This was a great race. A 35 mile odyssey through the front country of Santa Barbara. I'd often thought about running these trails, but did not quite appreciate how tough the hills would be.
Suffering from my worst bout of cramp ever (induced probably by an ill-thought hot tub session to relax the night before the race), it pulled me close to my first ever DNF. Still, the site of the defizzed Coke got me going again and while I dropped from 3rd to 8th, I was glad to get home in one piece. The last five miles only running slightly behind the first five.
So, I'll be back next year, but prepping this week for another race (the last for 2005) in Ridgecrest on Sunday. I'll be loading with glycerine and getting set to pick up the last points I can in this years SoCal Ultra Series.
