Did my second consecutive Pure Grit Race at the Sawmill X Country Trails on Saturday. It was a 7.5 km loop done 7 times. The loop is amazing, the most fun you will ever have on a trail. No major climbs but lots of curvy loops and little ups and downs but very few walking climbs. The weather was perfect , dry ( odd for this year ) , cool high single digit temps at the start and temps only rising into the low 20's in the afternoon. Ran the 1st and 2nd loop rather conservatively chatting with Kristine and Veronique. Picked it up on the third loop moving much faster then the first two. I gelled coming through the start / finish every lap and washed it all down with a ton of Gator Aid ... I nailed the hydration hitting the G hard after the first lap and continuing through the race. At the half way AS I downed water and an S Cap ...every lap. Loops are great for developing routines especially as the Ultra Brain sets in through the course of the race. The 4th loop was all about getting to the half way point. I always have a change of mood when I know that half is behind me! Temps in the ope were starting to get really warm in the 5th lap but the forest remained cool and the trail was at least 90% shaded! Felt like I was really slowing down in the 6th loop as the fatigue of running for 4.5 hours started to set in. I was surprised when I completed the loop that I was only a few minutes slower. Pushed hard on the last loop finishing strong ... last loop was as fast as previous and probably around the same time as the first loop of the day. I will post the splits to see how far off my perceived performance is vs the actual.
Found the results but no splits , have requested them. Finished in 6h38m52s just slightly faster then last years 6h40m5s good for 10th out of 20 participants and 8th out of 14 men.
Relive the run!
4 weeks ago
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