This was my second year racing the 17 miler, or 1 lap race of the course. (50 milers start at midnight Sat morning and run 3 laps, 100 milers start Friday morning at 8am and do 6 laps.) Though the weather a day or two before was rather crazy with intense rain, wind, and even snow in some places, the course was in pretty decent shape. I chose better shoes this year and probably took the first 6 miles out a bit too fast. I had the privilege of running off and on with some people I met over Twitter and had interviewed for my blog last year. Aid stations were stocked well, course was marked great, and the scenery was even better than last year. The four major hills are tough, nothing to be trifled with even though they are not mountains like out west. John and his crew of volunteers do a great job of hosting his race for all three distances. I PRed over last year by 11:42 which was pretty good, though I felt as if I could have done better. Hopefully next year, as I plan on doing this race again. It's an awesome low key, yet plenty of excitement type of event.