Monthly Archives: September 2011
2011 NH Reach the Beach Relay Recap
| September 30, 2011 | Posted by Lauren under Running |
It’s totally acceptable to post a race recap 2 weeks after a race, right? I promise this will not become a trend.
Two weeks ago today, I was on my way up to Cannon Mountain for the start of the 13th Reach the Beach relay in New Hampshire. Well, technically we were still on a desperate quest for a replacement vehicle, but you get my drift…
After all the frustration and anxiety leading up to this race, getting up to Cannon felt so good. And once we arrived, all that anxiety quickly melted away. It didn’t matter that we had spent our morning fighting Boston traffic to get a new van, or that we were almost late arriving to the start, or even that there were 6 of us crammed into a minivan for the weekend – the relay was about to start, and it was going to be awesome no matter what.
Especially because the {ontherun} team was reunited for a race for the first time in months.
At about 11:50 am on Friday morning, our wave finally started. Team Buttermore was headed to the beach!
On Fresh Legs
Kimmy was runner #1 and had an 8 mile leg right out of the gate. After the course changes the officials had to make, her leg was by far the longest in our first round. But that didn’t phase her one bit. She got us out to a strong start and didn’t stop smiling the entire way.
While Kimmy ran, our motley crew of 6 decorated on the fly.
Our van got more decorated as the relay went on.
This year, in order to avoid a section of road washed out by Hurricane Irene, race organizers basically designed a course that went out for a couple of legs and then turned around and doubled back. This meant that Van 1 runners finished up at a different spot than Van 2 started. In order to keep track of our time, the 6th runner in the rotation needed to wear a chip on his ankle, which would record how long it had taken us to run the first 6 legs. Then Van 2 would start at the normal transition point at a pre-assigned time based on our predicted pace. So we never actually made a hand off between our first sets of legs, and we never got to see the other half of our team until the start of our 2nd . It was crazy and a little bit annoying, but given the circumstances, I’m not quite sure there was anything else that could have been done.
Last year, I ran Leg #2, which was (and still is) the longest relay leg I’ve ever run. Originally, I had planned to run this leg again, and would cover a total of 22 miles over the course of the relay. But the changes to the 2011 course meant that my original run had to be cut in half. I swapped places with EC (to get the higher mileage) and then the two of us pretty much just shared what used to be one leg. He started us off, and I finished it.
EC’s first leg was pretty short. In just a little over 3 miles, he’d be handing off to me. So I got dressed in my watermelon finest (green Team Sparkle skirt and all) and got ready to crush that first leg.
Sadly the only picture I have of the race outfit is this tiny one that Kimmy posted on Twitter (Becky might have more, but she’s not sharing…):
So you’ll pretty much just have to use your imagination. For reference, please see this post.
Anyway…I lucked out and ended up getting the uphill half of the leg. But don’t let the map fool you. The hill was long and noticable, but it actually wasn’t as bad as it looks. This was by far my easiest leg of the three.
When EC handed me the slap bracelet, all I could think about was how excited I was to run. There had been so many emotions leading up to this race, and all of those were bottled up, ready to power me through the miles. Plus, entering New Hampshire had been like entering a completely different world. We had left the hot, humid days of summer behind, and instead were faced with glorious cool, crisp fall days. It was a runner’s heaven.
The first mile of my leg included a little downhill and I took off. I chicked skirted two people right at the start, and used that motivation to just keep going. I couldn’t believe how great my legs felt. I knew I was pushing the pace, but I never felt like I was running so fast I wouldn’t be able to finish. So when I looked down at my watch and saw that I was running sub-7:00s, I was actually in shock. And then I made up a new goal on the fly – to keep my splits under 7:00 minutes/mile for as long as I possibly could. The hill started climbing up, but I just picked up my knees and kept moving.
Somewhere between Mile 2 and Mile 3, I got a bit of a shock – people were standing on the other side of the road, waving runners into a transition. I kept looking down at my watch in a panic – I couldn’t be at the end yet! Did they shorten my leg without me knowing? If I had known, I would’ve tried to run way faster than I was going. But after a few panicked glances at the volunteers, they waved at me to keep going. I looked ahead, confused. It was only then that I realized a line of runners coming in the opposite direction. It was the transition for Runner #6.
This was the first time I had realized that we were literally running out and then back, and I wasn’t exactly happy about it. The entire puprose of a relay is to move your runners from Point A to Point B. It’s cool to think that even when you aren’t out there running, someone on your team is moving that slap bracelet down to the finish. I won’t pretend that this realization didn’t affect me at all, or didn’t make me feel just a little bit discouraged. But in the end, it was what it was, and all I needed to do was just keep running.
So I did. The hill climbed up, but I kept pushing the pace. And with the exception of a steep section between miles 3.5 and 4 that just about broke my spirits, I was so hapy to sprint into the transition point seeing that I had met my goal!
Final Stats: 5.6 miles in 37:38 (6:43/mile)
I handed off to Becky, who ran our last leg out before Steve and Sean turned us around and headed back the way we came.
Steve (who, it turned out, is not only a fast runner but also an awesome relay race photographer) took off like he was running the 400 meter dash and managed to maintain a just over 6:00 minute pace for his entire leg.
And Sean, who was running his first race ever (I think Becky’s craziness must have rubbed off on him just a little), stepped on the competition on his way to the win.
Photo courtesy of Steve
At about 3:30 in the afternoon, Van 1 was done.
On Upset Stomachs
It was time to make our way down to Conway for some nourishment. Unfortunately, for reasons unkown to us, Van 2 wasn’t going to be starting until 5:30 pm. So even though we had all run fast legs to make up time, the rest of our team would still have a long wait before they could run. And we were left with an unheard of amount of rest time.
So we drove (for a very long time). And we ate pizza.
Why I continue to think that pizza is a good relay meal is beyond me. This wasn’t feeling so great in my stomach at 12:30 in the morning
Drank nuun
Spreading the Nuun and After-NUUN Delight love - Photo courtesy of Steve
And got excited to run again.
Photo courtesy of Steve
Photo courtesy of Steve
My second leg was just under 5 miles and was rated moderate. The elevation profile looked like a roller coaster.
By the time EC handed off to me, my stomach was a mess once again. Next time, I need someone to remind me that while pizza may seem like a really great idea after Leg #1, I’m going to be cursing that decision during Leg #2.
But if relays have taught me anything, it’s how to keep running even when your stomach is revolting. So when I got that slap bracelet, I tried to quiet my stomach and just run.
This leg ran along Rt 25 for pretty much the entire way. Despite that fact that it was on a main stretch of road, the run itself was pretty lonely. I started near one other runner and then was quickly on my own for the miles. And the rollers seemed to start right up. For every downhill that I enjoyed, there was an uphill soon after to slow me down. I knew in my head that the leg was moving gradually downhill toward the finish, but it certainly didn’t feel that way. My pace was all over the place as I tried to hang on during the uphill sections and take off down the other side. But surprisngly, somehow I was still running strong. Every time my watch clicked another mile below 7:00 minutes, my determination to keep it that way grew even stronger.
A couple miles into the leg, I heard fast footsteps behind me. Suddenly – some guy was effortlessly gliding up the hill next to me, blowing by me in what seemed like the blink of an eye. And one by one, a trail of speedy runners started trickling by. The corporate teams had caught us. Each time one of them came up to pass me, I’d try to hold on behind them for as long as I could. But ultimately they all left me in their dust.
If you pass 10 people on a leg but get passed by 7 (different) runners, can you still count the 10 kills? Or are you left with only 3?
By Mile 4, my speedy first leg and the rolling hills of the second started catching up to me. I knew I had less than a mile left to run, but that one mile felt so long. I crested the top of yet another hill and looked down, only to see a string of red blinking lights stretching out before me. Even though it seemed like all I had done during the leg was get passed, I was actually catching teams. Seeing those red lights was all the motivation I needed. I took off in pursuit of the runners, picking them off one by one right up until the finish line.
Final stats: 4.93 miles in 33:44 (6:51/mile)
On One Hour of Sleep
By the time the rest of our van finished their legs, I was more than ready for some sleep. We made our way to the transition point in search of some much needed rest. Because it was freezing outside and I didn’t have a sleeping bag, I stretched out in the front seat of the van, hoping to catch a few hours of sleep.
Turns out when you’re sharing a sleeping space with Becky and Sean, sleep might be in short supply.
I’m not sure how long we all stayed up talking, or how early we woke up again, but I’m pretty sure it all amounted to about an hour of sleep. Which, turns out, is actually pretty good for your creativity. In the early morning hours, Becky, Sean, and I came up with a bunch of stellar ideas for team names and taglines for next year’s team. And I’m sure they will all sound just as good when we aren’t sleep-deprived and stir-crazy.
That morning had dawned crisp and cool – another perfect day to run. But since my hardest leg was yet to come, I spent the entire morning trying not to think about what lie ahead.
Around 9 or so that morning, Sam came sprinting around the corner, and Van 1 was off for one final time.
Right from the start, it was clear that everyone was struggling a little bit. Kimmy looked strong, but was feeling sick.
And EC had horrible knee problems that forced him to slow down to a walk – and freaked me out so badly that I was ready to pull him off the course.
Meanwhile, the sun was getting warmer and I was getting increasingly more nervous. How were my legs going to hold up for 8.5 more hard miles?
My last leg was not only my longest, but it was also (by far) my hardest with a steep mile long climb at the very end. But EC ran this leg last year – and if he could do it, I could too. At least that’s what I kept telling myself.
EC’s run also finished at the top of a long hill. As I waited at the top, I sucked down a Gu (the first time I’ve used one on a relay), hoping my stomach would be able to keep it down and the sugar would propel me over 8 miles of rolling hills.
Photo courtesy of Steve
Finally, I saw EC in the distance, running strong up the hill despite the obvious shooting pain in his knee. We made our final hand off (clearly I was proud of him for hanging in there) and off I went for my final relay leg of 2011.
Photo courtesy of Steve
I’d like to tell you that I was filled with excitement and gratefulness to be running on that beautiful New Hampshire morning. That the thought of this not only being my last leg of Reach the Beach, but my last leg of the 2011 relay season kept me positive and made me enjoy every last minute. But unfortunately that was not the case. I was tired, and right from the start the leg seemed even hillier than I had expected.
But even though I was tired, I started out strong once again. I kept telling myself to pull back on the pace but I couldn’t. I realize this probably doesn’t make much sense, but the signals my logical brain was sending to my illogical legs were just not getting through. Despite my brain’s protests, my heavy legs had a mind of their own. The first 3 miles were not only surprisingly consistent, but they were also under 7:00 minutes. Instead of trying to argue, I just tried to turn my brain off and let my legs do their thing.
Between miles 3 and 4, however, I hit a big hill that finally forced my legs to slow down. I had given it my best effort, but I just couldn’t hold a sub-7 minute mile anymore. Instead I tried to push as hard as I could, and hang as close to a 7:00 minute pace as my legs could move.
Around mile 4, I saw my team for a much needed water break. I think this face pretty accurately captures how I was feeling at the moment, despite all their awesome cheering.
Why I thought it was super important to fix my hair at this moment, I do not know.
By this point, my stomach had started cramping so badly that all I wanted to do was curl up into a ball until the pain went away. I’ve dealt with nausea on many relays in the past, but these stabbing pains were an entirely new ballgame. I sucked down a little bit of water and asked my team if they could please stop again for me in a couple of miles.
Fortunately, seeing my team, getting a little water, and knowing that I’d see them again in just 2 more miles gave me a bit of a mental boost. At this point, runners were stretched out in a steady line in front of me. So instead of focusing on the miles I still had to run, I focused solely on reeling in the runner directly in front of me. Once I had caught up to him or her I’d look ahead to my next target. When you have 8.5 miles to run, slowly picking off the runners in front of you is a great way to stay motivated. I’m sure the people behind me were doing the same.
By the time I saw the team again around mile 6, the cramp had subsided a bit and my spirits had lifted. I took down a little more water, and prepared myself for the hill ahead. I told myself that all I had to do was make it to that hill. And then whatever happened, happened.
When I came around the corner at Mile 7 and saw that hill, I knew I was in for it. It seemed to stretch endlessly up in front of me, curving around corners into infinity. I ducked my head down, picked my knees up and dug deep. My only thoughts were to a.) not walk and b.) not let anyone who I had passed before pass me on the hill, especially the guy who sarcastically told me “good luck on that hill at mile 7″ when I passed him, in a way that implied I was running stupid and would get what’s coming to me soon.
I felt like I was crawling, but I never slowed to a walk. I focused on taking one step at a time to get to the top. And finally, it ended – with a nice long flat stretch to the finish.
Almost done! The smile has returned to my face.
It felt so good to be done!
Final Stats: 8.57 miles in 1:00:48 (7:06/mile)
I might have been done, but half of our van still had legs to run. It was clear that everyone was tired. But Becky, Steve, and Sean all dominated their final legs.
You may not be able to tell from this picture, but Steve was still flying. I think he ran his 3 legs faster than any other person I’ve ever had the pleasure of running a relay with.
Sean even performed a little dance for us as we drove by. Someone has caught the relay fever…
Finally it was time to hand off to Van 2 for the last time. We handed off the bracelet with cries of “see you at the beach!!” and we pointed our tired van toward the nearest restaurant for some grub.
The Finish
As the sun was starting to set, Team Buttermore started arriving at the finish area. Relay organizers had moved the finish line onto the beach this year, and besides the fact that it forced Runner #12 to sprint the final 3/4 of a mile through sand, it made for a beautiful finish.
We took a few necessary photos…
And then joined up with Van 2 for the final sprint to the end.
28 hours later, Team Buttermore was done!
Final Team stats: 28:12:28 (8:49/mile)
And the final question – did we ever find Buttermore??
Maybe. Through our awesome powers of online stalking, we were surprised to discover that he was running the relay this year with another team. We also found out that he was running in the second van, but we weren’t sure what team he was with. However, throughout the relay we had a couple of interesting encounters with other teams that made us think they were running with him…or at least knew who he was. We weren’t exactly shy about telling people the meaning behind our name. But if he did find us, he didn’t want to say hello…leaving the true identity of Buttermore a mystery to this day.
New Hampshire RTB Relay 2011: The Crazy before the Calm
| September 27, 2011 | Posted by Lauren under Running |
Relay season has officially ended.
Okay, so it technically ended a week ago when Team Buttermore crossed the finish line of the 13th Reach the Beach NH relay. But since I haven’t been able to blog about it until now, today is the day that gets to official designation.
You may be wondering why I waited so long to tell you about my experience running the 2011 RTB relay. After all, I’ve been known to talk about the magic that is the 200-mile relay to every person who will listen. But I’m going to be all mysterious and tell you that I haven’t been able to blog for reasons best left off the blog. It may be over a week later, but the story does still need telling. And I hope I don’t lose any of the excitement in my telling of it.
For the past few years, the New Hampshire Reach the Beach Relay has been how I’ve ended my summer. It’s usually held the very last weekend of summer, and it’s traditionally so cold while we’re up in those NH mountains that it’s easy to believe fall has arrived. I can’t think of a better way to close out a season than to run my favorite type of race. And this year was even better. This year, I was blessed with the opportunity to run four relays in one summer – to have an actual “relay season.” As I ran across that RTB finish line with my teammates, I couldn’t help but think about how much joy I’ve gotten out of these races over the past few months.
But – we didn’t exactly get to this point smoothly. Whether it’s losing runners on the course, showing up at transitions before they’re even opened, or getting stuck in awful traffic, no relay is without its share of craziness. Of all the relays I’ve ever done, however, the 2011 RTB took the cake! Except this time, most things went wrong before we even got up to New Hampshire for the start.
In hindsight, I think it must have been because of our name. We should have known when we chose it we would be cursed. But it seemed like such a good idea at the time…
Remember last year when we got to the start at Cannon Mountain and realized that one of our runners just wasn’t going to show? The mysterious Buttermore, who left us with extra legs to run and became the brunt of all jokes for the entire weekend.
The question of the weekend – from the 2010 New Hampshire Reach the Beach relay.
Well, since we never did find him, we figured 2011 would be a good time to take up our search once again. And so we christened our motley crew Team Buttermore in his honor.
And that, my friends, is where I think all the troubles started. Buttermore was back to get us again.
So before I tell you about what went right, let me share a little bit about what went wrong:
1.) Runners dropping like flies. You have to sign up for these relays pretty far in advance, so we had expected some amount of drop out as the race got closer. People get injured, or sick, or just too busy, but it’s usually nothing a little shuffling around can’t solve. This year, we had people dropping out up until the week before the race. Do you know how hard it can be to not only find someone crazy enough to agree to take a day off of work just so that they stay awake for over 24 hours and run through hilly New Hampshire, but to find that person at the absolute last minute? Luckily, our team was finally able to rope in a couple of guys who fit the bill – one who had never run a race in his life. But more about that later.
2.) Hurricane Irene. You know a storm did major damage when weeks after it hits, race organizers still aren’t sure if we’ll be able to run across a washed out section of road. RTB officials finally made the call the week of the race – we were switching to Plan B. A plan which meant that my first leg went from just under 9 miles to 3.3, and my total mileage dropped from 22 to 17. I know you all won’t be surprised when I tell you I was bummed about those 5 missing miles. In the end, EC was nice enough to switch with me, taking on my first leg and giving me his 19 miles.
3.) Non-existent van reservations. Reach the Beach NH is the biggest relay in all of New England. No, I don’t have any facts to back that up but it has to be true. The thing sells out 6 months in advance, and every van rental place across New England has rented its vans by February. So when Adventure Vehicle Rental called a few weeks before the relay to tell us there had been a mistake, we knew we were in trouble. Apparently the reservation that they had given Becky over a month ago didn’t actually exist. There were no vans. And the kicker to this entire thing? They had actually realized their mistake the day after they took Becky‘s credit card information. Yet it has just “slipped their mind” to call us. An honest mistake, right? Not exactly. Because of this, we were left scrambling. There wasn’t a van to be found within a 50 mile radius! In the end, we decided to rent two suburbans and hope that it would be enough space. (And for the record, I will never rent from Adventure Vehicle Rental again. Not only did they completely screw up, but they never actually offered to do anything to fix the problem. Their attitude was just: “Oh well, that’s too bad. Have a nice life.” Customer service at its finest.)
4.) Missing shirts. Late in the game, the team decided to order t-shirts for the relay. I designed shirts in Spreadshirt, put the order in and waited. And waited….and waited. In hindsight, I probably should have selected a rushed shipping option, just to be safe. But I’ve ordered from Spreadshirt in the past, and things have always been delivered really quickly. I had plenty of time according to their estimated shipping window, and I figured everything would be fine. But as the days passed and the shirts weren’t looking like they had even been shipped, I got increasingly nervous. The week of the race, I was told that sometimes production does take longer than promised and that there was nothing I could do at this point except refuse delivery. All my finger crossing and hoping that the package would magically show up in time wasn’t enough – the shirts arrived while we were racing through New Hampshire. Not much good they did me then.
5.) Durangos. And the craziness didn’t end there. When Becky went to pick up the vans on Thursday night before the race, instead of two suburbans, she found one durango and one suburban waiting for her. Apparently those two cars are in the same class, so companies rent them out interchangeably. And even though she had called multiple times to confirm the fact that she had Suburbans waiting for her, the company didn’t see the difference between what she asked for, and what they gave her. I’m not going to lie to you here – a Durango is small. Especially when you’re trying to pack 6 people and all their gear and food into it for an entire weekend. There may have been quite a few tears of frustration shed between Thursday night and Friday morning, thinking about how the heck we were going to make this thing work. Finally, after many frantic phone calls to teammates and rental places, we were able to find a minivan at the Enterprise at Logan Airport. We just had to drive to Boston through morning rush hour traffic to get it.
Finally, over an hour after we were supposed to have arrived, Becky, Sean, EC and I met up with our team in NH driving one suburban and one minivan. We were a motley crew, but we were ready. We booked it up to Cannon Mountain and picked up our bibs, went through the safety checks and lined up on the starting line with only minutes to spare. The race hadn’t even started and our adrenaline was already through the roof!
With all that had gone wrong all ready, we could only hope that we’d be in for smooth sailing once that gun went off.
Next up: The relay is run! And a possible encounter with Buttermore himself…
Hood to Coast Video
| September 21, 2011 | Posted by Lauren under Running |
Thank you for all your great feedback on my weekend dilemma…though I should have known that all you running crazies would vote to race! After reading through your comments, I have to admit that I was feeling more torn than ever. Obviously I would much rather run the Wicked Half, and the thought of missing out is really tough.
However, I think I’ve decided to just suck it up and tackle the 20 miles on my own. Conversations with my dad, EC, and a very wise runner (in addition to some of your comments!) helped me see that the mental toughness I’d get from doing a 20-mile run on my own will be pretty valuable on race day. And that mental toughness is what I really need to work on right now.
On top of all that, I’m afraid that I might be getting sick. Did you know that spending all weekend in a crowded van in freezing New Hampshire isn’t exactly the best for your health? I’m not feeling sick enough to cancel a long run, but I don’t want to push it with yet another race.
So there you have it. There will be other races on other weekends. But for now, I will get through these 20 miles.
Anyway, now that I’ve brought you all up to speed, I have to tell you that that’s not actually what I wanted to post about today. I know you all must be shocked to see a post two days in a row from me, but I got something last night that I just had to share.
Remember how we had a cameraman join us on Hood to Coast and sleep in the back of the van film us running? Well the video is finished and it is amazing!! Becker – you may require a lot of sleep, but you do very good work!! I loved every second of this, and of course it makes me miss HTC and my fellow Nuunies even more.
Yes, I know…you probably thought I was done talking about HTC for good. But I promise this is worth it.
If you’re reading this in a reader or the embedded link doesn’t work, you can also view the video on the Nuun blog here.
Who’s excited for next year?!
To Race or Not to Race?
| September 20, 2011 | Posted by Lauren under Marathon Training, Running |
I’m not sure how it happened, but this summer I’ve gone a little race happy. Since June, I’ve done a 5K, two 10-mile races, a half marathon, and two 200-mile relays. And this is on top of the two relays and half marathon I did in May. To some, this may not seem like much. But considering that this is more than I used to do in an entire year, things are definitely changing over here in {ontherun}land.
The truth is, the girl who fell in love with marathon training because of all the long slow miles alone has suddenly come to dread them. And if you asked me today, “Would you rather go out and run a nice easy 10 miles alone or do a 10 mile race where you’ll be running so fast you’ll want to puke?” I’d choose the race. Hands down. I can’t tell you how or why it happened, but somewhere along the way, I fell in love with racing. And I’ve come to crave that feeling of pushing my legs to move faster than I ever thought they could.
But because of this, I find myself 6 weeks out from MCM without a single 20-miler under my belt. Since my goal usually is to run three 20′s before the race, this fact has me more than a little nervous. I know it’s not the end of the world if I just run two, but it does mean that I’ve got to toughen up and get myself out there for my first 20 this weekend – only one week post RTB Relay (recap coming soon!).
I have to admit that this sort of terrifies me. Through no fault but my own, my training this summer has been sub-par. I’ve gone through the motions, but I haven’t comitted the time and the miles that I did while training for National Marathon last March. I’m still committed to running MCM in October (don’t worry, that’s not what this post is about!) but I’ve got to use these next 6 weeks to really get my attitude in check – particularly because the next 3 are going to be especially tough.
So that brings me to this weekend, and the 20-miler that’s looming on the horizon. I’ve been trying to think up ways to make those long, lonely miles seem more bearable. And after a long summer of racing, my mind immediately asks, why not race??
Fortunately for me, there just so happens to be a Half Marathon this weekend in the same location as the 20-mile race I loved last March.
I’ve heard of the Wicked Half in the past, and have always thought it’d be fun race to run. I love the North Shore of Massachussetts, so doing a half marathon up there would be a lot of fun. But at this point, I’m just not sure if it’s the best idea.
On the positive side:
- Breaking a run down into a warm-up, a half marathon, and a long cooldown sounds much more manageable than running 20 straight miles
- I’d have support for 13.1 of those miles, which cuts down on the amount of water and fuel I’d need to bring.
- I wouldn’t have to stress about mapping out a course beforehand – all I’d need to do is show up and start running.
- I’d be surrounded by people, which would definitely help keep me motivated.
- I think it would be a lot of fun.
But on the negative side:
- I have a hard time running my “training pace” during races, and will most likely push harder than I should.
- It’s only 13.1 miles – adding 7 on top of a race may be harder than I think, especially if I get on the line and start running too fast.
- It starts really early and isn’t exactly around the corner. Traveling 1.5 hours for a 7 am start means it’ll be tough to fit in a few miles before the gun.
- The fact that I keep signing up for races is sort of the reason I’m in this mess to begin with. Is adding another one to the mix really the answer?
- {And finally} I keep racing but not PR’ing. Although I don’t expect to PR every single race I run, maybe it’s time to scale back and start focusing on running quality races over quantity.
I’ve been staring at the registration page for the Wicked Half for the past two days, and I still haven’t made up my mind. I can’t figure out what I’d rather be doing this Saturday morning – and what would make the miles go by quickest.
So, since all of you always have great insight, I figured I’d just ask. What would you do – race or not? And if you just think I’m crazy, that’s okay too. Feel free to tell me. I don’t hold any illusions that I’m the most logical runner in the world.
10 Bloggers, 200 Miles, and 25 Tubes of Nuun – Part II
| September 15, 2011 | Posted by Lauren under Running |
I have a confession. I don’t really love it when people stretch out their race recaps over a period of days (or weeks!). When they make you wait forever before they tell you how everything went, and drag it all out into 50 different blog posts. Yet here I am, weeks after getting home from Oregon and I still haven’t finished my Hood to Coast recap. And at this point, I can’t even say for sure that you care enough to read it.
But since I like things that have closure, I’m going to finally write this last chapter of my Hood to Coast experience. It’s sort of bittersweet, really. I guess now I actually have to admit that it’s over.
I will be adding all my HTC posts to the {ontherun}Relays page in the near future, but for now if you’re catching up:
The Top 10 Things I Learned from Hood to Coast
10 Bloggers, 200 Miles, and 25 Tubes of Nuun: Part 1
Part II
When I left off, Van 1 of After-NUUN Delight had finished fueling up on pizza and was getting ready to kick off our second legs of the relay. But as we pulled into the van exchange, my body was feeling ready to sleep – not run. I knew I needed an intervention fast.
And by intervention, I mean caffeine.
Luckily, our fearless driver offered to accompany on my quest for coffee. Problem is, there was none to be found. The only coffee shop we came across told me that the only coffee they had was brewed so long ago that it wouldn’t taste very good. They may not be good sales people, but at least they were honest! Instead they sent us to the restuarant across the street, saying they might have coffee available for take-out.
Although the people at the counter thought I was crazy when I gave them my request, they did oblige with the only thing they had – an iced Americano in a take out soup container. Or as Mason deemed it – “espresso soup.”
A few sips of this caffinated delicacy, and I was ready to go. Just like magic.
The Second Legs
Nuun staff – Kimberly, Mason, and Alex – Van 1 driver for Nuun Platuun
As the second set of legs started up, it was pretty clear that our driver was getting antsy. Put a sub-3 hour marathoner in a van with a bunch of runners for the day, and you get someone who is practically dying to run. So when Jocelyn mentioned that she wouldn’t mind company on her night leg, Mason practically jumped at the chance. We told him he could jump in on one condition – he don a pink sparkle skirt for the miles.
Fortunately, if you haven’t figured this out already – Mason is a pretty awesome guy. He didn’t even hesitate.
It is rumored that Mason and I may have been wearing the same size skirt. To which I say – no comment.
As Mason and Jocelyn took off on their leg Emily and I made a quick decision – if, when it was our turn to run, our driver wanted to keep going, we would let him. It was the least we could do to thank him for putting up with our craziness all weekend.
My second leg was 5.23 miles, rated Hard. Probably because the run was a steady uphill climb. But I’m going to let you in on a little secret of relay running: uphill climbs at night always feel easier than uphill climbs in the daylight. When you can’t actually see what’s in front of you, it never seems quite as tough.
Not surprisingly, when Emily came up the shoot for the hand off to me, Mason was still with her. I grabbed the slap bracelet and as I started to run I turned back and yelled, “Do you want to keep running?”
At this point Mason had already done about 12 miles. Apparently that wasn’t far enough. After a quick conversation with our vanmates to tell them to pick him up a few miles in, he came sprinting after me.
Okay, so this is actually Mason sprinting off after Jocelyn. But you get the idea.
Unfortunately for Mason, after only a few minutes in, a race volunteer made him stop and wait at a stoplight until the light turned. I was actually pretty shocked by this – in every other relay I’ve run, the organizers have police guiding traffic. So if a runner needs to cross, they let them go before the cars. I had never actually seen someone get stopped before.
For a few seconds, I thought about taking off and seeing what Mason was really made of. His legs are about 3 times as long as mine – he should’ve been able to catch me no problem! But I took pity on him and slowed down crawl, practically jogging in place so he could catch up.
The first mile was nice and easy. After waiting for Mason, we soon saw Lisa off in the distance – my Nuun Platuun counter-part that I used for motivation during runs (thanks for being a good sport about it Lisa!!). We caught up to her and chatted for a little while before parting ways.
At this point, the run turned off a highway and onto an old logging road. The air was peaceful, the night was cool(er), and my espresso soup had kicked in full force. I fell into stride beside Mason, using him to help keep me running strong. As each footfall echoed against the pavement, I found myself loving the run more and more. I didn’t even notice the hill as we flew through the night.
I’m not sure if Mason was loving it quite as much. His grand plan to be picked up a couple miles into the run was foiled when our route turned onto a different street than the vans could follow. Which meant he was stuck with me for all 5 miles. If he was thirsty or tired, though, you couldn’t tell. He ran 17 miles that night, without slowing a bit.
During the last mile, the hill finally caught up to me. Things got steeper, I stopped feeling super-human, and it was all I could do to just try and hang on to a quick pace. By this point I was running through pitch black darkness. By my watch, I knew the transition had to be somewhere close. But in my mind, that last bit seemed to stretch out forever. There were no lights, no crowd – nothing to tell me that the end was near.
Finally, almost suddenly, I came on top of a cluster of people waiting for the hand-off. I sprinted in, and my leg was done!
Final Stats:
5.22 miles in 37:56 (7:16/mile)
7:39, 7:21, 6:57, 7:06, 7:15, 1:35 (7:18 pace)
And that’s when the pizza caught up to me. I finished and made a bee-line for the van in search of some Pepto. We were finally able to score some off of Nuun Platuun Van 1, who were kind enough to let us borrow their bottle for the night.
And so commenced a celebratory round of pepto shots. Team bonding = taking swigs out of a communal bottle of Pepto.
Finally – it was time to sleep. Well…after a 20-minute frantic search for the van keys that somehow managed to fall out of Dorothy‘s sweatshirt while she was waiting for me to finish. After a frantic hunt in the dark parking lot, the keys were finally retrieved and we took off for the next transition – ready for some shut eye.
The Tale of Traffic Begins
Unfortunately, the race had other plans for us. A few miles outside of Mist, we got stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic. It was so bad, that runners were leaving the transition point and arriving at the exchange before we could drive the few miles between them.
This year Hood to Coast had added 250 extra teams – which means 500 extra vans trying to get to the van exchanges. The roads weren’t always built for this kind of traffic – and the volunteers didn’t help. We finally made it up to the transition point only to find plenty of parking spaces available, and a volunteer who was holding everything up and doing an awful job of directing traffic.
By the time we pulled into Mist, we only had about 1 hour to sleep until Van 2 was projected to make the hand off. So we all curled up in the van as best we could. I spent the night cuddled up next to Emily. Lucky for me, she was a good sport about it.
On our Last Legs
6:30 am came way too soon. But I woke up feeling refreshed and ready to run!
Sort of.
I modeled my awesome tatt crossed off my leg from the night before, and got ready to run one final time
But, like always, as my leg drew nearer and nearer I got increasingly nervous. The stomach issues hadn’t really gone away during my hour of sleep. So I took a few more swigs of that pink delishousness and crossed my fingers that it’d be enough to keep the problems at bay.
When the four of us start a band, this will be our album cover.
Fortunately, all it took for my excitement to come rushing back was to watch each runner in our van finish their third and final leg. Their feelings of relief and excitement after finishing were contagious. I wanted that to be me!
With each leg, the terrain got more mountainous. Until we reached Emily’s final leg – which was 3 miles up the side of a mountain, and then 3 miles back down the other side.
It looked grueling. But Emily is a champ – she powered up that hill with a smile on her face, and finished the leg feeling on top of the world.
Which meant it was finally my time to run again.
5.35 miles, rated Moderate.
From looking at the leg profiles and reading the descriptions, this was the leg I had been most excited about all weekend.
Gradual uphill and steep downhill on winding narrow back road with minimum shoulder.
Yes please. In my case, Hood to Coast really had saved the best for last.
Emily came sprinting into the transition point neck and neck with another team. She handed that snap bracelet to me and I took off as fast as I could. That runner was going to have to work if she wanted to keep up.
The first couple of miles were rolling, with one tough uphill climb. Unfortunately my Garmin decided it didn’t really want to cooperate on this leg. It had had trouble finding the satellites before the run and was now showing me paces that were impossibly fast.
5:13 for the first mile? I don’t think so. If that were the case, I just got a new mile PR.
After that, the paces on my watch just kept jumping around and looking weird. I had no idea if I could trust it – which meant that I didn’t know how far I had gone or how much further I had to go. So I just ran, focusing on the sights around me instead of what pace I was running.
And let me tell you – those sights were glorious! The sun was shining, the leg was peaceful, and I was feeling awesome. We crested a hill around mile 2.5, came around the corner and the world opened up before me. I had almost 400 feet to drop in just a mile. And it was my last leg. So I leaned into that hill and just let myself fly – all thoughts of protecting my quads from being completely shredded out the window.
Two thumbs up – this leg is awesome!
The further I ran, the greater the views were. Sometimes I’d be running through forests of tall pine trees – other times it would open up, and I’d see mountains in front of me. If there ever was a time I was drunk on relay love, this was it.
No I didn’t take this photo while running. But these are the types of views I got for 5 miles.
I may or may not have even yelled out “This is AMAZING!!!” to my team as they drove by in the van. But I can’t really be responsible for my actions. I was high on Hood to Coast.
Unfortunately for the team – the traffic problems had caught up to us again. Less than halfway into my leg, Dorothy ran out of the van to hand me our team stopwatch. They were stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic and didn’t think they’d make it to the transition in time. This situation was probably frustrating for them, but it was pretty cool for me. Team vans lined the course for miles, blaring music and cheering for the runners. It was just one more thing that made my leg feel so amazing.
All to soon, the transition point appeared. My final leg of Hood to Coast was done.
Final Stats:
(take these with a grain of salt – they’re probably off)
5.67 miles in 35:53 (6:20*/mile) *I’m guessing my pace was probably closer to 6:30-something/6:40.
There are really no words to describe how glorious this last leg was. I honestly loved every single minute of it and wished I could have run longer. Which is a first for the last leg of a relay when you’ve gotten 1 hour of sleep in the past 30. I can safely say that not only was this my favorite leg of Hood to Coast, but it was also my favorite leg of any relay I’ve ever done.
The Celebration
The high I had gotten from my final leg didn’t wear off any time soon. In fact, it kept me buzzing until about 8:00 pm, when I mistakenly drank a margarita with dinner. A few sips of hard alcohol, and I was out.
Fortunately, we had had plenty of time to celebrate before that. And celebrate we did!
It’s not everyday you get to hang out with Bart Yasso after a race and talk about how it went.
Or get access to the VIP food line.
Or the VIP beer tent.
And it’s definitely not everyday that you get to spend a weekend with a group as amazing as my vanmates. These people have a very special place in my heart.
Unfortunately, Van 2 did not have the same smooth sailing to the finish as we did. The traffic throughout the day kept getting worse, and by the time they left the last transition to head to the finish, the back up was well over an hour. They were still stuck in traffic when Megan finished the race.
I can’t even imagine how frustrating this must have been for them and I know many people raised very vocal complaints to the Hood to Coast organizers.
But finally, after a long trip for our Van 2 teammates, the vans were reunited and it was time to join together for a team finish!
Over 28 hours after starting at Mount Hood, we had finally done it! We had reached the finish line.
Final Team Stats
Time: 28:12:46
Overall place: 323
Division place: 5/11 *which means we got an award…supposedly…
Even weeks later, when we’ve all gone back to lives that don’t involve sleeping in a van and running every few hours, the feelings of gratitude and excitement about Nuun and Hood to Coast have not faded. I am so blessed to have been given this opportunity of a lifetime.
Thank you Nuun for being such an amazing company. And thank you to all the bloggers who joined Team Nuun and made this a weekend I will never ever forget!
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