Getting a bright and early start this morning, I meant up with my Wasatch Back team at 4:30 am for the drive up to Logan for our 7:00 am start for what is my team’s fourth time running this relay (my third time in Van #1). In typical fashion we arrived at the Utah State track around 6:25 am and still had to get checked in and through the safety meeting. As a result, we just barely made it to the start line for the announcement of team #155 Shoulda Bought Puts: Team of Sams (if you don’t understand the name, don’t worry, inside jokes). Our first runner, Greg, got us off to an excellent start. Being the last running in van #1, I just had to patiently wait and support my teammates. Thirty minutes into the afternoon, I finally received the slap bracelet and fished the final climb over Avon Pass and descended down the windy dirt road into Liberty. I wore my racing flats and almost sprained my foot on the descent. However, this was the best downhill running that I have been able to do in a long, long time and they degree of difficulty was much less than last week’s Steeple Chase. Overall, I completed the 6.9 miles into Liberty in a time of 39:41 (i.e., a 5:45 pace) and I was really happy with it since it beat my goal pace of six-minute miles. After spending the day in my bright green recovery socks, eating some pasta, and cheering on my teammates, I was psyched for my second run which was an 8.1-mile jaunt up East Canyon. I started this run at 8:42 which was the perfect time in the evening. This leg started out relatively flat and did some serious climbing over the last two miles with decline at the end toward the exchange. The way the evening turned to the darkness of night by the end of the leg and since I was able to run so well on the flats to gain some serious momentum going into the climbs at the end, leg #18 turned out to be my best ever run at the Wasatch Back. I was able to run it in 52:07 (i.e., a 6:26 pace) with the following splits: 5:57, 6:18, 6:19, 6:27, 6:29, 6:20, 7:09, 6:41, and 0:27. Ask my teammates, I was beyond psyched (beating my goal pace of 6:30) at the end of this run and wanted to get right back on the course; however, I had to wait until the morning for my final run. | 