Got Wet??- Brazen Racing's Rocky Ridge, 2012

What a difference a year makes in weather! Everyone finished in record time today, soaking wet from the fog and mist.  Perfect running conditions, not perfect for enjoying the view from atop the ridge you worked so hard to get to the top of, but I didn't hear any complaints. Another great Brazen run!! Em's 10k time was exactly the same as mine from last year, 1:26. Myles...holy cow!! He's ready to run on his own, that is for sure! I had him start w/Sophie while I ran up the trail a ways to sneak in after the start...he saw me, waved, and kept going. I caught up to him and he was in turbo mode, lost me in the woods on the single track.  He was just passing everyone and since I was not a registered runner, I was not going to be a bother trying to get around people to catch him. I just stopped and waited off the side, then turned around and ran out of the woods and up around to the fire road to catch him after he came out of the woods and onto the open trail.  I saw Sophie as I was running out of the woods and she was running in and told her to keep eyes out for Myles and encourage him if he needed it...but she never caught him!  He was having a blast when I saw him next, running down the trail passing people and then turning around and yelling "BOO", cracking himself up, and then hitting turbo until he got to the next runner and did it again. Thankfully, everyone found it as hilarious as he did. He grabbed some M&M's at the aid station, and we started getting to work making our way up the monster hill.  He did not complain at all, which is a first! He "pulled the rope", and twirled his way up. We were in major fog, so it was neat to have runners running down appearing out of nowhere,and then seeing the turn around appear in the fog. Once I saw it I sent him up and around the sign by himself. About that time I saw Sophie making her way up. I sent Myles on his way down the hill while I gave Soph a pep talk even though she was looking good, just pacing herself well. : )  Meanwhile Myles had run down into the fog and was out of sight but I was able to catch up with him and run with him to the finish. I told him to finish, get his medal, get some food and ice-cream and then sit on a log and wait because I was going to head back out to run Sophie in. I watched him go down the finish shoot and cross the line, then turned around and ran out a bit to meet Sophie, ran in with her and let her finish the last bit up by herself.  When we rounded the final corner, we saw Brian charging down the final hill through the finish. 10kers finish down a different trail then the 5ks and they have a pretty steep downhill right to the line. He was seriously charging the downhill trying to pass a guy in the finish shoot (which I gave him a hard time for afterwards).
We found Myles sitting on a log eating ice-cream : ), and then I headed out up the 10k course to find Emma.  The first and second 13.1 finishers came ripping down the hill as I was heading up it which was really cool to see. This is the only Brazen race where there is money to be won, and these guys were running hard! I'm sure they would have been running hard regardless of the money, but it can't hurt their pace to know they are about to get paid! After not too long I saw a lanky figure that was coming down the hill in the fog. I yelled out "Em is that you??", and heard a "yeah! It's me!"  She must have thought she was getting paid too, cuz she was hauling 10 yr old booty!  She was soaked and looked done, but it was all downhill and she could hear the finish.  She flew down! Really. The pics are pretty cool of her feet a blur but her upper body smooth as butter.
Everyone laid down great times, Myles pr'd by 7 minutes. Brian put down a 1:11 10k that had nearly 2000 ft of elevation gain!  All 3 kids took 3rd in their age divisions and came home w/double medals.

Some form, huh??

He's up by the scooper, he's heading to the sign in the road to run around it and come back down.

Two siblings, passing in the fog. He's heading down, Sophie's working hard on the uphill.

Myles finishing

Sophie finishing.

Emma appearing out of a fog bank.

The kid can run!

Heading into the shoot

It was a perfect morning of running with Brazen! Needless to say, but I'll say it anyway, everything was wonderful - parking, parking shuttles, bibs, shirts, finisher medals, a.d. medals, food, drinks, sweatshirts, other runners, the music, the course, the volunteers, Sam, Jasmin....everything was perfect!!
More pictures here.