We tried to get some spaghetti at exchange 12 but everything was pretty much closed and out of food by the time we would get to it, that is what happens when you start so far behind everyone. After our first legs were done we drove to the next major exchange to try and get some sleep. We ended up in a parking lot with nothing but vans and gravel, that is where we started to catch other teams. There were a whole bunch of vans at that exchange. We tried to get some sleep and ended up all crunched in the van, I got about 45 minutes worth of naps and that would be all I would get the rest of the time.
This is where the relay got exciting because our other guys had gotten behind until Paul gained 5:00 back on his guy on a long uphill stretch, and Jon gained some more time on his guy. Instead of being down by 6:30 like we were at exchange 6, we end up down by 2:50, and Google went from really cocky to very concerned! We knew we could come close to making up the time on the second Google van. We all had shorter legs this time too, so we figured we would give Google something to be worried about, and it worked because they started getting our splits from then on, throughout the race. Laud only lost seconds to his guy and Chris held fairly even with his chick. When I started my second leg we were only down by 3:35.
It was still dark on my second leg but this time there was no moon. I took off and felt great, I had an easy leg, pretty much downhill to flat, probably a 2% grade at most. Perfect course for just flying, and I knew could make up some ground, even with a 3.8 mile leg (which ended up being 3.9 miles and Ryan’s next one was .1 short, it all evens out). I ended up running my leg in 21:24, a 5:29 mile average, and a 5:24 last mile if their last mile marker was correct. I gained about 50 seconds on my guy.
Ryan ran the race of his life and actually gained about 40 seconds on his guy. Andy ran hard again and picked up another 45 seconds on his guy. Cody had the longest leg of the van, and ran really well, and his guy was dying. By the time we made the exchange to Dave and van 1, Cody had closed one minute on his guy and we were down 20 seconds on Google. I was feeling pretty confident that we would pull it off, but wished that Paul had a longer leg to make up more time on his guy again; I was hoping that our guys would take the lead.
We went to exchange 30 and all of us except Laud got adjusted by Dr. Stucky. Cody and Ryan had never been adjusted before; I don’t think they were too sure about it at first. Stucky fixed me up good and I felt ready to go other than my knotted up stomach. I think that is the worst thing about the relay for me, I seem to hurt in the last leg and I could feel cramps coming on again.
Van 1 ran good but got back behind by 3:40. Laud had a tough leg and struggled, losing more time. Chris ran hard but his chick came alive and ran away from him. I was 10 minutes behind my guy when I started my last leg. I was hurting for the first mile or so from stomach cramps but I pushed through. My last leg sucked because it was getting hot, I was in pain, we were way behind, and I had to stop at eight traffic lights! I was so ticked! I ran through the first two lights and almost died so I stopped at the rest. My leg was 6.1 exactly just like it was supposed to be. I ran the leg in 38:49, but my actual running time was 36:03, 5:54 average per mile, so I was stopped at lights for a total of 2:46, it was ridiculous! I wanted to take Tanner Bell and throw him in front of every car that almost killed me. I know that it was the first year and they will improve, but I wasn’t impressed with a lot of things in their relay management, and stopping at light when the race could be on the line really pushed my buttons.
I did make up a good chunk of time but we lost it all to lights and in Ryan’s next leg. Andy ran hard again and made up a chunk of time himself, but we were still down by just over 11 minutes on the last exchange to Cody. We missed Cody at his second mile because we got stuck in traffic, so we ended up finding him to give him water with a mile to go. We had to fly to the finish to beat him there. The team, - Sasha, ran in with Cody for a second place finish. Cody made up a few seconds on his guy again.
We all had a good chat with Google after the race and they acted like our best buddies, I think we gained some good respect from them. They even stayed at the last exchange to make sure that they had the win sowed up. They were talking about coming up to WBR, and I agree with Clyde that I would love to get another shot at them.
The team ran so good! Even though we had a couple of bad legs, most of us ran better than predicted and we were probably 45 minute faster than our predicted time. It was a lot of fun and another good relay experience. I was glad that I was a part of it and I am happy with my contribution to the team. I gave myself a crash course to get ready for this relay in two months and I am pleased with how I did and how the team did.
(Tangent-77miles) | 