Went up to Nederland with Laurie, Ryan, Becca and Leila. We did the Sourdough 30k.
I finished in 5:14 min or something like that. I was aiming for 6 hours, and well I really blew that out of the water!
At the start of the race it was super windy and really cold. I was afraid I didn't have enough layers but turns out I was perfectly fine. Looking back on my equipment I would have liked to have had some gaiters or an extra pair of socks to change into during the race. My socks got soaked! But as you all should know, I hate cotton and I preach SmartWool. The socks kept my feet mostly warm, they were a little cold, but nothing I was worried about.
The race started with a nice long snowy climb, followed by a down hill followed by another climb (are you picking up the pattern?)
The out and back section was really well packed out. Made for some pretty quick going. The loop at the end was less traveled and a bit harder to move through. I caught up to Becca and Leila on this section, and we trudged along through the snow.
Once I got back to the aid station I was starting to bonk, had a couple gels and waited for them to come into effect. I slowed down for a bit, till I caught this guy who bonked worse than me. After that it was a long slog of run, walk, kick snow off my shoes.
The worst part was the warming snow at the end of the race, it clumped up viciously on the bottom of my shoes. I was so mad, I even fell over face first in the snow once trying to get snow out of my crampons.
When I crossed the finish line I'd never been so ready to be done with a race before. I was raging against my snow shoes, I was tired, my feet were wet and I wanted to drink some whiskey!
All in all I had a great time, I'm looking forward to next year!