Philippians 4:13

Wasatch Back Relay Day 2

After taking back the baton at leg 12 from Van 1, BYU was still widening the gap.  Everyone was getting pretty tired due to lack of sleep but we were running on some pretty good adrenaline.  Jeff M ran an amazing leg, and the other guys ran well in the dark (but we had a full moon so that added a bit of light to these legs).

Leg 18 - 5.11M  at 1:10am  

Got to the exchange 17 and parked the van.  I got out to use the restroom before my leg.  After leg 1, my insides were a bit topsy turvy from the fast running and high quality diet in the van!  Went to the gate to wait for Sasha and really noticed that a good headwind had developed which was not going to be fun.  Saw Sasha heading in and noticed I was the only team member at the exchange.  Took of my long sleeve shirt and gave it to the volunteer to get to Sasha after the handoff.  Took off in the dark to tackle the hill ahead.  Splits started off ok, in the 6:17 to 6:35 pace through 3 miles, but then fatigue, wind and the hill took its toll and the next 2.11M were slower at 7:09 to a 7:31 pace.  Came into the exchange with the volunteers yelling our number...but no Taylor.  Waited some period of time (not sure) and then Taylor came bolting out of the crowd to grab the baton.  Found out van 1 fell asleep and did not make it to the exchange before me, so van 2 had no idea when I was coming in.  When I hit the exchange, I pressed the wrong button on the GPS (lap rather than stop) so my clock kept running and I told Sasha the wrong split time.  My pace was still back about 1 minute from prediction and I was disappointed again in my performance.  The only real thing that kept me going was the runners I was passing...lost count at 35 (because I probably couldn't count anymore due to fatigue and lack of ability to count in my head at this point).

Back into the van and off to the high school for some sleep.  Once there, most folks grabbed their bags and hit the grass for some sleep.  I ended up just laying down in the van and caught about 1.5 hours of sleep.  At 4am, the alarm went off the head to the next major exchange.

total time:  34:40 (Tangents - 222 miles)

Leg 30 - 3.55M at 7:25am

My legs are totally thrashed and I am working on fumes from lack of sleep.  The team is still performing well, but we are now about 40 minutes back of BYU and about 40 minutes ahead of the blue team in a solid second place.  Took the handoff from Sasha (after running a great leg) and headed down the dirt road.  First mile in 5:38 and feeling ok, then the wheels fell of and the next 2 were in 5:59 and  6:14.  My quads were dead and heavy with lactic acid and just wouldn't go. Again focused on passing runners to get through the finish with a 6:02 pace for the 0.55M left.  DONE!  Now just time to relax and watch van 2 perform and come in strong to the finish.  Talked to Jon after his leg for the blue team and found out he beat me in all 3 legs by about 2 minutes!  Great work Jon.

total time: 21:09  (Tangents - 230 miles including wu and cd)

Drove to the finish line to rest and await the teams to come in.  The team ran in with Clyde as the fourth team to finish, second place overall behind BYU by 35 minutes.  Finally got to have a beer with Adam (only took 2 relays to get it done!).  Overall a good performance by the team.  I am disappointed that I didn't hit any of my projections and contributed so much to our missing  mark.  I think the lack of any real speed work since Ogden contributed to this.  It was great to see all the guys and meet a few of the folks on the blog face to face.

After the race, got everyone situated, drove back with Walter, Kimball, Cody, Steve Hooper and Deborah and made the trek home after a couple of drop offs.   Thanks to Sasha, Steve and Paul for contributing so much to the teams.  Thanks to Kory for driving his truck down and back (and staying awake for the drive!).