After grabbing a couple hours of sleep, I had an awesome time running the O2X Summit Challenge on Saturday with Chris Danforth and Jarlath O'Neil-Dunne.

Here's my Strava data. The course was considerably more challenging (and interesting) than I'd expected- way more fun than running up the access road. There were ups, downs, lots of rough bushwhacking and even crawling through rocks, and up ladders!

Perhaps the most fun part was the actual racing that happened during the race: usually a 5k or 10k is a time trial (you go out, and run your own pace regardless of the other people), but near the top I was actually racing for the finish with two others! Putting in an attack that was quickly shut down, catching 3rd place again, and then a sprint finish. Awesome. I have only really raced one other time in a triathlon/running race that I can remember (going to the AG in a Shelburne Sprint Tri years ago), and it's an entirely different experience (bike racing, for example, is always a head to head race...but running is different for us average people most of the time).

I'll definitely be back! Check out the Strava effort above for photos, here is my favorite: