This one was not even close. There was one guy, the winner, and then there was the rest of us. I ran 2 miles from home to the race staging area of Farmington's annual Festival Days celebration. For some reason the races never interested me...until I heard of the Flag Rock trail run. Seven miles of fast trail, some road, with 1800 feet of climb. That's my style. So I trained through the late winter with Mr. The K (The Mr. K) Jared, who is also Farmington resident. We had climbed up to Flag Rock several times over past 6 months, figuring out the course, trying to get strong on the uphills. This course is all about uphill. This is the second year of the Flag Rock race, and the the best time for the inaugural race was 1:11. Going into this I knew I could go under that time by 4 or five minutes. The race logistics dictated the 10K and Flag Rock races start at the same time and on the same line. Not wanting to get in behind a crush of 400 runners I staked a place up front. At go time I went out swiftly but not too fast. The first hill is a killer and comes up quickly. A block up, then a hard right turn, two blocks more then I watched 4 runners peel off to the left of the crowded line and turn toward the hill. The 10K runners continued straight. OK, so I knew I had 4 guys in front of me to pick off. There was a kid, then last year's winner, then guy in red (Josh) then ahead of them all and expanding his gap with every stride was Kyle, a cross-country runner for local college. I stayed steady up the hill, waiting for those two GUs to kick in. I passed last year's winner, then pulled up and ran next to the kid. He stayed with me to the top of the hill, where we both caught Josh in red. At the turn onto the trail portion of the course I got out front of both but they stayed close behind. After the first climb I already felt hammered. Just tried to maintain a steady forward pace. Crossed the creek (the water gate up higher was closed so we crossed it dry), then began the middle uphill segment. Finally I began to drop the kid and guy in red. Another killer uphill climb over a trail with large embedded stones and occasional loose gravel. I ran virtually all of it. Finally a break from climbing comes with a short relatively flat and slightly downhill segment of trail. This was my time to rest up for the last big climb up the switchbacks to Flag Rock. Then I looked up and saw him. Kyle, cross-country demi-god, was already halfway up the switchbacks. When I reached the base, he was close to the top and had this race in the bag. Not only in the bag, but he destroyed any previous record. I pushed up the switchbacks, took a few steps walking but mostly stayed consistently running. I looked down and saw Josh with red shirt coming up strong. Also, a lady was closing fast. Finally at the top (my fastest ever time to the top at 36:20) I took a few steps walking, necessary to balance myself because now I was wobbly. Stepped over the rocks at the flag pole, then began the traverse over to the descent portion. After a few more slight uphill pushes it all goes downhill. The trail jerks back and forth down short, narrow switchbacks. Use the trees to swing me around the hairpins. I didn't see Josh red shit behind me but I knew he was there. Down to the firebreak road I tossed my bag of wipes to some lady offering me water. I did not accept because I was carrying my bottle. Up to my right I saw red shirt descending quickly. I knew then he would pass me at some point along the next 2 miles. Down to the pond, on asphalt now, I tried to stay consistent. It's almost over. Down the last hill to the road. Red shirt passed me in the tunnel that goes under the road. He rounded the u-turn back to the street and quickly pulled away. I made a desperate attempt to close on him in the last long, straight mile, and had a little success, but by that time my tank was nearly empty. At the traffic signal saw Jared watching. Good to see a familiar face. Run it in one last turn then the finish line. Josh red shirt 1hr 6m30s, mine was 1hr 7m. Kyle the demi-god? He had come in at 55m16s, had gone home to shower, eat breakfast and come back to watch 2nd and 3rd come in. Probably. It was a fun effort. I ran probably the hardest I can remember. Matt Twinkies came in just under 1:17, followed closely by Matt Williams and his bro. Matt took a wrong turn late in the race and probably ran an extra quarter mile. Smooth up in ya! At the awards I met the first and second place winners and we congratulated on another. I love this sport.
I will be back next year. There is a serious course record to challenge. I didn't stop my watch for about 30 seconds after I came in.
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