Day 3 was marathon relay day. I was comparing how I felt on this day with how I felt before my century ride in Tahoe. No comparison. In Tahoe, I was a bundle of nerves. It was wet and cold and I had crazy butterflies in my stomach. This day, I was calm, quiet, and collected-and also not quite awake, but having a good night’s sleep behind me, I was ready to go. I having run for only 5 weeks up to this point, I hadn’t yet decided if I love running or not. We loaded in the two Jeeps and headed out to the starting line. It was still dark, in fact, it was only dawn when the race started.
10 minutes after the race started, Paul and I had to get to the shuttle that would take us to the 1st to 2nd leg hand off. When we got to our starting point, we waited for awhile, watched several National Guard runners come through, laughed as the water stop volunteers competed against each other by trying to get the runners to take the drink that they were offering (water or ultima) rather than another volunteers water down the line a little way.
Paul, being 6’4” had a slight advantage. He can walk a 10-minute mile. When I do intervals of 2 minutes running, 2 minutes walking, my mile tends to be 14-16 minute miles. This day, I felt as though I was much slower. I didn’t time myself because I couldn’t be bothered. I was there to have fun and see the sights that I wouldn’t have gotten to see without this event.
Paul and I spotted Cory and Karin and got into position to be tagged by them so we could start. I had a hard time not running because of the amount of energy that the 750 participants exuded. Paul and I started running, but then I told him I needed to walk to warm up. My left calf was angry, as was my right ankle, but as I warmed up, then stopped to stretch, they both quieted down and settled in for the journey.
Our 5.6 mile leg consisted of two hills that didn’t look so steep when we were driving the course the day before. We ran/walked through neighborhoods-where residents sat out on their front lawns cheering us on. I was feeling really warm when I looked up and saw someone on the front lawn (or was it a shop?) with a hose. He had a nozzle on the hose that made the water come out like a nice refreshing rain. I decided to skirt around it a little bit, but not stay completely out of it. It appeared that Paul decided to run right through it. The person holding the hose said, “That’s gonna cause some chaffing somewhere,” and laughs. We each grabbed a cup of water and kept going.
The next attraction that we saw, we heard before we could see it. There were 8-10 drummers, drumming out a beat, distracting the running participants from any pain they might be feeling. They were drumming on a nice shady corner, and I wanted to applaud and watch them as I ran by, but it came out as clapping and running to the beat. I smiled and kept my head turned towards the drummers, and caught one percussionists eye, and they smiled back-I was still running and clapping in time.
The final attraction (besides the scenery) was a tent with hula dancers. I can’t remember exactly where the hula dancers were in conjunction with the first hill. I did pretty well doing the walk/run intervals up that first one. But at one point, Paul was running along beside me, then next thing I know, I was still running and Paul was walking, right next to me. When I noticed that he was walking and I was jogging, he said, “Don’t worry, I will stay with you.” I had to laugh. I knew I was slow, but REALLY? =-)
The second hill…Uugh! I walked the majority of that one. But I soon realized that as soon as I got to the top, there was not much of our leg left to go. I decided to run, partially to catch up with Paul, which I eventually did, and partially because I had been bad at the running part of the run/walk intervals. I intended on running the next solid 2 minutes, but ended up running the remainder of our leg, which was all downhill (probably 6-8 minutes). Rounding the corner, we saw the tag line for the third leg, and Paul and I both picked up the pace. I didn’t come to a full on sprint, but I did finish strong.
The 3rd relay leg met the 4th relay leg in this same spot, so Paul and I hung out to watch the next tag, then 4 of us caught the shuttle that took us back to the finish line while 3 continued on. While we were waiting for the shuttle to leave, I fell asleep-which is typical for me after a long ride or run.
After everyone re-assembled at the finish line, we went back to the timeshare and took naps. After the naps, Becky, Cory, Karin and I went to Shipwreck Beach to just hang out. It was a lovely way to spend time recovering from an event.
While I sat on the beach, I watched a couple get married, listened to and watched the water hit the shore, then make the rocks clack as it receded. I was asked to take a picture of a couple who appeared to be there on their honeymoon, carried on a conversation with another marathon runner (we recognized each other by the shirts we were wearing), and I just sat, taking in the gorgeous scenery.One thing I neglected (forgot) to mention is that the day before, I got really sunburned. I did wear sunscreen, but didn’t re-apply (Yes, I know better-but didn’t realize how long I’d been in the water.) I discovered on event day that sunburns and sports bras do NOT play nicely together.
No comments:
Post a Comment