Friend: “Dude, you’re my hero.”
\nMe: “I’m not my hero…”<\/p>\n
We were some 11 miles in, and had just climbed to the top of SOB<\/a>, the steepest section of the course. I was feeling pretty drained. Maybe it was the lack of training, maybe it was having run a 50 mile race the week before. The two ladies dropped me pretty quickly.<\/p>\n After summitting SOB the rest of the course is pretty easy, if your legs are still cooperating. I really wasn’t feeling it, though. I’d come in thinking I might go sub-four hours, but at this point I was resigned to just trying to beat my previous best time here (4:31:xx).<\/p>\n Before too long we reached the final downhill section. I was still proceeding at a slothlike shuffle. It was a little rocky here, but not really too technical – just enough so you needed some mental alertness to keep your feet on the trail. In the first quarter mile or so I was passed by several people. They’d call out “on your left!” and I’d have to move aside – there was not really enough room to pass safely on this section of trail.<\/p>\n Before too long I got sick of yielding the trail. “Screw it, let’s see what the legs have left,” and I just leaned forward and let the hill take me. I wasn’t passed again until we reached the bridge at the bottom; in fact I even managed to move up a couple places.<\/p>\n After the bridge there was only about half a mile or less of trail before coming out on the road. I slowed somewhat here but stayed above a walk, reeling in a couple more runners on the way. When I came out to the road my watch showed about 3:52:00 – I had eight minutes to run the last mile. At first I didn’t really think I could pull it off, but along the way I kept meeting up with other runners and encouraging them: “You still have time to break four if you push!”, and soon enough it occurred to me that that applied to me as well. With about half a mile to go I started to kick, but I knew I had delayed too long. My watch showed a pace of about 7:30\/mile, which would have been enough had I started to kick as soon as I hit the road.<\/p>\n The course veers back onto trail just before the end and there’s a final hill<\/a> leading up to the finish line. I was already over four hours, but I realized I might have a chance to beat my friend Shawn’s time from 2010 – he and I had both run it that year, and he finished in 4:00:36. I had started to walk that last hill, but having a new goal put life in my legs, and I surged up it, passing three or four runners who’d passed me on the road just minutes ago. I dusted some dude at the finish line, and crossed in 4:00:33.15, 265th out of 960 finishers of the 25k<\/a>.<\/p>\n Of course this means I’ll have to go back – failing by 34 seconds will not stand, man!<\/p>\n The Boss did fantastic this year, cutting almost an hour and a half off of her previous time and finishing in 5:49:41.<\/p>\n
![\"KJH_Hyner_2013\"](\"https:\/\/fiatjustitia.net\/wheezinggeezers\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/KJH_Hyner_2013.jpg\")
<\/a>The Boss laughs at your puny course<\/i><\/p>\n![\"IMG_20130420_145150_1\"](\"https:\/\/fiatjustitia.net\/wheezinggeezers\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/IMG_20130420_145150_12.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![a final hill<\/a> leading up to the finish line. I was already over four hours, but I realized I might have a chance to beat my friend Shawn’s time from 2010 – he and I had both run it that year, and he finished in 4:00:36. I had started to walk that last hill, but having a new goal put life in my legs, and I surged up it, passing three or four runners who’d passed me on the road just minutes ago. I dusted some dude at the finish line, and crossed in](\"http:\/\/hikerun.com\/media\/100_7247.JPG\"){kind=link}