John,

I wanted to say thanks to you and everyone at the race who answered my newbie questions.  I was very nervous about doing a trail race, since I'm pretty much a roadie.  Thanks to everyone for answering my sometimes lame questions "Is the creek deep?  Will I need a map?  How much further? ( I think I asked that one about 5 times over the last 5 miles).  Before the run everyone I talked to said the same thing "You'll never go back to the roads",  I'm sitting here three days after the event and I still can't get that feeling out of my head of flying through the mud on the ridge and backside of the course.  Unfortunately I also can't get the feeling out of my legs.  I feel like someone threw me off a ten-story building.  Trail running is a full-body workout.  And yes, I am hooked.  I can't say enough about the respect I have for the folks who were heading out for a second lap.  I was amazed at their calmness and bravery.  Some day I'd like to be able to do a 50k or 50 miler.  But for now, I can only manage the shorter version.

 

I also wanted to thank Robert Palmquist for what was a crazy day of cat and mouse.  We were never more than 60 yards away from each other the entire race.  I think we both felt like a couple boxers after twelve rounds.  At least I did.  He about made me choke on my tongue when he plainly said "yeah, I think tomorrow I'll go do an hour and half easy recovery run."  I felt like saying "Yeah, let me know how that works out for you in 15 years!"  I ran 4 on Sunday and felt like I weighed 300 pounds.

 

I have to say, it was the most fun I've ever had in footrace.  My wife said I looked like a kid who'd been playing in mud all day.  I couldn't wipe the smile from my face.

 

Thanks for putting on such a cool event.  I look forward to meeting more of the trail running community in the future.  You guys are all much more chilled than some of my uptight road racer friends.

 

Don Wesley - Bremerton