Back when I first started running, Sam and I committed to running a 5k and a 10k together this year.  We did our 5k back in June at the Herndon Festival, my 2nd race ever!  Just a week before my mini-tri.  Our times weren't great, but I don't think either of us were racing for time...so it wasn't a huge deal.

We were still trying to decide on which 10k to run when Connie came back from her Shamrock half marathon and showed us her awesome medal.  At that point, we decided me MUST HAVE ONE!! and Connie mentioned that the Baltimore marathon had a relay option and would have really really cool medals with crabs on them.  Eeeek!!  So Cute!!! 

The relay had 4 legs all ranging between 6 miles and 7.3.We had 4 runners lined up so we were ready to go. 



The next morning, we woke up around 6, packed up all our stuff and put it in our cars...just in case we didn't get done before checkout time (1pm).  Then we walked over to McDonalds and got ourselves some breakfast and coffee.  Sam being the first runner was smart enough to eat a granola bar instead of the crap we ate...mmm, sausage egg mcmuffin!!  We all walked over to the start area, just a few minutes before the race to see Sam off.  Then we realized that the bus over to the 2nd relay start had already left and the one to the 4th relay start was leaving in 15 minutes.  Connie rushed over to that bus while Mike and I walked Kathy to her area...about 1.5 miles away. 

Holy crap, the relay point was MOBBED!!  There were almost 600 relay teams, and we were supposed to spread out along the route by number...but everyone was huddled around the bus drop-off, hoping to see their runner.  This caused the crowd to spill out into the race route, forcing the runners to run by us almost single file.  There were cones in place that we were supposed to stay behind, but at least half the people were standing 5-6 feet outside of them.  Every once in a while, a volunteer would walk by and yell at everyone to get behind the cones to make room for the runners, but these jackasses would just shuffle around and ignore them completely.  Ugh!! I was soo super frustrated. 

About an hour into the race, we suddenly heard the guy with the bullhorn yell our number out, and we saw Sam's tiny hand sticking up out of the crowd.   Oh My God!! She finished her 6 mile run in under an hour....that is so BADASS!!!!   Our first 5k took us about 36 minutes, so she improved that much in just a few months.  And I forgot to mention she has two little boys (ages 4 and 2) and didn't have as much time to train as she would have liked...wow!!

Sam and Kathy quickly traded off the chip and Kathy was off and racing.  Kathy's a running coach for the DCFit running group, so I knew she'd be pretty fast.  We congratulated Sam a bit more and then booked it to my transition area, about 2 miles away from where we were at.  Again, my transition area was awful.  Not nearly as many people...but I think that's because there were some ridiculously fast relay teams out there, and they'd already cleared through.  One guy made it clear he thought he was better than us, by basically standing in the middle of the route and completely ignoring any of the volunteers.  I guess he didn't realize that we were all waiting for our runners too. 

At this point, Mike told me to calm down and just get ready to run.  He was right, I was getting worked up for no reason and needed to focus.  I took off my long sleeved shirt and gloves and started trying to psych myself up.  Kathy came in just over an hour after she took off for her 6.8 mile let.  Yay!!  Our fastest split of the day for sure.

I took off and pretty soon ran over a timing mat...probably for the 20k.  The crowd turnout for the race was really pretty awesome!!  There were people cheering pretty much the whole way...although I felt soooo guilty every time I passed and they would tell me how strong I was looking at the halfway point.  Of course I was looking strong, I had only been running for half a mile :)  My leg was mostly flat and uphill...although my uphills were pretty shallow (they felt pretty steep at the time, but looking back on them now after my San Fran race, they really weren't)  I felt great pretty much the whole time!!  I had my watch set for 9:1 intervals, but I ended up running most of the way and taking only 30 second walk breaks every now and then.  According to the Garmin, I ran 6.24 miles in 59:04 which would make it a 9:27 pace!!!  The race had said my leg was only 6.1 miles, which would make my pace more like a 9:40, but still Yaaayy!!   I never run 6 miles in less than 10 minute miles, let alone all uphill. 

The final transition area was WAY better run (again, because it was more cleared out by then).  A guy on a bullhorn was way in front of the crowd and yelled our numbers as we got close.  I could see Connie's hat weaving through the crowd and headed that way.  We hugged, switched the chip and she was off.   I climbed on the bus for my ride back to the start.  On the way back, I chatted with a few runners, shared some Starburst, tried to call Mike and watched as our bus driver got lost in downtown Baltimore and accidentally got on the highway heading to NYC :)  I finally made it to the bus stop and actually jogged back to the finish area...surprisingly I wasn't sore at all!!

Found Mike, Kathy and Sam near the finish...after I had got my medal.  We had a primo location to watch the finish right by the announcers box.  The only draw was we had to stop everyone walking by to keep them from walking all over the power cables in the area.  Two teenaged girls actually sat down on a trailer right in front of a panel that said "Caution: High Voltage" and another woman climbed on the trailer hitch right next to them so she could get a better view of the runners. Sigh!

We got to watch Connie pass through the finish line just as the clock was displaying 4:15, which meant our time was around 4:11!  Sweeeet!!!   I have to savor this moment, because it's probably the closest I'll ever get to running a sub 4:30 marathon in a LONG time, if ever!!  



Hmmm...need a running userpic.