The race was the Carson Canyons Half Marathon in Carson City.  It was the first of three in the Tahoe Triple Trail racing series.  My start was tenuous as I had broken my arm and cracked a few ribs in a mountain bike crash a month prior.  The break didn’t require a cast and wasn’t hurting anymore but it wasn’t healed and I needed to be careful not to make it worse.  In the end I decided to race for training.  My ribs kept me from going too deep and with all the elevation gain (3500′) it slowed me quite a bit.  I kept a reasonable pace though and descended as conservatively as I could as to not fall.  The Altra Olympus shoes definitely helped reduce stress to my ribs on descents and I was grateful to have that option.  Healthy I’m sure I could have bested my overall finish from 9th to 7th as the positions were in my grasp.  Ultimately I finished and got 2nd in my age group.  I was satisfied with that given the restrictions I was racing with.  It was solid training.

The next race is Escape from Prison Hill and I plan to race similarly though I’m further along in the healing process so perhaps my results will reflect that?  Hoping to be 100% for the final race in Reno at the end of May.

LB