The run began and I could see that my knee was still recovering from whatever happened at Lake Guntersville.   Not wanting to walk the last mile, I kept the pace a little slow starting off.  This transitioned to just plain slow thanks to the gentle rolling Tennessee terrain.  I was able to add a little go at the end and made better time on my last mile.  Probably should have started off a little faster.  Great support in the final turn by Rick and Dennis Mix as they provided motivation to finish strong.  Either way I finished with no noticeable injuries. 

Post race blackeyed peas and cornbread was outstanding.  Came in 15/30 in my age group and 174/378 overall.  I still enjoy this sport and I’m looking forward to another “PR” at Monster Tri in 2 weeks!!  Great work by the volunteers at all of the intersections today on the bike course.  The water stations on the run course were frequent and very appreciated. 

Gulf Coast Triathlon by Kasandra Garner

So back in October of 2012, somebody (Clayton Warden?  Jodi Bump?  Joanna Whisenant?) suggested that a group of us sign up for the half ironman distance triathlon held in Panama City Beach in May.  Of course, this was sometime around the Goosepond Half distance and Beach to Battleship Full, so I was feeling very in-shape and somewhat invincible.  With the same insouciance with which I signed up for the Dizzy 50s (I've done a 140.6, how hard could a 50k be?), I went ahead and tossed my name in for this early season 70.3.  Of course, this was before I knew Mother Nature was planning a very cold, rainy winter that would stretch into April, and thus opportunities for long training rides would be non-existant.  Not to mention that Heel and Crank would get moved up, that Lake Guntersville Olympic would end up scheduled for the week before, and that the local Frank Maples would be sandwiched between those two.  So much for long training runs as well!  So I left for Panama City Beach on Thursday fatigued from three triathlons in a row and woefully unprepared for a long event.  But hey, after the frigid rain-fest of Lake Guntersville, how bad could it be?

On Friday the other members of our local triathlete group (Parker Edmiston, Rick Grief, Clayton Warden, Tonya Hardy, Dave Patterson, Marien Amerigo, Joanna Whisenant, Brenda McGovern, and Melissa Johnson) rode their bikes over to the staging area and did a quick practice swim and a run as well.  Yours truly slept in, lounged in the condo, met the rest of them in time for the pancake breakfast, then went back to the condo and slept for 2 more hours.  Then I sat on the balcony and looked for sharks while some of the others laid out on the beach, but luckily I saw only dolphins.  We went over to packet pickup and racked our bikes, checked out the Expo (nothing that we couldn't get at a better price at Fleet Feet Huntsville), and went to Mellow Mushroom for the night-before-the-race carbo loading.  Yes, we all know that carbo loading the night before the race is too late from a biophysical standpoint, but gosh darnit why let science get in the way of good fun?

The weather was -of course - calling for rain.  Now, I had quite emphatically and publicly stated that I was NOT starting the race unless it was 60 degrees and sunny.  Naturally, race morning dawned nice and sunny, ruining my plan of staying at the condo for yet another day of sleeping and eating.  So I got into my "race zone" and got that excited, pumped feeling I usually get before any event.  The women were being sent off before the men for once, so I was in the second wave going into the ocean.  This was my first time doing a true "ocean swim" (Beach to Battleship was in a salt water channel) and I had visions of sprinting into the waves like a real triathlete.  I'm glad no one was filming that part, but eventually I was past the breakers and I have to say, I really loved the ocean swim.  Yes, there were jellyfish, but they were mostly beneath us and I didn't hear of anyone getting stung.  I did see some fish too - I was surprised by how much I could see after all these murky lake swims.  And I enjoyed stroking through the undulations of the waves, it was a cool sensation.  The buoys weren't too hard to see for the most part, and Rick Grief had given us really good advice to sight on the tall condominium tower on the way back in, which worked like a charm and brought me out of the water at exactly the right place.  It wasn't my fastest 1.2 mile swim ever, but it was a lot easier than I thought it would be.

Since I wasn't too stressed about time, I sat on a bench on the way into transition to get out of my wetsuit.  I really think benches should be placed at all transition entrances.  It was a lot easier than the standing jig I usually do to get out of my wetsuit.  But I digress.  Onto the bike, with the sun still shining and the wind not very strong for a beach race.  It was great.  I was hammering with almost no effort, amazed at how easy it all seemed.  That lasted for about 20 miles...the length of most of my training rides.  We made a left turn into an out and back section and all of a sudden the sun went behind a cloud, the wind picked up, and the sky started to threaten rain.  Yikes!  Meanwhile, I was getting passed by the men who had gone into the water at least 20 minutes behind me but had now caught up and were blowing by me on their bikes like I was on a banana seat with streamers.  Suddenly my feeling of strength and power evaporated, and it started to feel like work.  Oh well.

I was lucky in that it didn't really start to pour down rain until I was almost done with the bike.  And since it was still 20 degrees warmer than it had been the week before at Lake Guntersville, I was still feeling pretty good about the weather.  By the time I got to the run, I was feeling even better.  The run was flat and completely without shade.  If the sun had kept shining it would have been brutal.  The first two miles felt like crap like they always do off the bike, but then the next 8 miles clicked by like clockwork and I was on pace to go under 5:30.  Then came mile 10, when my legs informed me that my longest training run of late had been 7 miles and they were done.  My right calf cramped up, my stomach rejected any attempts to take in gatorade or coke or anything that might have helped with the cramping, and I had to walk a bit to avoid a Charley horse.  Even when I got running again, it was a sad gimpy sort of jog.  TWO - count em - TWO women in my age group passed me in the final 2 miles, and I couldn't do a thing about it but get frustrated.  Errg.  I'm still mad about it sitting here at the computer 36 hours later.  But alas - if you don't put in the time, you don't get the results.  And I had been training shorter and faster, so I shouldn't be surprised I bonked out.  Still, I was happy with my 5:37 all things considered.  I ended up 10th in my age group (grumble, grumble) which thanks to an incredibly generous awards system, got me some sort of something that Rick Grief picked up for me at the awards dinner (and I have yet to see).  Rick Grief totally rocked it, and got 5th in his age group.  Clayton Warden had a really good first 70.3, as did Dave Patterson and Tonya Hardy.  Joanna and Marien finished strong in the rain, keeping it together even when it started to thunder a bit.  Brenda laid down a smoking fast half marathon as the third leg of a relay, following Melissa Johnson who PRed with her fastest 56 mile bike leg only a week after doing the Florida Rocketman 70.3.

It was a fun weekend with good friends and great athletes.  We have a lot of people in the Huntsville area who do us proud at races all over the globe, and this was no exception.  I am always inspired and uplifted by going to these races, no matter what the outcome personally.  So what's next, tri peeps?

Guntersville Olympic Triathlon Race Report by Mark Hudnall

Guntersville Olympic Triathlon
May 4, 2013

Details: 1500m swim, 24 mile bike and 6.2 mile run.  Things were looking miserable from the start at about 43 degrees and 10-15 mph winds.  The water was already choppy and getting worse.  Trying to set up transition in these conditions was something that I had not encountered before, as all of my previous races met the standard definition of “blue bird day”.  This day however was closer to a snow goose.

SWIM - Once things begin to get started and I walked down to the beach to enjoy the warming effect of 63-degree water my feet almost went numb getting through the puddling rainwater.  Fortunately, standing knee deep in the lake water brought them back to life, and I waited patiently for the 2nd wave.  Finally my turn to walk back through the ice puddles and then onto the metal dock to for the wave start.  The swim got going and went pretty well.  Thankfully, I have become more comfortable with bilateral breathing, otherwise breathing on the right during the outside loop of the swim only got you a mouthful of lake water due to the windy chop of beautiful Lake Guntersville.  First wet suit swim for me and I appreciate the strippers, however the Garmin 910xt was not cooperating with my wet suit sleeve.  Fortunately Gregg Gelmis wasn’t there to document the racer that was being attacked by the wetsuit sleeve.

T1 -  …longest transition ever.  Try getting arm warmers, leg warmers, winter gloves, skull cap plus all the usual “slips, trips and falls” of transition while it’s raining cold misery.

BIKE - Finally got out on the bike and that is where the fun really began.  I chose to waive off the aerodynamic benefit and wore my Gore jacket.  It kept me warm despite the wind and rain.  The rain made it much more difficult to brake especially at the turn in/out of the State Park…no doubt the heart rate monitor spiked both times at this point on the course.  Although it wasn’t sleeting during the race, it felt like it as I was going down the one big hill on Monsanto Road. The bonus, I did break a measly 34mph on the way back over the hill as a result of “ride faster and it will be over sooner” syndrome.  The only other noteworthy thing was the large dead snake in the road and the one rider that decided to play leap frog with me on the bike course.  I convinced myself that each time we passed each other that I was gaining some small draft advantage.  And of course, Brenda McGovern put a smile on my face as we passed and I saw her biking in her wetsuit.  Gotta give her kudos for staying warm; hoping she had lots of Tri-Glide…

T2 - Made it back into transition (safely) and headed out onto the run.  Definitely took a little longer to shed the soaked leg warmers and gloves.  I had biked sockless and decided to put on socks thinking it might help feet warm up.  My Gore jacket must’ve weighted 10-12 pounds, but when I went to take it off my body hit hypothermic madness, and I decided to go ahead and run with it, despite the extra weight.

RUN - Shout out to the volunteers on the run course, they were soaked to the bone and still lots of encouraging words to all the runners.  Couldn’t feel my feet as the run started.  Funny thing was about a mile into the course, I thought I felt something in my shoe.  I couldn’t imagine what would have been in my shoe, but it began to feel like a gel pack moving around under my foot.  I decided to stop and took off my shoe only to find nothing there but my toes.  I guess it was just the feeling of blood returning to my feet.  The run course was brutal with the broken pavement and active rainwater erosion making for an Xterra experience.  I thought it was Groundhog Day because the guy at the intersection of the gravel road kept saying, “up this hill and around the orange cone”.   This “Groundhog holiday experience” was capped off by my Garmin saying 6.2 miles and still knowing it was over a half-mile to the finish line.  All in all, I’m glad I made it to the finish line uninjured (minus some runner’s knee due to running in the lower drop Zoot Ovwas that I haven’t trained in all year) and can no doubt say this will hopefully be the toughest race I encounter any time soon.  I’’ll take my 38th OA and 9th AG (toughest AG competition by far) for a finish time of 3:11:05.  Done!