Northwest Passage Relay Day 1 
Second Place Overall (20 hours 31 min 2 sec) It was a blast, could be my favorite relay I have run to date in terms of fun mixed with adventure. Very different experience running 5 legs instead of the normal 3. Friday Legs: Leg #2 6.28 miles 38:22 min (6:07 ave) Rated Moderate
Leg #6 7.2 miles 44:07 min (6:08 ave) Rated Hard 
Leg #18 5.5 miles 32:49 min (5:58 ave) Rated Easy 
We were forced to run this relay short-handed due to last minute drops and injuries and as a result we hit the starting line in Blaine WA with only 7 runners to split 36 legs. That meant that most of the runners would run more than the normal 3 legs over 21 hours or so. That made for some interesting logistics. Anyway, I was in Van 1 with Dale, Tim, Matt, and Aaron. We received a 2:00 start time with 12 other teams (some didn't show up) with only 1 team starting later at 3:30 pm. It was quite exciting to start a relay with so many teams to race right off the bat. Pretty new and cool experience (very different than what I am used to in relays). Dale had the privilege of leading off and enjoyed picking off the runners one by one as they all took off out of the gate. By the time his leg of 6.2 miles ended, only 2 teams remained in-front of him. One of my "extra legs" was next. Leg #2 was 6.28 miles (according to Mr. Garmin) and featured some mild rolling hills with much of the leg along the shore of birch bay. I took off in hot pursuit of the two runners in-front of me and did my best to get them. I was close enough to one (thanks Dale) to get them in the first tenth of a mile. The other team took longer as I passed him at 1.25 into the leg. It was a very scenic leg, especially along the beach-front. The problem was that the sun was beating down and the wind was whipping into my face from the bay. Headwind and heat tamed the pace a bit. It sure felt good though to put some good time on the competition. Leg 2 Total Elevation Loss 103 feet - Total Elevation Gain 62 feet - Net drop 41 feet Expected pace was 6:37 (41:11) and I ran 6:11 pace (38:22 actual time) and picked up 2:49 off the projected pace.
I handed off to Tim and things were going well until about 2 miles into the leg we pulled off the road to give Tim water and Dale got a little over-zealous pulling off and dropped the front wheel of the Truck into a large ditch. Oh no. Yes, we were stuck and good. We were jumping on the back bumper trying to get some traction to get out when Tim runs by. He looks pretty worried. We quickly give him water and tell him he is on his own for a bit. After numerous failed attempts to get out, we are busy flagging down motorists (fellow relay teams) and checking for a chain or some way to get out. We were not getting anywhere and Dale could not get a hold of a tow truck for some time. the high school team (ended up third overall and one of our closest competitors the whole way) ended up shuttling up our next 2 runners to the next exchange while Dale and I fought the battle at the Truck. A security guard to a neighboring oil refinery was bribed to pull us out with his truck and we were free. By the time we made it back to Tim, he was only a mile from the exchange and totally hot and wasted (he had a 8.25 mile leg in the sun, ouch). Crisis averted, we were able to continue without losing un-necessary time to our competition. Our relay continued as expected without incident for the rest of our van's legs. Aaron and Matt ran their guts out and then it was time for me to run my next leg. Leg 6. I had about 2.5 hours rest between my legs so I was able to recover pretty well and get out and hit my projected time. I was pretty happy with it. It was tough leg with some good rollers as well. I had some downhill to drop down to sea-level. The bummer was that the hill was some crazy 10% grade that was so steep I was destroying my quads in the process. Once at the bottom, I ran for what seemed forever along the industrial beachfront neighborhood that seemed kind of rough. Once again I was fighting a wind and a hot sun. (I thought it always was raining in Seattle??) I was privileged to climb some nasty hills into the town of Bellingham. The final part of my leg was on a sweet running trail. It was shaded (finally) and mostly flat. The trail was rough and was partial asphalt and dirt. It may have been all asphalt like 30 years ago, but now it is difficult to tell what it is. I did like that part of the run though. Very pretty with the huge bay to the side of you. I passed plenty of casual joggers on that section. I hit the exchange and handed off to Andy in Van 2 and celebrated being half-way done with my legs already...so I thought at least. Leg 6 Total Elevation Loss 415 - Total Elevation Gain 333 - Net drop 81 feet. Expected Pace was 6:12 (45:23) and I ran 6:08 pace (44:08-actual time) and picked up 1:15 off the projected pace for my leg. Leg 18 Total Elevation Loss 8 - Total Elevation Gain 3 - Net drop of 5 feet Yes it was a super flat leg. I was able to pass 9 other teams during this leg. Quite un-eventful. Running in the dark is fun. I was 20 seconds or so ahead of my expected pace until I had to run an extra tenth of a mile. Bummer. I am happy with it though because I hit what I wanted for that leg. I came into the exchange and flat out ran into Andy. He was supposed to run the way I had just come from and I was in his way. Quite a chaotic exchange. After my leg we drove directly to deception pass state park and tossed our sleeping bags in the mossy grass and got 2 hours of glorious sleep. Continued on tomorrow's entry....
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