The Official Soldier Hollow Race

First, I want to express my gratitude to the staff at Soldier Hollow and Ed for providing two different courses. It was readily apparent that they put in a lot of work to get these two courses prepared for racing. It did not go unnoticed.

Before

My race on Saturday was a bit funny in retrospect. I felt really good off the start. The top climb was nice and steady. Coming off the top was a little bit comical. I was just surprised at some of the difficulty individuals had descending the muddy, slick section. My assumption is they simply were stuck in their "fast" mode when really "cautious" mode was smoother and ultimately faster. The last portion of the lap was fast and rolling. Fun in a painful sort of way.

During

About half way through my second lap or so, I started to fade. I did not hit a wall, but slowly was losing ground. I was struggling. I think I may not have fueled well before hand being thrown off a bit by the late start. Please note, I was definitely grateful we started later as it had a positive impact on the course.

After: Dwight, Brad, KC, Chris, ET

So within one lap I went from first to last as Erica passed me right as we started the final lap. And then she proceeded to drop me like a stone. She did graciously offer words of encouragement as she went by.

Last place had its perks though. I was closest to the lucky number and scored a crazy cute Kuhl skirt. As skirts go, I think it is my favorite.

Chris on course

For the second week in a row, Chris and I were even in our placements, granted he had to beat more people than I did. A pair of threes last week and twos this week for the Holleys. 
And congratulations to Heather Clark on her race. Very impressive. While she thinks it was a bit of a fluke she did so well, I know she is going to fit in well with the Expert girls.