Marathon Nationals

I had an amazing ride in Bend.  My goal was simply to ride in the moment that day and pour out every bit of energy I had into my riding.  Of course I knew if I was able to do that I might also be looking at a top 10 at a national championship.  It was a good day to have a good ride!

After a mellow cruise out of town on the highway the race blew apart as soon as we hit dirt for the first time.  The entire course was super dusty and went back and forth between some single track and double track in the early miles before hitting the middle of the course which was mostly fast, twisting single track.  I was honored to trade some pulls with Dave Weins for about an hour or so early on before chasing and eventually working with Ben Bostrom throughout the middle of the race.  We were in 10th - 15th place most of the way and I was riding well and having a good time.  Once we went through the last feed zone I knew it was time to start digging, and I upped the pace as much as possible as the trails started going gradually downhill back towards town.  I was thinking about how much I love riding fast and really enjoyed pushing myself to try and catch the next guy up the trail.  In the end I worked myself to the limit and actually caught a few guys, putting me up to 7th place on the day!

I have to admit I've been struggling a bit since then!  Instead of training today, I decided I was better off with rest day #4 after being tired and hungry pretty much the entire day at work...  not too mention the sugar cravings and moodiness!  Recovering can definitely be harder than training


Garmin

Results

Anyone have photos?!