200 mile relay race

 This past weekend I participted in the Reach the Beach relay race across Massachusetts.

We were a 12 person co-ed team travelling in 2 vans.  I was runner #11 and ran a total of about 15 miles.  Our start time was 9:30 am.  My first leg was run at about 6:30pm, 2nd leg around 5am and last leg at 4pm.  My last leg of 7.29 miles was the hardest run I've ever done.  the course was fine, but exhausted and fighting my IT Band, plus my general lack of training showed through here.  I just kept telling myself "you've done harder things than this"... though I'm not sure I have.  Sleep deprivation makes me very anxious.  but I did it.


Official Results for The Dirty Dozen
49/50 division, 160/165 overall
200 miles, 33:09:15 (9:55/mile pace) 
Tied for dead last off the course

it is two days later and I'm still exhausted.  I slept for a total of 2 hours sometime before i ran my last leg.  

I highly recommend this kind event for folks who like a little adventure in their running, and can cope with living in a van for 36 hours.  :)  We had a lot of fun, but personalities were starting to clash towards the end (not at all unexpected).

As one of two teams tied for finishing last (John was our #12 runner and chose to run in with the last runner instead of passing her with 4 miles left on their leg) we earned a trophy which was a half keg with the following inscription:

 
I'm so proud of his sportsmanship!

 

that's awesome... i've sorta/kinda want to do one of those some day.  just not anytime soon :)

i bet those vans were pretty ripe at the end!

 the good news is that we didn't notice the ripe smell, since we WERE the ripe smell.  Definitely glad we rented vans... so no one had to live with it after the fact.

 That sounds like an adventure in running and with multiple tired personalities!  Cool Kegger trophy!  I think its so cool that you and your husband do these things together!!

Kat

 John and I aren't married (yet), so it was an interesting way to spend one of our precious weekends!  I am very lucky to have a partner that likes to do these crazy things... he's even more into this stuff than I am even though I'm the one who turned him onto running.

I confess that sometimes i miss having him waiting for me at the finish line with ice cream and diet coke, but on this event he was the runner after to me so he really was waiting for me (and managed to stop and get an ice cream for me to have at the end of one of my legs).  I was waiting for him at the end of his legs with gatorade and a hug and kiss.

This is something I would be interested in doing

I know the horror of ITBS, way to hang tough. Congrats to you and your team for finishing the race, relays like this are so cool!

 with the right people, it's a lot of fun.  I liked my van-mates right up until the middle of my 2nd leg.  ;)  That's probably as long as I'd like anyone in a confined space.

Impressive....good job pushing through!  Stacey

Sweet job Sue,

Sounds like you guys had fun.

Scott

 you've run with us, Scott, so you know we try to make the best out of any situation!  We're just along for the experience!