My next run (leg 19) started at 11:53 p.m. and it was going to be a tough one. It was 8.5 miles and had a couple of nice climbs in the middle. The exchange zone was really weird and it seems that nobody knew how to use it correctly. The runner coming in was supposed to come in on one side of the cones and pass to the runner on the other side. We all thought that there were 2 staging areas and when Cody came in we collided. I guess it was a good way to jump start my heart. A funny side note: as I headed out I passed a couple of bars and there were a couple of drunk ladies stumbling down the side walk. One of them yelled out “I love you” and I thought it was kind of funny. I started running in a forest on an Indian reservation and it was completely pitch black. It was a little spooky. I kept expecting Jason Voorhees to jump out of the trees. I was able to pass a few runners during this leg which made it a little more entertaining. My pace was a little slow but I consciously held back because I wanted to conserve energy for subsequent legs. My total time was 1:02:18 (7:09/mile) which was 19 seconds behind the projection for this leg. The only problem is that the projection was based on an open slot which we put at 7:00/mile. My pace should have been closer to 6:45/mile. I was a little disappointed.
I have to mention that during this set of legs both Mark and Dave ran back to back legs and did incredible. They weren’t easy legs either. Hooked up with van 1 (with about 2 seconds to spare) and sent them on their way. Craig’s achilles were really causing him problems so we asked Cody if he could join us for our last set of legs. We went to the next major exchange to try to get some sleep. Just as I was falling asleep in the high school gym the fire alarm went off. It was going for 10 minutes and we finally decided to drive somewhere a little more quiet. Just as we were pulling out, they turned it off so we went back into the gym. I was able to get about an hour of sleep before I woke up. I tried to freshen up and get ready for my next run. I ate a banana and a piece of bread and was feeling alright. I was looking forward to getting my last run in (or so I thought).
My fourth run started at 6:56 a.m. and was 6.6 miles. The first 2 miles were slightly down then I climbed 150 feet over ½ mile. After a short drop I had another steady climb for a mile. There was a decent drop for a mile then it was flat for 2 miles. The first mile was alright (6:29) but then the wheels completely fell off. My pace slowed and I was hurting. I was completely glycogen depleted. I thought that I could hear a runner behind me and my only motivation for the rest of the run was that I was not going to be the only person on the team to get passed by somebody. I continued to plug along but it was a death march. Total time was 44:41 (7:03/mile) and was exactly what was projected (once again based on the 7:00/mile open slot pace). After passing the baton to Craig I got really light headed and almost passed out.
Since Dave already ran back to back legs during the last set of runs, I knew that it would be too much to ask for him to do it again. I refueled the best I could (a bottle of apple juice, a bottle of Gatorade and a jolly rancher) and got ready for another run.
At 9:35 a.m. I found myself in the chute again waiting for Cody. What was I doing? Cody handed off after running a very tough 6.08 miles and I was on my way. This leg was only 3.7 miles and had a few ups and downs (338 feet going up, 298 coming down). I actually felt pretty good. I started out with some gradual uphills and my legs were still holding up. I was cheered on but a big group of cyclists which was nice. About halfway into the run, I could say a lady running ahead. My goal for the rest of the run was to catch her. Despite my best efforts, I couldn’t reel her in as fast as I thought I could. She was getting closer but not very quickly. With 1 mile to go I finally convinced myself to push into puke pace. I was hurting but didn’t want Dave to get the pleasure of passing the runner that I worked so hard to get close to. Finally, with about 0.1 to go, I was able to get by her. Handed off to Dave and I was finally done! Ended up running the leg in 25:37 (7:00/mile) and was 3 seconds slower than the projection. What made me feel better was that this projection was based on 6:30/mile.
After Dave finished the final leg it became a waiting game. We finished at 10:31 a.m. – 20 hours and 31 minutes after starting. Only 1 team finished ahead of us which means that the only we would be beat is if the team that started at 3:30 finished before noon. We were at the van getting some things when the runningshoes.com van came rolling in. They said their runner was 1 mile out. It was 11:47 so he had 13 minutes to run the last mile. They knew our exact finishing time so they were keeping tabs on us somehow. We considered sending our van back out to take out their last runner but instead we were gracious and cheered them in as they crossed the finish line. Running the time they did as an ultra team was very impressive.
I had a great time and really enjoyed being part of this. It was hard and I was miserable at times but I wouldn’t trade the experience for anything.
**The results are posted and apparently the runningshoes.com team was a lot faster than we thought. They are listed as finishing in 11:41:17 (3:42/mile). | 