Took the handoff from Nathan as the light on the horizon was about gone. The temperature had dropped considerably in the last couple of hours which made it almost perfect for running. I started out a bit slow, trailing a young woman by a couple of steps for the first half mile or so, but once I got into my rhythm, I slowly started to pull away. I felt pretty good and passed a couple of other runners and in turn got passed by two runners that were going considerably faster. Without being able to really appreciate the scenery, I pretty much focused on breathing and keeping my turnover steady. I realized after a while that I must have forgotten to start my Garmin as I hadn't heard it beep after the first mile or (what I hoped had been) the second mile. After almost three miles and 900 feet of ascent, it leveled out and then started a fairly steep drop. I could see the lights for the exchange down below. I was able to transition fairly quickly to a downhill pace and finished feeling pretty strong. I was a little disappointed with my time, but felt like I'd run it as hard as I could have.
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