Greg – Yes, it looks like a great turnout. General growth in the sport, Montrail series, and a well ran race can bring in the runners.

Mike – Quit freaking me out. I won’t be racing against you. No, great insight and thanks for the heads up. I definitely will be at the briefing. See ya in a couple.

My advice to you is to bring a couple different types of trail shoes just in case. I was down there for 2 training runs a few weeks ago, 8 days after a hard rain, and it was muddy in quite a few section of the flats in the middle of the loop. The problem is the mud down there is like superglue to your shoes. Day 1 I ran in my la sportiva crosslites and the mud stuck and caked up so bad it was quite challenging. Day 2 I ran in Adidas Adizero Xt’s, a lighter shoe that tends to beat up my feet on the rocky climbs and drops out there, but the mud wasn’t nearly as sticky on those as they have smaller and less grooves in the sole.
Anyway, just in case you want to dump a pair at crossroads, or at the lodge for the turn if pair number is not doing well with the mud.
If you’re going to the briefing on Friday, i’m sure they’ll comment on the status of the mud since it did rain hard down there 9 days ago or so. If they don’t comment, I can guarantee that i’ll be asking outloud about it!
I also heard that they may have opted for a detour somewhere due to the mud, but i’m not sure this is accurate.

See you out there and have a great race!

I am getting very excited!

“Life is a headlong rush into the unknown. We can
hunker down and hope nothing hits us or we can stand tall, lean into the wind and say, ‘Bring it on, darlin’, and don’t be stingy with the jalapeños.’”

You do like jalapeños, don’t you?