If you remember- I once said I was doing a 200 mile
relay race with work. It consisted of a 12 person team
and each person ran 3 legs with a total distance of
11 to 22ish miles. It was more fun than it sounds!
We started off with a team dinner Thursday night to
Carbo load.
We packed up the vans and headed to our hotel for the night.
We got as much sleep as possible and headed to check in on
Friday morning. It was like a 5 step process. It included
a little race orientation.
We had a 10:20 start time so we had a little time to kill.
We road to the top of the mountain on the Polar Express.
Took some team photos.
And finally got ready to kill this race.
Lael was the first runner and he basically had to run up
a mountain for 2ish miles.
While he ran-
we piled into the van to meet him at the top.
Then it was Shayna's turn. Then mine.. James, Cara and
Karissa finished it up for us.
I averaged around a 9 minute mile for
my first run which was 6 miles.
After we finished our first legs- we had some down
time. We had some dinner- aka Panera.
Then decided some shopping was needed. We hit up
the Banana outlet. I found some sweet deals.
We quickly had to hit the road because van 2 was doing
so awesome! We got the transition area and got out
night gear together and stretched it out. Then our van
had to start it up again.
Karissa was supplying each runner with water
as they ran by.
Before I knew it, it was time for my second
run. It was around 6 miles. And I felt like I was sprinting.
It was pitch black out and you could barely see the ground..
even with the head lamp. I was very sure someone was
about to jump from the woods and take me. Maybe
I've watched too many horror movies but at least
it helped my pace.
Once we all finished, it was time to catch up on some
sleep. Or at least try to. Some of us slept on the floor.
By slept I mean I laid sideways and couldn't move my limbs.
James was excited.
I was squished.
Yup those are my sandals in my face.
Needless to say, I didn't get any sleep. But before I knew it,
it was time to run again. But this time- was the last time!
I took my last bathroom break, got my compression sleeves
on and I was ready!!
I slayed my last run. I averaged an 8:30 pace. Which to me
was great since I had already run 12 miles on no sleep
and my legs felt like 100lbs each. I finished my last
2.7 miles in 22:53. BOOM! I was done. And our team
was 3 hours ahead of schedule on projected time.
James was after me. But between miles 4 and 5, his knee gave out.
We had to make a quick decision. Cara finished his run and we moved
the rotation up by one. Which meant... Lael had to run a 4th leg. This
was a bummer because we had been sitting and hanging out
for awhile and he had to jump back in and run 7 miles!
We waited around before his run. I clearly took to the beer.
And I took to the beach.
This is where the last leg came through.
Before we knew it- it was Lael's last run. We met him with water
at every mile of the 7 mile run. He was averaging 7:30/8 min miles.
He was sprinting through hot hot weather. He killed the run.
We were done before I knew it. I felt so freaking accomplished.
We worked so hard as a team
and had some injuries along the way but we finished.
Not with the 3 hour lead we had on ourselves- but still
before our expected time.
Today- I feel good. Ok today I hurt a little. But running
is such a mental game. You want to quit. You want
to walk. You want to give up. I kept my head up.
Kept focused and at the end... fell in love.
With running again. It had become such a boring thing
in my life and I found a way to make goals and
make it exciting and fun all over again. Needless to say-
my running calendar is filling up. I'll be running a lot
more races. And I'd really love to run this one
again. Anyone with me?
