Go, you chicken fat, go away!

Leg 23

Can you say freezing head wind?  What the heck was this?  Why me?  Why?  Nobody else had to run in the freezing wind.  Just me.  I knew this was going to be tough, so I predicted a pace of 8:30.  Little did I know I would be fighting the wind the whole time.  There comes a time in every race I've done over 10 miles when I ask myself, "What am I doing?  I don't belong here.  No amount of bragging rights is worth pain I'm going through for not being in the proper shape I need to be."  I started to doubt Ragnar.  Maybe I should hang it up after this race.  It is getting kind of expensive.  It's a logistical nightmare.  It's hard.  But then I gut it out, and it isn't long before I remember why I keep coming back.

This was a 6.4 mile leg.  The first 4.4 were uphill into the wind.  The last two were 2 miles downhill into the wind.  It didn't really feel like downhill, and I was cursing Paul Peterson's name most of the time.  Best mile : 8:53, worst mile : 10:19 (my one and only mile over a 10 min. pace.)  I think the best part of this leg was running behind someone named Shawn for a little bit without him knowing.  There must have been a pause in his IPOD because all the sudden I scared the begeebeez out of him.

After James finished running for our van came the real hard part: getting to Camille's house without falling asleep.  Camille lives right close to another guy's house that was on my team last year.  It was perfect going to his house before our last set of legs to shower and rest.  So we decided to do the same thing at Camille's house, but they changed the course this year.  No matter.  It was still worth it for the warm shower that was oh so much better than the cold tent shower in the gravel a few hours earlier.  Plus Brandon made us waffles.  That hit the spot.  I also went and filled up the tank with gas again.  Finally after eating and showering, I went to the van and caught a few winks.

Leg 35

Only three miles to go.  This is where I hoped to make up for lost time.  But guess what.  Now the hot Arizona sun was out.  I go from freezing to burning.  Whatever.  I could tell the sun was affecting all of us.  Christian had about a three mile run.  The first two mile had to be the steepest section of the course.  But that last mile coming downhill was amazing.  I swear he ran a sub 4.  Poor Glen.  The guy who hadn't run in months had the 8 mile run.  He gutted it out.  I kept telling him if he needed to quit, I'd take over for him.  It became a moral victory for him to finish it all.  Camille struggled.  I think the heat and her knee caught up to her.  Then I started my last three miles.  I grabbed a bottle of water and told my team just to meet me at the next exchange.  This was just going to be like a loop around my neighborhood.  I wish.  It was hot!  Funny how it gets hotter as the day goes on.  But I didn't feel too bad.  I stayed alive, and that was the most important thing.  First mile - 7:51, second mile - 9:02, third mile - 8:59.

The best part of this section of the race was when I got word that Michelle had come out and was running with some of our teammates in the other van.  Yep.  That's against the rules, but anyone that wants to penalize us for having our actual team captain come out to get her mind off recent events (see yesterday's entry), is one heartless SOG.  I gave her the biggest hug in the history of hugs.

Overall we came in 59th place.  I was hoping for another top 25% finish, but we barely missed it.  But with all the changes to the team at the last minute, I'll take it.  To see everyone at the finish line together was awesome.  And now I remember why I keep doing this every year.