I ran a pinch faster than I did last year - 9:45-ish, 10 minutes better.
What saved me was one of those Pro-Tec IT-band straps. I had to tighten it throughout the race, but it never became painful, just a little tweaky.
Until Stinson Beach (mile ~28) my stomach was all over the place. Even broth and boiled potatoes did not sit right. I have a feeling something happened with my electrolyte balance, but I also switched over to drinking plain water from Stinson onward, and that really seemed to help. I think I'm just going to have to do that by default from now on.Nevertheless, that didn't stop me from eating. It just meant I had to slow down on occasion to prevent a stomach blowup, and I think I spent about 20 minutes in porapotties.
Brownie bites, Coke, and potatoes dipped in salt - I had those at every aid station in the second half of the race. Can I just say that brownie bites go down really easy, and apparently they're ridiculously caloric. New race food?
Mile 25-35 was slow going, as I think my nutrition from the first half of the race caught up to me. However, once I got to Old Inn and hooked up with the Miwok trail, I was cruising. I blasted out of Muir Beach and passed a ton of people on those uphills, and left a lot of folks in my wake on the long descent into Tennessee Valley. Now that I know how to run downhill properly (leaning forward and planting my feet behind my body), I was able to really open up on the fire roads down into the valleys.
I had so much fun from from Tennessee Valley to the finish. I hiked the first steep section of the uphill, but then I kicked it into gear, knowing that if I wanted to finish with a faster time than last year I'd need to pour it on.
I bombed down the fire road and ran hard up the last hill to the Alta Water stop.As I did last year, I basically flew down the last downhill and ran hard around the final hill and into the finish.
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