Running Recap

Welp, here it is - the long awaited Epic Relay running recap.

The race was fun and much harder than I anticipated. I think it was the combination of not eating regularly and not sleeping that really got me. I am so glad that I did this and want to do another...as you will read, I have some unfinished business to take care of!

Here's our team at the starting line in Lake Oswego!!

Our two vans that would be 'home' for the next 26 hours...we decorated the windows, had big signs and packed those things full!

Here I am...ready to run my first leg of the race. I'm waiting for my big hand off!
To say that I was nervous would be a HUGE understatement!


OH MY GOODNESS!



I was dying as I waited for Susan to come up the hill - I must have went to the bathroom at least half a dozen times in 10 minutes, seriously!!



This was the scenery to my left as a ran...(to my right was a noisy, busy highway!)
not sure why the following pictures are so small! sorry!!



4.5 miles in...90 degree heat...seriously hating life...but almost done!!


A thoughtful Nolan...this was sunset as we prepared for the second portion of our van. We ran at night, I ran at 11:30 and was it ever dark! Me and my trusty head lamp plugged along and it was by far my best leg of the race. It ended up being longer than we originally were told, by about a mile (uhg!) but my time was far better than the first leg of the race!!




Meet Lewis, my 15 year old hero.
This is where things get a dramatic.



After finishing up our second leg of the race, our team headed to Corvallis High School to sleep outside (lovely). We were able to rest for about 2 hours before having to get back up to start the third and final leg of our race.




When I woke up, I was sicker than a dog. Both ends were in serious question and the nausea was terrible! Honey Bucket, here I come...again, and again, and again!




The good news: I was runner 6 of 6 in our van, so I had some time to regroup and pull myself together for my longest leg of the race, 7.3 miles!




The bad news: I started the leg of my race. I was hell-bent on doing this, and 4 miles in I threw up. The bad kind, I'll spare you the details, but it wasn't pretty.




Relay rules state that if a runner becomes injured or ill on the course, another runner can step in to finish that leg of the race. Enter Lewis.




Now to back track for some history...a few legs back, Lewis got a bloody nose, that lasted for nearly 2 hours (!I know!) and so we decided as a team that he wouldn't run his leg and another 15 year old super star in our van, Curtis, did both his and Lewis' legs (a seriously heroic effort because the terrain was very hilly!) Curtis was amazing and Lewis was quietly devastated that he wasn't able to run his second leg.




Now, fast forward to my little "incident" 4 miles in. Once this happened, I was done.
Lewis hoped out of the van, almost like he'd been waiting for me with his super hero cape on...and he ran the rest of my leg for me...and he ran FAST.


Actually, he flew!


It was his moment, and if it all had to happen, I'm glad it did, for Lewis's sake because he proved to himself that he's a seriously good runner (we're talking 6 minute miles here) and he was so proud of himself. I cried at the exchange, and wished his mom could have been there.




Which is why I took this picture...exchange #30.
And, which is why I have some unfinished business to take care of for next year.


And, here we are at the finish line.


Tired, sore, and ready to rest our legs and have a good meal!




Cheers to my team...about as mismatched group of weirdos as you can get.


It was a drama packed crowd and our van captain and driver were seioursly annoying as they fought, disagreed about everything and didn't let us listen to any music. Nolan was so irritated he dropped the f-word in the first 15 minutes (never a good thing), the course was on quite a bit of highway (not super great), we had 2 Garmin's going at the same time and still managed to get lost more than once, and we had two 15 year old teenagers who would barely talk (but they sure did run fast!), yikes! But we made it, and that's what matters!




Nolan and I agreed we will do this again.
We found a race from Spokane, WA to Sandpoint, ID that looks like it would be seriously beautiful and super fun - a rollercoaster ride in the middle!?
I think we'll pull together our own team, and vowed to each other to have some serious fun (and minimal drama) and are taking reservations now...anyone interested?