It was great. Weather, people, legs, were all awesome.

I've been to bluff creek ranch dozens of times for MTB, but never run there. The trail on your feet versus on the bike was totally different. I came into the race with a primary goal of just keeping my HR reasonable (ie z3) and a secondary goal of finishing in the mid 50s time wise.

Sunny, low 50s, slight north wind for the start. Trails we're in good shape. Front half of the course wasn't sandy or loose at all. The first couple miles in the trees were a bit punchy. I had trouble keeping a consistent pace and stumbled a few times. Luckily no falls, but I certainly kicked a few roots. I quickly found myself having fun, which was fun, but not good for pacing. I had to keep checking myself so I wouldn't run out of gas. First tree section ended well. Came out with my HR mid z3 and I was definitely into a groove.

Going into the field my game plan was to push it and recover going down gas pas and through the lower field before the jeep road climb. In the trees I was around a 10ish pace and was trying to hold around 8ish in the field.
I didn't quite get as quick as hoped, but still kept moving 1-1.5 mpm quicker than the trees. My HR was pushing
170 by the time I got to gas pass so recovery was needed. As luck would have it, I caught a small train of 25/50k runners on gas pass and fell in line for the descent and lower field section. I was able to get my HR back into the low 150s prior to the climb up, so thing we're going as planned. Just before the climb I left the group and pushed hard up the hill. Just like every MTB race I've done here, I was dying at the top and it was so much longer than I remembered.

This is where the 10k cut off. No more dropping up or down the bluff. At this point there was 1.5 miles left so I was just listening to my heart and steadily building my speed as I recovered from the climb. Somewhere a bit before mile 6 I kicked the **** out of a root. To this day I still don't remember seeing it before trying to knock over the tree (the tree won, BTW). The last half mile was hard and fun. I love riding this section. Running doesn't carry near as much momentum through the hills and g outs... I knew my race was nearly done and just started pushing once I hit mile 6. After the bluff and before the tank is my favorite part of the trail out there. Quickly hopped into z4 and even touched z5 a bit. I came through the barn at what felt like a Sprint and that was that.

57:47 on the chip. On the higher end of my time goal, but still very happy. I felt great and mostly stuck to the plan. More importantly, my legs/breathing cooperated. I was very happy to see training and consistent running paying off. I was also able to briefly live in glory on Friday as the fastest 10k until the Saturday folks ran. Ended up 9 overall and 2 in AG.

I'll be back soon. Hoping to be able to do the 15k on Dec 10 at Mosaic. My work Christmas thing is at lunch that day, but if I do the 9am window I think I can make it work.

Tejas Trails volunteers were super friendly and made a point to cheer for every start and finish that I saw. Ultra low key on Friday, but still had the full set up. It was almost weird having the big race set up and seeing hardly anyone around, but I enjoyed it. Somewhere near the finish I saw another guy in an Aggie hat, but never made it over to see if it was a fellow h&f person.


Tldr - Awesome. Met goal. Will do again.

Thanks. I really can't believe I'm finally in.

Not gonna lie, when my 3 year old asked why I was so excited, and then said, "I'm happy for you daddy," I might have cried a few happy tears.