On a whim and by invitation from friends, I ran the first leg of a half-marathon relay in Fort Collins this morning.
Aside from the four men ahead of me and the biker leading me along, I was alone pretty much after mile one. Gave me a lot of time to think and re-connect with the Nan who likes to race.
The sign held by a spectator near mile four described my feelings precicely: "Runner's High: 100% LEGAL IN ALL 50 STATES!"
I definitely had a runner's high this morning.
My leg of the relay was pretty flat with just over a hundred feet of total elevation change. I ran negative splits and happened to look down at my watch right when 6.2 miles clicked by and remembered seeing 37:22. Then I kicked to the relay exchage "finish line" at 6.9 miles in 41:41 and handed the chip-anklet-baton off to Annie.
Annie ran the remaining 6.2 miles, in a time of 38:31, for a combined half marathon time of 1:20:11.
After my leg of the race, I jogged in the remaining mileage to the finish line to make it a long run. Accidentally went off course just after the exchange point, but only added on .4 mile. Once I got back on course it was fun to watch the racers pass me by as I took it easy the rest of the way. One guy was like "Hey, you can tuck in and draft if you want! Keep going!" I laughed and declined, explaining that my "race" was over.
I kept looking back wishing to see my friend, Marianne who was running on another relay team with our Athletics Boulder group. I also kept hoping the lead woman would come up on me and I could run with her for a bit, but she didn't catch me until less than a half mile to go, and Marianne was right behind her so I ran the last few minutes with Marianne instead.
Aaron and the kids came up to the finish line and the kids got to swim in the pool at the finish line party. Saw Paul Peterson and enjoyed catching up with him too. Such a fun morning!
| 