Rob and I talked ahead of time, knowing we would be gunned for today, especially on the downhill, where we were beaten Tuesday. The problem was, there wasn't a whole lot of room we could put on anybody on the steep climb. We found ourselves in third place with another team on our heels and the teams ahead of us with a serious gap and pulling away.
Rob is so damn tough. I know his body is wrecked. He has a serious injury, and has been doing this day after day. I don't even think about me hurting because I know he is going through so much worse, still he just gets the job done, every time.
After fighting the climb up, Rob and I made a good run over the mile + ridge, which was stunning for the split second I considered the surroundings. We closed some of the gap, then entered the steep snaking downhill, and I wondered if we had a chance of catching anyone.
Somehow we held the gap- not losing anything- not gaining. Several river crossings stung us with cold, we regrouped and then emptied the tank. The last two miles on flat road, we quickly caught the two teams ahead, and just went for it.
Both of us confess we have no idea how we did it. Definitely a hard fought and rewarding win.
Two days to go! Please body hold up.
Mike
2 comments:
Fookin' awesome. Wish I could be there to watch this shit.
Mike, Rob, i just found out you guys had a blog on this tonight, so i sat down and started reading everything. I can only imagine what you guys are going through, but it is so inspiring to read. I've always appreciated crazy things like that, in high school for xc runs our team mates would call the runs that my brother and i took "wild boy" runs... they were never on a regular path.
Mike- Thanks so much for altius, i hadn't raced or really ran in 3-4 years and was great to get back into it, especially with your humor and encouragment.
Rob- I will not forget those few rep pace workouts where it was all i could do to stay behind you. one was a horribly windy day, and it just pounded after the second turn, but there was always more to run, so run we did.
Run wild, boys.
Kyle Nowak
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