Here's a quick recap on my performance...
12/5 - Shellburg Falls - It was a bitter cold morning...freezing fog in the valley. The drive up to the race with Matt Nahorniak was exciting when my truck got squirrelly on some ice. That really woke us both up. I had a bet on the line with the Pain Train and I figured my only shot to beat him in his own backyard was to put a gap between us before the big climb. I started off at what I felt was a very fast pace. I could hear a few guys behind me, but I didn't look back to see who it was. When we got off the trail about 1.5 miles into the race I looked back and he was right there...crap. He gapped me going up the falls trail and mountain bike trail and I could never catch up. There were a few spots where I would catch a glimpse, but he ended up finishing over 20 seconds ahead.
1/30 - Willamette Mission - One thing I remember distinctly from this race was that my stomach was off...it was really sloshing the whole time. I ran almost the whole race with Mark Robins right behind me and he got me right near the end again (same as the Capitol Mile). This course measured at 10K so I did have sub-40:00 in mind, but didn't quite make it. There was some pretty crazy mud in some sections of the course. I think I need to work on the mud running. A lot of times I feel like I'm fighting it and wasting a lot of energy. From the pictures it looks like I also need to work on my log jumping.
2/27 - Buck Mountain - This was definitely my best race of the series. Actually, I had a great weekend. I was one of several people who did the Buck Mountain/Tumor Shooter double. Two races in two days and both of them went really well...it was a big confidence booster for me. Going up that big hill at Buck Mountain, it just felt like I had an extra gear. And finishing up with those big downhills was fun. This was also the race where the Pain Train had to pay up for losing the Cascade Half Marathon bet. Good times all around. Looking back, the only negative was actually the fact that Erik Skaggs showed up and kicked everyone's ass. My point total for this race would have been a lot higher otherwise!
3/20 - Santiam Scramble - I decided to "take a weekend off" from marathon training, have fun, and try not to get seriously injured. Aside from almost being impaled by a tree limb...mission accomplished. The course was great...everything you'd expect in a good scramble. I can't believe I took a wrong turn right near the finish. This was almost my best scramble ever.
As I hinted at earlier, I took the liberty of calculating series points Oregon Trail Series style. Below are the nine finishers of all 4 races and points for each race based on the winning time of each race.
Your 2009/2010 champion is Alex Mcgladrey!
Thanks again, Run Wild Adventures...I'm looking forward to next years' races.
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