Sunday, August 30, 2015

Gruesome Grizzly - Robert Finicum

I had just gotten back the night before from a trip in Arizona. When I checked my phone in the morning I saw that I had penciled this race. I decided to do it hoping that I wouldn't have any GI problems from all the terrible road food I had eaten the day before.

Before the race I noticed a guy, Nate Blouin, that looked to be pretty fast. Tris said that he was in fact fast so I told myself I would stay within striking distance of him. I stuck to my game plan up to Grizzly, but the only problem was that the two guys that were in front didn't lose steam like I thought they would. Once I reached the flat upper section I picked up the speed in an attempt to close the distance but they were also running strong and I made little progress.

On the first downhill section I played my strength and ran aggressively. Once I reached the meadow I saw that I had gotten back to about 15 seconds but this is where I started to fall apart. The wind and the hill at the end of the meadow took a toll on me mentally, especially because I wasn't running in the lead group. They put some distance on me and then I started running too cautiously on the last downhill section because I was afraid of missing a turn. I knew I was out of striking distance once I got to the final flat section so I finished strong, but without digging very deep.

I was glad to find out that the first two finishers are pretty quick and that I had a respectable race that could have been a course record any other year. This gives me a confidence boost that I need as I attempt jumping into BYU's Autumn Classic next week. Great race with a fun raffle!

Place: 3rd
Time: 33:04

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