Myles Standish Marathon Relay- Part One

Alternate Titles:

-How I spent my birthday weekend

-How NOT to run (with bronchitis)

-The ONLY way to run a marathon is with a dozen other people, or two...

-A really, really Special Kind Of Stupid

 

Anyway. There are so many pictures and excitement that I decided to break this up into a multi part series. I know that the interwebs are forever grateful for that (ahem, ahem...)

 

I woke up the morning of the 17th still sick... But nothing makes a sick birthday girl happier than getting a brandy-new shiny Garmin from her exclusive dating partner!!! That's the runner girls equivalent of getting sparkly new jewelry, ya know? (but I might have gotten some of that too- not complaining!!)

 

Eric and I hit the road to have some quality family party time (which was awesome) and to talk the details of the race over with Evan (which we more or less failed at.) And clearly to pick up our race packets in Plymouth and to try to figure out where we were going and what we were doing...

 

After an evening of significant eating, moderate drinking (whoops) and excessive coughing we awoke at ass o'clock on Sunday. I have to give props to my Aunt & Uncles hospitality because we slept extremely well and were fed to the point of bursting which is quite delightful! Love you guys...   

 

 

Our Team: Special Kind Of Stupid.
How true is THAT???

Evan and I modeling the less than gorgeous race shirts at 5 AM in the bathroom.
Yeah, we are cool. And the kid is TALL...!!!

The awesome team, FREEZING at the start.
Yes, we had a legit race baton.
I started hitting people with it all Tonya Harding style around mile 8... Watch out!

So, we arrived at the start which was in the middle of a state park but felt like East Bumstumble Sasquatch/Jabberwockey land. It had been decided that I would run the first leg which was about 9.5 miles and then hand the amazing baton to Eric who would run 11ish. Evan, who forgot to mention that he has been crushing the competition at his track meets was immediately put in the anchor/sprinting position as we plotted a strong finish, with the responsibility to speed thru the last 5.2. No pressure.

Cousins!!!!

Yeah, I'm tough! Don't mess or I'll whack you with my PVC stick!!!

Starting. Once again wearing that heinous 1st Run shirt to throw away...
IT WAS SO COLD!!!!

I ran the first 2 miles at about the same pace that I started the All Women's Half in a couple weeks ago. My legs, thanks to the amazing 2 week taper that I had given them felt amazingly fresh. My lungs, however, had completely different ideas and protested loudly whenever I thought about pushing it. I had expected to only keep an 8:30-8:45 pace so I was very pleased that I ran solid 7:45's- 7:50's for the first several miles. I slowed down a little after that- lots of hills impeded my wind and I was kind of a phlegmy, loogey hocking mess. I'm very attractive, thank you... 

Running thru T-1 and trying to get out of my shirt! Which I simply can not seem to just throw away...

Running away from T-1 and away from my cheering fans! HAHA...

Another pic of my struggle to remove that stupid shirt while running. Challenging..

There were only 4.4 miles between T-1 and T-2. The traffic became kind of an issue thru this stretch and remained this way (more on that in Part 2!) The runners were ALL over the road, apparently oblivious to the 2 way traffic and there were a lot of frustrated drivers making for some really dangerous situations. Race management needs to pull an MDI and tell runners to stick to one side of the street under penalty of elimination- this would take care of almost all the problems... My Aunt and Uncle were nice enough to drive us all around the course and it was no easy task! We sure were glad to have excellent chauffeurs- I think left to our own devices the transportation situation would have been a bit of a nightmare.. I was actually a little nervous that I might beat them to the transition, given the severity of the traffic congestion.

Luckily, they made it there well before I did and made a great assembly line to let me know where Eric was (in a big crowd!) and to let him know I was coming. GREAT pit crew!!!

Passing the baton to Eric!

A little good luck pat as he sprinted off to basically climb a mountain...

I look like I'm about to die here because I am.

I managed my 9.5ish in a 7:58 pace which is not too shabby for a sick lady. I spent the next 2 hours coughing non stop, prompting my Aunt to offer me hits off a rescue inhaler which I was too scared to try (I'm a terrible junkie apparently...) At this point we headed off thru the incredible chaotic traffic to try to see Eric at T-3. Little did we know, we'd be seeing him well before then..

TO BE CONTINUED!!!!