Day 2 of WBR
We did get some sleep at the third major exchange, I ended up with about 50 minutes. I have never gotten more than 30 minutes worth of naps on one of these relays and I probably got about one hour and 45 minutes on this one. It is amazing how an extra hour of sleep can make you feel a lot better. Another weird thing about these relays is how fast time will pass when you are not the one running!
My next leg was at about 5:00 a.m. and is one that I did last year. It wasn't as bad as I remembered it to be. It was along the shore of the Rockport reservoir, on a busy high, and usually has a good head wind. It is kind of a deceiving leg because the map shows that you climb upto a certain point and then role in on flat the last half of the run. In reality it is hard to say exactly with no sleep at 5:00 a.m., the mind plays tricks. What I remember from last year when Paul biked with me, was that we climbed a lot more than we should have. What I remember from this time is I went up and up until about 4 miles and then had a slight downhill for the next 1.2 to 1.5 miles. I felt kind of sick to my stomach at first, but was okay after about a mile. The head wind coming around the res. was rater annoying, but at least their wasn't tons head on traffic like last year. I pushed it hard and felt like I was flying in some parts of the leg. I passed about 10-15 teams, which is always fun because they don't like it most of the time. I really don't have any idea of my pace but it felt fast, probably a lot faster than what it really was. I pushed it hard the whole way and felt like I ran well. The worst part about that leg is that you can see the next major exchange the whole run! When I came in I was starting to pass about 3-4 teams and the exchange was weird. There was not a shute to run through, and the runners were waiting off to the side of the road. I could see Sasha, but he couldn't see me. Jon and Dan were trying to tell me and him where eachother were, but I ran right past him anyways before we made a bad exchange. I told Jon and Dan after that leg that I felt like I was going 5:30 pace, not 6 minute pace. 32:24
  (Tangent-151 miles)
We went to the middle school in Heber after my 2nd leg and got another 45 minutes to hour of sleep before it was our turn again. I was pleased with how my van ran all of their legs, but the 3rd one is always the most impressive, because it shows you what people are made of. My van (Dan, Walter, Drew, Clyde, and Jon) ran some great 3rd legs. Of course the last four are the most extreme ones of the whole relay, with elevation gain and drop. I won't steal anyone's thunder, but they ran great!
My last leg came quick, since I got to the exchange only a couple of minutes before Jon did, good thing I didn't have to use the potty! I didn't have the preasure of pushing for a win or anything, but I knew that I had to run very fast in order to break 18:30:00. Plus, the Roadrunner team, that started at 4 p.m., was running right with us at the time and had Jody Benson running the last leg against me, and I didn't want him to catch me. I took off on this steep hill that goes up for .3 mile before you drop down the mountain, and felt like I was at a very slow crawl. At the top of the hill I was able to switch gears and run around 5 minute pace the rest of the way down the mountain. It didn't hurt as bad as last year with running leg 35 and 36 together, ouch! I felt okay considering it was the very end of a fast relay and it was getting hot. I pushed it hard down the mountain, hoping the whole time that I could hold on and break 18:30:00. Knowing that Jody wanted to catch me and that he wasn't too far back gave me a little extra motivation. I was breathing pretty hard for a downhill section, but that gave me confidence that I was moving fast, so I didn't let it bother me. There was no mile to go marker in the last leg, but they are never accurate anyways. The one I hit on the Snow Basin leg was way off or I ran an 11 minute last mile, and I am pretty sure that it was really a sub 7:00 mile. It is always confusing when you hit down-town and they make you cross streets, go through tunnels, and turn several corners. But finally I turned the final corner to see my team waiting to cross the line with me. We all went across together and finished in a time of 18:29:29. My time for the leg was 23:47. I talked to Jody after he came in and I actually ran faster than he did down, he never told me how much though.
  It was sure good to be done! Eventhough we had some difficulties with getting lost and having some injuries, everyone stepped up and we still ran awesome! Weber and BYU were the only teams that beat us, but I know they are not unbeatable, especially if they follow the rules. I was glad to see Weber win it over BYU, they should have from the beginning because they had an excellent team. Another great relay experience, with a great team!
I stuck around the finish to see when my Dad's team came in. We didn't pass them until Dan's 2nd leg, so I knew that they weren't too many hours back. They ended up finishing in a time of 22:35:35, and lost their division by one minute. I slept the entire ride back to Logan and crashed hard when I got home.
(Fastwitch -10 miles) | 