Marathon Relay

Yesterday was the big day.  I got up at 4:45 AM.  If you know me, you know that I don't do 4:45 AM.  I met up with one of my teammates, Becky, and we carpooled downtown together.  We joined the rest of the team (aside from our first leg who was already at the starting line) at the shuttle buses.  Around 6:30, we said our "good lucks" to one another and parted ways.  The next couple hours for me were spent on a bus with other people running the 3rd leg of the relay.  We were driven to our exchange points.  Since it was cold and dark outside, most of us stayed on the bus where there was heat.

I got a phone call from Mallory right around 7:30 saying she had finished the first leg of the race with a sub 25 minute time.  Woohoo!  Bobby was next and he was running a 6 mile leg, so I had about an hour before I had to run.  Around 8:15, I got out and starting stretching and warming up.  Mallory ended up joining up with me and saw me off when Bobby got to the exchange point.

I took off and tried to keep up with the pacers.  After the first mile, I started falling back a bit, but I was still running sub 9:00 minute miles (I never said I was fast).  Around mile 2, it started to get really hilly.  At first, I felt like I was doing okay, but then after a while, I was pretty sick of hills.  Around mile 3, my back and ribs started to really bother me (I've had a history of this since a bad back injury 6 years ago).  They continued to bother me for the rest of my leg and I feel like that slowed me down quite a bit.  In the end, I ended up with a time roughly around 37 minutes (a little over 9 minute mile pace).  Overall, I was pleased.

When I was done with my leg, the officials grabbed my timing chip and gave me a participation medal.  I hopped on the bus and once it was full, they took us back to the finish line where I met up with Bobby.  We watched the marathoners run in, which honestly, was a little emotional for me.  It was just so inspiring to see these people finishing strong (or not so strong for some of them) after running over 26 miles.  I can't even imagine.

Mallory and Becky met up with us and we cheered Jenna on and she came barreling down the finishing chute like a champ!  We ended up finishing in 3:54.  Not too bad.  We then went around and got some fun team pictures taken, enjoyed a post-race free beer, and then headed home.

I'll be honest, this past week was crazy (grade cards, field trips, and upcoming conferences).  I was starting to wish I wouldn't have signed up for this relay...especially when I realized how early I was going to have to get up.  But when it was all said and done, I was glad I did it.  It was a fun experience and I like being able to say "I participated in a marathon."  I don't think I'll ever have the desire to do a full marathon myself, but maybe in a few years, if my body cooperates with me, I'll try out a half.  We'll see...

And now...some pictures:

Our Team - Post Race

Kickin' Asphalt

Runners or Olympic Gymnasts?