I was feeling okay but it seemed steady more than fast. By the end of the first loop I was soaked in sweat.This was probably my low point physically, starting to fade. Second loop, it started raining solid. It had sprinkled a bit up until now, just enough to make it humid. Soon the heavy rain cooled me off and I picked it up again. On the faster stuff I thought maybe I would be faster than the first loop, but the Garmin says just a touch slower. Then the rain took its toll on the course, especially the goofy new singletrack. Much of it was off-camber, going across a hill, and it was slick mucky going. Much slower on these sections, up to 90 seconds per K. Also here, I followed 2 guys off course for 400-450 metres, and the same again to backtrack. Cost us at least 5 minutes. So my second loop took 15 minutes more than the first, 1:14 and 1:29. At least my energy was good until the end, and I passed two guys on the final descent in a 3 minute kick. Official time was 2:43:46, good for 33 place out of 71 runners. Those 5 minutes didn't help me there, but I know we weren't the only ones who wandered a bit. I was drenched at the end, but at least I didn't actually go down in the mud as so many did. Lots of friendly faces before and after. There was a meal served indoors, even though the power was out from the thunderstorm. Swag was a jar of honey, a water bottle, and "Pick Your Poison" defeet socks.
That now shows as my slowest 25 K ever, even going back 5 years. Also have to wonder if the course wasn't short, as most Garmins showed. It doesn't matter to me if I ran a tough 25 K or 23 K, but if I had to explain why my first 50 K might have really been 45 or 46, I might be disappointed. Still, that's trail racing. All in all, a fun, challenging unique day on the trails.
Spur at 16 K is the off course bit.
That must've been a fast field if you were 33 out of 71, too.
