I was making pretty good time (for me) on this section, but there were suddenly more runners appearing on the trail behind me. So I guess I wasn't really moving forward that well. Two of them caught up with me as I was crossing the first cattle gate. There was another gate to cross in a short distance ahead and then an uphill. The three of us came into Box Canyon Aid Station (25miles) one right after the other.
Box Canyon marks the half-way point. The second half of OP50 is more difficult than the first half. I had a drop bag here, and drank a Boost and poured another one into a spare bottle. A volunteer capped of my other bottle with water, and I grabbed a few PB&Js and continued on . This section is predominantly uphill on a dirt road. The first few tenths of
a mile out of the aidstation are downhill to a bridge and then the long uphill climb commences.
The grade of the uphill is not overly steep. It is easily runnable, and would be gnarly for hill repeats. I felt energized from the calorie intake and I would walk some then run some. Had my legs been fresher, this uphill would have been a lot of fun. One of the runners who had come into Box Canyon aid station was just behind me. I took a couple photos of the creek and canyon walls off to the left of the road. I could see a runner in an orange shirt ahead of me, and recognized the runner to be Matt C. A little over half way up the climb, I thought I felt a couple of rain drops. I asked the runner just behind me if she had felt any, and I think she said no. |
