Leg 21 Time:19:11 Miles: 3.72 Avg: 5:09
My second leg was downhill and in the pitch black dark again at 4:36am. My projected average pace was 5:15 per
mile. I started out just feeling the
course and letting my quads push towards the downhill. I did the first mile in 5:15, and it felt
really comfortable so my plan was to finish the last 2 miles and whatever left
faster. I did mile 2 at 5:07 flying by
runners as I went. Then came mile 3 at 5:08 again passing more runners. I think I passed a total of 10 runners. The last .72 I did at 3:39 and I felt in control the whole way. I didn't feel bad at all afterwards, but I knew going into the third run it would get hot and it was another downhill so I was glad I didn't feel wiped out or anything. In fact I even helped Steve Ashbaker warm-up for his next leg.
I was happy to beat the projected 5:15 pace and average a
5:09 pace. I also set a new 5k PR of around 16:05, Paul or someone can do the
math, but this is off the top of my head looking at the time. This PR was definitely set on an aided
course.
I did a total of 1.5 miles of warm-up and
cool-down.
I discuss more on the third run (leg 33) later, but leaving you hanging it was interesting and definitely very hot. Leg 33 Time: 16:28 Miles: 3.03 Avg: 5:26
By the time it was my turn to run my third leg I was
tired. I didn’t get any sleep all night
like everyone else. You shut your eyes
but you can’t really sleep because of the atmosphere around you, and still the
adrenaline inside from the last run. I
needed caffeine but I didn’t have any, and when I tried drinking Gatorade or
eating something It would go straight through me, and I would have to run to
the bathroom (at least I didn’t
vomit).
Before the third leg Adam RW had to explain to the volunteer’s
how the exchanged worked, because they were unsure. They were talking to me about how they
needed to quit smoking and get back into shape, and Sasha standing right there
said you need to quit smoking as direct as you can get. That was so funny I wanted to laugh.
The location of this
leg was at Apache Junction, Pinal, Arizona and the traffic was horrible. It was hot with a headwind, but it was all downhill
with some uphill at the end. The
volunteer mentioned that one of the city cops wanted the exchange moved
somewhere else, but he finally gave in and let it be
there. The cop told the volunteer’s
that if any runner was caught running through a red light they would get a
ticket. This was nice since I had three
traffic lights ahead of me.
On the start of the first mile I could feel the heat but I
pushed on downward and did the first mile in 5:19. I was hot and really needed some water and
should have had more fluid in my body on this leg, which is a very good
learning experience for me when I do this again. The second mile I did in 5:22. I was trying to stay in around this pace and
I accomplished that. Now the third mile
made me mad, because I had to slow down, because the traffic light was red and
this big truck with a trailer turned right in front of me, then later down the
third mile I had to weave out of traffic which slowed me down again (which I
got honked at but I wasn’t going to stop) and it was hard to get started back
up and I felt fatigued at this point.
This really affected my time in this mile. Then with about .3 left in the final mile to
the exchange there was a little uphill over an overpass and I ran as hard as I
could up it and down it. James W, said I looked like I was cruising. I bet I was running in the 4 minute mile
range, but because of the earlier issues it wasn’t a very good mile 5:37 pace. But I definitely did have some fatigue in this leg so it's good to learn to know what to change next time.
One thing I learned about the third leg is I need to fuel up
a little more, and that would have helped.
But the legs where exciting! I
want to thank everyone involved, especially James W. because of the driving he did, and staying up
all night.
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