Today was day 6, which is our 5th stage. Yesterday was our rest day. Stage 5 is the one that I look forward to the least. It’s 25.6km up, down and around a ski hill. There are also sections of single track So, combining the hills with the technical components makes it very difficult for me since I train primarily on a treadmill.
It was another hot and humid day. The temperature said it felt like 40C and the humidity was over 90%. It was the first race that I have ever carried water in.
Right at the start, another girl (Vicky) flew past me going down the hill (I’m chicken!) and I knew that there was no way that I could keep up with her the entire race. Vicky is super strong on the trails and enjoys them too. At one point I thought she was 4km ahead of me, but in the end it was really only 2-3 minutes.
My last loop was the strongest because another runner had been closing the gap as the race went on, and he told me that he had thought he was going to pass me. This made me pick up my pace for the last loop and it turned out that my last loop was pretty much as fast as the first lap. Plus, I didn’t want my sister to beat me! We ran together on my only trail run of the year and I couldn’t keep up. I feared that that may happen on the last loop, so I periodically checked behind me to see if she was there.
This year’s time was 6 minutes slower than my time last year, but most people’s times were slower than last year because of the heat. I actually kept up with the lead male runner’s pace for 30 seconds. Now, he may have been one loop ahead of me, and we may have been walking up the ski hill, but I did keep up for a bit!
It was another great day of food. I felt like I needed some salt, so I made a quinoa wrap with chips. Yum!
Running With Veggies 
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