by Jeremy Bonnett –

Good race on real fast trails. After a nice warmup with Zak and Jamie I took off a layer and milled around a bit before the start. The field size looked solid and a bunch of excited faces filled the paddock. I decided to hold on as long as possible to Judson Cake and whoever else was going to be quick today. After Ryan and gIANt’s opening commentary we started, and started fast. It was clear that I was not going to be anywhere near Judson today on the icy, flat, and quick course.

After about a mile Judson was no longer in sight and I held on to my pace as best I could. I felt kind of heavy and not as full of energy as I would have liked but just pushed as hard as possible. I kept envisioning someone coming up behind me and it kept me going throughout.

After about 2.5 miles I was beginning to tire and with a few softer sections here and there it was challenging to keep pace. The course was real fun with slight undulations, some double track, some toboggan style single track, icy spots and softer areas. The cold temps made sucking air pretty interesting with coughing fits the whole way but otherwise great conditions.

At around 3.5 miles I saw Blaine and his wife cheering people on and he stated that he (Judson) was right ahead of me and I almost “had him.” This gave me about 10 seconds of adrenaline, thanks Blaine, and I quickly laughed and realized I was nowhere close to Judson today.

I finished as strong as I could and really had a blast on the course. I did miss running with people a bit though and actually thought I went off course a few times. Yet another great race put on by Ryan Ian and all the TM’s who helped, support, and cheered!