My 5th time here, so after today I will have 15 laps around the hidden lake. It is supposed be be a nice day but it is cool and foggy at the start and will stay cool and foggy all day. Hat and gloves on for most of the race. It is dry though and the trail is in great shape. Very little mud.
Loop 1 - 1:44
I try to start near the back and be patient on the steep downhill start. A couple of dogs almost cause serious problems, but no one falls and soon we are level with room to pass. Mile 1 I find myself behind Katie, Leslie, Linda, Jill and two others. I decide to stay with them for a while. Nice visit and good way to keep from going out too fast. Walking the hills (there is a hill around every corner says Rikki) and holding around 11 minutes per mile. Mile 5 I move ahead but not much faster. Very familiar with the course and it is nice to be back here. Maybe there is more crushed gravel in the first two miles that I am not a big fan of, but now a variety of surfaces. Easy going and a take a minute or two to get organized for loop 2. Past races I have been 1:33-1:35 for loop one, so this is a lot slower, but it feels like a good pace for today.
Loop 2 - 1:40
Run with and leapfrogging Daniel Sherman and also Rikki. Daniel moves ahead and I am mostly alone. Race is really thinning out. Feeling good. Trying to eat and drink enough and at this slow pace it is easy to do so.
Loop 3 - 1:44
Catch up to Ted who says he is tiring. We go back and forth a little. When he is ahead of me, it gives me something to pursue. Still feeling pretty good. I see Ted walking most of the hills, so I run at least halfway up them, and stay close to him. Catch early starter Deb. More than a half mile with Deb is so nice, the time and distance go by so fast and it is easy to forget that I have been running for four hours. But ted is getting away so I move on. About mile 20 my right foot/ankle starts to give me bother. A little too much twisting on the rocks and it hurts in a place where I have had issues before. By mile 26 I am taking walk breaks to rest the foot. Too bad because my legs feel great and I have pretty decent energy. Mile 28, a big mouse sitting in the middle of the trail. Very odd. I look back and there is Rikki who has been stalking me all of loop 3. I point to the mouse, hoping she will see it and she does. She catches up and we finish the loop together.
Out and Back - 26 minutes
I am so tired, I want to cry when I think of leaving the aid station,, but there is one more bit to do. My finish time will be way slower than previous years. Not sure what happened. I took it slower in the beginning, now I can not step it up. Tired and the foot is still a bother. Down the hill. It always seems so far. Finally Ted, then Rikki coming back. I am not close to anyone, just keep plodding along. At one point it hits me, the wall. I feel really tired all of a sudden. It passes and I am running OK. Now the big steep hill and it will soon be over. Pick it up for the very end and happy to be done.
Finish 5:35:10 - I am getting a little tired of this course, but I still love this event. So cheap and friendly but well organized and on a Saturday not too far from home. Rikki wins a bag of peanuts for her age group and two hours later it dawns on me that it is why it is called the Nuts Run. I stay at the finish longer than usual and it is a nice time, but eventually I get chilled, start shivering, and decide to warm up and head home. I would run it again for sure.
Sunday - easy five miles and the foot feels fine.
5:35:11
20th place of 47 finishers
Race#347 Marathon or Ultra #120
Lake Youngs 50K #5
*****
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