What a morning! Started in lovely Vernonia—I had never run the first 5 miles of the course, and was intimidated by how difficult that first hill was. Lily (my dog) and I kept it easy for the first 10 miles (where all the hills are) so that we could try to push for the last 13. Only saw a handful of people and a couple horses the entire day. Amazing last day of my 20s!
Carried my own supplies (probably didn’t need that second bottle of water, but could have used more food) and a peanut butter tortilla for Lily. Appreciate Sydney for the early morning drop off and Tyler/Eleonora for the serendipitously timed pick up.
The course is extremely runnable. I briefly stopped to pee, feed Lily, and cross that last highway (not at the same time), and I definitely could have run a little lighter, so there’s room for optimization. Super, super grateful to JP for the detailed advice, really helped get my head in gear.