my makeup may be flaking

Went down to Moab to run the 1st ever Red Rock Relay with Kevin Smith, Steven Gonzalez, Abbie Tuomi, Kim Capalbo and Erica Anderson. Despite not being a "stacked" team, we were in the last group to start and we were gunning for the win.

Kevin led off and got us out to a big lead quickly and Steve extended it. However, like I said we didn't have a "stacked" team and we were being chased by an all-male team from a running store in Colorado. After Kim's first leg we were 6.5 mins down and it was my turn. I had a 5.5 mile leg that gained 1000ft (the course tool said it was more like 6.5 miles equivalent). I passed 16 people on my leg and cut our deficit down to 3.5mins but that would be the closest we would get for the rest of the race. I felt pretty good about my leg because the guy from the running store was someone that Kevin had competed against in college and I managed to make up 3 mins in 5.5 miles. My total time was 35:26 which is 6:24 pace. That comes out to 5:25 equivalent on the course tool. This is similar to my best efforts on tempo runs.

The lead was back up to about 10mins after the next leg and it seemed like we were toast. To have a realistic shot at winning we needed Abbie to make up at least 5 mins in her 3 mile leg against a competitive male runner. To her credit, Abbie barely lost any time but it was time to stop worrying about winning.

Legs 7 and 8 were truly horrific as we climbed up to 8300 feet. Steve gained 1100 feet in less than 3 miles and later climbed to have blocked out the entire memory.  Kim had the next leg and as we were driving it quickly became apparent that this would be a really hard leg so I jumped out of the car to run with her. I think Kim was feeling quite a bit of pressure because she was pushing herself so hard that she was hallucinating and getting faint. We put a lot of distance on some teams in this leg simply because she was able to finish without walking (climbing mile long hills at 8000ft is tough).

On Erica's leg were started to roll by teams again and at this point it was all about how many teams we could pass before the finish. Kevin blitzed the final run through the mountain at about 5:30 pace, passing 14 more teams and he handed off to Abbie who ran her leg at 6:30 pace passing 16 people.

I had been assigned the last leg with the thinking that I would break the heart of the running store team if we were anywhere close. By that point, we were over 30 minutes down most likely so I was just out for blood. I had a 7.6 mile leg with a 1000ft drop. I took off like a mad man and was quickly feeling the not only the effort of my first leg, but also the affects of dehydration. My teammates gave me water about 15 mins in at which point I had passed about 5 people. Everytime someone came into view I simply surged until I caught them, barely paying attention to the fact that I could barely swallow. I barely needed my team to give me more water but they had to speed to the finish to be sure to cross the line with me. Fortunately, a few other vans sprayed water in my face and it seemed like everyone was cheering me on as I passed team after team. The last couple of miles were on a dirt trail that had a lot of turns and rather questionable footing. At several point it seemed like I was running in sand. Just before leaving the trail I passed my 20th victim and my thirst for blood was sated. Running through the small town of Moab I caught one more team to get myself to 21 and then I entered Swanny park where the race finished. There was another team taking a victory run down the finish chute. Our whole team sprinted by them to steal their thunder and give me my 22nd roadkill for the leg. I crossed the line in 43:26 for 7.55 miles (course tool 7.45). So 5:45 vs 5:50 adjusted.

I was extremely done after this effort as the sun had taken quite a bit out of me. Overall it was a good experience and makes me excited for Wasatch Back.