Wasatch Back Relay
We all met up in the morning and Andrea's and Johnny's house. 2 teams: Runamoks and Runamok Divas. Our 2 "Van 1" crews dropped by Bill's house in Bountiful for some supplies and words of wisdom. He basically told us to treat this like a race. Don't do the first leg too hard. Don't treat this like a slumber party. Hydrate with Coke and chips after each run (interesting idea there, but I liked it).
We got up to Logan at 12:15 and had a start time of 12:40. Perfect. I checked in, got a mild warmup (not much of one) and lined up with about 15 other people. I didn't see much in the way of competition at the start, but that was expected since I was the anchor on our team and I had made a conservative estimate on our overall pace. Natalie (from our Runamok Divas team) lined up with me, and she was probably the second strongest runner in the crew. I found out later that she fell in behind the "Jogging Broads" girl at the end of the first leg. I didn't get her name, but I talked with her before her last leg. She started our last leg before me, then gave me a playful push as I went by. They were a really cool bunch of girls, and our Divas team had a friendly rivalry going. Interesting enough, although they were about 15:00 ahead at the beginning of the last set, they only beat our Divas team by 25 seconds. They literally went down the finish chute together. Wow.
Ok- back to leg 1. I was hindered by the heat, but I decided to throw caution to the wind after the first block and race it.
Mile 1: 6:42 - conservative warm up
Mile 2: 6:02 - good pace
Mile 3: 5:40 - ideal pace
Mile 4: 6:35 - the heat started to get to me
Mile 5: 6:25 - I held on through the heat to finish
I was hacking and coughing like crazy. That's what I get trying to race in the heat while getting over a cold. The same thing happened last year.
Johnny went out strong, but the heat soon got to him as well. He had a brutal hill about 2/3 of the way into his run, and he had to slow it down pretty good. Fortunately, this was his slowest leg and his other 2 legs were much stronger.
Jason did our leg 3, and the Divas runner (Alicia) caught up with him. They finished together. I was proud of Jason for picking it up at the end and not letting Alicia get in front of him.
Christina was our leg 4 runner. I didn't know how she would do, but she was smart. As long as her breathing is going good, she is pretty consistent and strong. She finished with a great effort and put a good gap on Katrina (the Divas runner).
Scott did the brutal leg 5 up Avon pass. That is arguably the hardest run of the relay. He had Andrea close behind the whole time. I was wondering why they didn't run together, but Scott explained it well afterwards- this was a race, and you had to give it everything you had. Great attitude.
Tracy C started off a little tentative on the hill down Avon pass. I forgot how rocky that was, and it didn't really suit her style. Like Johnny, this was her toughest leg, and she got stronger after that. My friend Jen (on the Divas team) is a crazy downhill runner, so she put something like a 10 minute gap on us. That was ok. I wanted to be close to them, and they were in another division. I was really hoping they would beat the Jogging Broads team.
We spent an hour or more at the first major exchange, taking a cold shower and getting some food. Then we followed the course and drove up to Snow Basin. We should have spent some more time there, because they had a great grill and some nice, comfortable seating. Maybe next time.
Leg 2: This started out at 9:00pm at the base of Snow Basin. I had a mile uphill to begin with, then it was screaming downhill after that.
Mile 1: 7:14 - tough uphill
Mile 2: 5:36 - hardcore downhill
Mile 3: 5:31 - downhill
Mile 4: 5:47 - some level, but mostly still downhill
Mile 5: 5:58 - starting to slow down
Mile 6: 5:31 - steeper downhill
Mile 7: 5:46 - downhill
Mile 8: 5:47 - more downhill
Last .5 miles: 5:45 pace - a downhill finish
I coughed a TON after that run. Fortunately, I had the inhaler on hand to give me the boost I needed and calm down the cough. Johnny went out next, and had a good leg. After that came Jason, and he held his own. Still no sign of the Divas team. Christina went out 4th, and I was getting tired by then. After Scott and Tracy finished up, we followed the Divas van to the school and tried to find a place to sleep. The inside was full, so some of us found a place to stretch out on the lawn. I didn't get any sleep, but I still felt better after laying down and stretching out for 2 hours. I got a call from our other van at 4:15am (Traci H) with an hour to go, so we headed out.
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