A clydesdale no more!

Warmed up with 3 miles then ran 5 miles at tempo pace.  Averaged 6:30/mile and felt decent.  Cooled down with 2 more miles.

Recovery run along the LHT until I got kicked off.  I guess it really isn't open yet.  I didn't think that the "Trail Closed - No Trespassing" signs applied to me.

Sore at the start but felt better towards the end of the run.

Lower mileage in preparation for the relay.  Felt good so I think I'm ready to roll.

I needed a get away and some “me time” so when Paul sent out the call for people to run the Northwest Passage Relay I jumped at the opportunity. After running the Wasatch Back Relay I started to question my decision. Relays definitely are not my strength. After the team was put together it looked like we had a really good shot at winning. Unfortunately, a few drop outs left us short handed (or is that short footed) and while we were still competitive, the win was less certain.

We were originally scheduled to start at 4:00 p.m. but moved our start time to 2:00 because we were in jeopardy of coming into the first two major exchanges (6 and 12) after the cutoff times. The only issue with moving the start time up was that Dave was going to meet us along the route and this left little room for error. An ultra team from runningshoes.com was the only team to start after us (3:30) and we figured would be our stiffest competition.

I met Craig at SeaTac and we waited for Mark to get in. Once he arrived, we picked up the van, grabbed a bite to eat then drove to Bellingham. We did a little grocery shopping in Bellingham and bought way too much food. We hardly ate any of the food that we bought. We had a couple of hours to kill until it was our time to run so we just hung out at the park. It was a really beautiful area.

Since we only had 4 runners in our van, two people were going to run 4 legs and 2 would have to run 5. Dave had to be runner 12 since we were picking him up along the route. I was originally penciled in as runner 11 but it made more sense logistically for me to be runner 7 and leave runners 10 and 11 as the open slots. In hindsight, since I was the slowest runner in the van, I probably shouldn’t have been running the leg with the most miles.

I warmed up with a 1.5 miles and was ready to go. A guy from an ultra team came stumbling in while I was waiting for Cody and he was not looking good. They got him to a stretcher and started an IV and he was completely unresponsive. This isn’t something that I wanted to see before starting my run. Cody came flying in and passed me the baton. My first leg was 3.95 miles (according to my Garmin) and started at 6:12 p.m. The first mile was rolling then there was about a 50 foot gain over the next ½ mile then another mile of slight elevation gain. The last mile climbed 425 feet and I was not looking forward to it. My biggest concern was that there were about a million turns and I knew that I was going to get lost. There weren’t many teams around us so I was on my own. Right before the big climb, I was sure that I was lost but could see somebody ahead so I assumed I was alright. The climb absolutely killed my legs. It’s one of those hills where walking is probably as fast as running (I promise that I ran the entire thing). Eventually got to the top and passed off to Craig. Total time was 29:07 (7:22/mile) which was 1 minute ahead of schedule.

I still had one more run in this set of legs before I could rest. At 8:07 I started my next run (leg 11) and it was supposed to be easy. It started with a 200 foot drop over the first mile then was completely flat for 3.6 more miles (4.6 total miles). The first mile went really well (6:06) then my legs started to rebel. I averaged 6:45 over the flat miles which was 15 seconds/mile slower than I wanted. Total time for the run was 30:15 (6:37/mile) and I gave back 1 minute. I figured that I was alright since I came out even for the 2 runs. I was happy to see Dave at the exchange because there was some question as to whether or not he could make it in time. There was some confusion since I didn’t know what he looked like and I wasn’t sure who I was supposed to be handing off to.

We talked with van 1 for a bit at the exchange and we decided that it made more sense for Dave to run the extra leg during the next set instead of me since leg 19 was so long. I’m glad that Dave was still on the road while we were discussing this. This is also where Cody offered up his services for an extra leg during the last set in case we needed the help. After Dave finished his run, we drove to Mt. Vernon and stopped at Denny’s for some food. I decided that I was more tired than I was hungry so I made a sandwich and took about a 45 minute nap while they ate. I was happy that I did this but the decision may have hurt me later in the race.

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).