This was a fantastic race, and if you ever have the opportunity to do a relay type event like this, you absolutely should. It's a great way to meet some new people and really challenge yourself. We met at 10am in Ft. Collins, and met all the folks on our team (6 guys, 6 girls). We had 2 Ironman Finishers, a sub-6 minute miler, 3 10 minute milers, and then me and some buddies who just run when they tell us to. One of our Ironmen (the sub-6 min. miler) works for Zoot, and hooked us up with a Zoot sponsorship. We got shorts, tanks, visors, socks, and hats. He's sending me some of their prototype triathlon shoes (!!!).
Our first van went out at 11am, and our van went up ahead to the van exchange and set up camp. It would be 3 hours before our first leg, so it was all about rest, eating, and getting nervous!
My first leg was pretty freaking tough. I went out a wee-bit fast, and ended up hitting a climb pretty quick. It was a good thing because it checked me up a bit. The last climb there was a freaking bear. My overall time was pretty good considering the profile of the run. First leg: 34:25 (8:00/mi)
My second leg was tough. It started at about 3am on Sat. morning. Our van had to take about a 2 hour detour to skirt the runners on course, since there was virtually no shoulder. We ended up seeing a moose on the detour having dinner, so we were pretty stoked. We got to the next van exchange, and had about 4 hours to kill. I tried to sleep, and was laying down for about 3 hours, but never got any good sleep. So I finally woke up and got a coffee and started getting ready for my leg. My buddy Michael had a BEAST of a climb (2200 ft over 4 miles) to start our van off, and he ran like a man possessed. It was a very impressive run. When the van got to me, I was ready to rock. I laid it all out there. It was a longer run (7.1 miles), but was very surreal. We had headlamps, but I was running through a National Forrest at 3 am, so no buildings, no cars, just me and my van. I told them I wanted to get into a groove, so I told them to drive up 2 miles and wait, and if I needed water, I'd let them know then. I just kept sending them, I was in a groove! About 4 miles in, I started hearing the coyotes, and the moon came out. It was an amazing experience. The runners had to wear little red flashing lights on their backs, so I'd see a red light way ahead of me, and that was my carrot. I'd run my ass off to them. It was my best leg. Second leg: 49.57 (7:02/mile)
My last leg sucked. It was a lot of rolling, and then a really brutal descent down the pass. I went out hard, and caught this girl ahead of me. We chatted for a bit, and then she dropped the hammer on one of the climbs and I couldn't hang. My van was giving me a hard time out the window for the rest of my run. Bastards. A lot of the hills on the profile are much tougher than they look. My quads are screaming today because of that descent, but it was a decent run. Third leg: 41:13 (7:07/mile)
The hardest part of this event was having enough energy for each leg. I should have viewed it as a 17.2 mile race instead of how I did view it, which was 3, 7 mile races. I had no energy at the end, and was having all sorts of GI problems (as was every person out there!). I ended up averaging a 7:18 mile for the whole race, so I'm happy. All I wanted was a shower, and a hot meal and a cold beer. All ended up being glorious. Here's a few pics:
Our Van
My buddy Michael
Beautiful
Brandon and Michael with the Essentials
Michael, Lisa, and me
Race photos to come
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