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CLR - Leg 25

August 1, 2015 (Afternoon)

Exercise Type: Run

Weather: mid 40s -> 50? Cold...but nice

Comments:
Leg 20 - Megan ran her 4th leg: 3.07 and easy, but she struggled. Her hamstring "was ready to go". Ugh. Not good. Not good at all.
Leg 21 - Phil ran this leg, initially, mine. He did a solid job, running 8 pace for 6.4 miles downhill. During this time, I slept a bit in back with CA, which was nice. But once Phillip got back, it occurred to me that we had to make an adjustment so that Megan didn't get hurt - OR our team didn't lose major time by her walking on the course!

Leg 22 - Jason, I think, ran a short, easy leg of 3.x miles. Fast as usual! During this time, we figured out that we'd try to absorb Meghan's final 10 miles. It was just too risky and I didn't want her blowing up her hamstring or slowing way down. It was pretty seamless: Jason would run +4, me +2.6, CA +2 and Danette + 1.x. Not bad, but...we were all tired!

Leg 23 - Callie Alice had the first true dawn run! Saturday! Yeesh, where'd the night go? She ran solid again, with no real problems.

Around this time, my stomach was really rebelling. The hot dog! I didn't have issues during the run, but I was pooping like every exchange point! Damn!

On top of that, it was legitimately cold! I could tell the effort was mounting: my temperature regulation was compromised. I walked around with a sweatshirt and blanket as CA handed off to Danette to take us into the morning.

Leg 24 - Danette took over for Callie on a solid flat run. We were now heading toward the actual Cascade Lakes highway, ready to get to the "meat"! The final third! We parked, and CA made us some "morning coffee", but my stomach was too touchy to take it.

My penultimate leg was mercifully flat, and cool! I got the "stick" around 7AM and started off with a jacket on. The route was due west, just shy of Cascade Lakes Highway, still in the plain, but now - as we neared the mountains - many more trees.

Another peaceful leg. Oddly, there were few cars or runners. I "killed" only a handful of folks along the straightaway shot that gently rolled.

At this point, off the course, I was starting to cramp up: if I moved weird, I'd get left adductor and TFL cramps, undoubtedbly part of my classic imbalance (right push-off deficit), and I was really worried it would carry over into the run. Thankfully, it didn't. But I was still hyper-vigilant about form, and keeping the effort "threshold". So that's what I did. The legs were obviously stiff but the turnover was fast, I was "flicking and pulling", and I was focused on "pelvis left" and shoulders to the white line of the right shoulder of the road. Clockwork.

I didn't look at my watch - I just didn't want to know anything or speculate. Just run. So I did. I gotta tell you: the "one mile to go" signs were fabulous. They were hardly ever accurate, but at least you had an idea that you were getting close. Finally saw it after several long and light rollers and gentle turns. And up ahead was Phillip. And, like that, it was done.

I felt strong, but maybe I'd run it too aggressively. Turned out my split was solid:
40:23, 6.04 miles (6:41 pace, +158, -85'). I was pretty happy about being aggressively under 7, with a full 50K of hard running beforehand. That, and it gave our team some good cushioning after some lackluster legs. We were still clinging to 8-minute pace. And about this time, we began to wonder about the other Mixed Ultra teams...