Just before I started, it was very windy and rained for about 15 minutes. And then it calmed like the bridge of "Misery Business" by Paramore. Great song. It was nature's sign to give it a go.
Wasn't feeling it all that much on the Lil Ellis climb until the last part - chunky bit. I've run Lil a few minutes faster even in December it turns out. It also took me at least a minute to close the barbed wire gate a mile in. RIP. I brought one gel and had it right before the really steep bit, so I guess that turned things around. Shout out Enervit mango.
Lil to Big is a fun section. Got to the top of Big at 1:04 something, saw a lovely sky, and figured it would be fun to see how fast the downhill goes. Didn't look at time again. The downhill was much faster than I've ever run before, on this trail or any other actually. Opened up upon returning to the road. Saw a deer. I thought I was going fast, but the deer could run much faster. On the return, I jumped the barbed wire gate. No time. Touched the finish gate with 1:38:33 elapsed on my watch. Running the down was an absolute blast.