The day was gorgeous although it got very HOT early hitting the upper 80s by 10am and (I was told) 94 degrees at the finish. It was also very HILLY with, per my Garmin, 3,587 of vertical climb. Included in that climbing was the namesake ascent up Bull Dog Trail which climbs from sea level up to 2,487 feet in just under 4 miles. Let's just say that was a tough section and not for the faint of heart. In fact, I hit my exploding the chest HR max of 195 bpm at one point before I had to back off and moderate my pace a bit.
Now for the HUMILITY... Time in trail races is the ultimate measure of 'relativity'. After all, in a 25K race (15.85mi per the Garmin for this one) you would expect a winning time like in the 1:20 range right? Hardly.... in fact the winning time was just short of 2:00 which equates to slightly sub 8 min per mile pace. It gives you a great idea of how tough the course was for sure. For me, I had a really solid race maintaining a steady push through all the uphills and moderating some of the very technical descents to finish in 2:29:19, good enough for 32nd overall our of 336 finishers. I am always amazed at the way some of these skinny folks simply fly downhill. I mentioned I met a board member of FCA who called me out since I was wearing the "colors" with my FCA Endurance tech race tee. We chatted while running together for a few miles and I found out she is on her way to the Ironman World Championships in 6 weeks with 4 other FCA Teammates. If you happen to be participating this year look for the FCA Booth at the expo and say hello! GO Sierra and stay safe in Kona.
