This Labor Day – September 7, 2009, I ran the American Discovery Trail Marathon Relay. This was my first relay race and I had an absolute blast. The excitement, anticipation and overall atmosphere of Marathon races are unique – the race packet and included goodies, the expo and the post race celebration are unlike shorter distance races. Anyone who has participated in a marathon or the half distance of a full marathon has enjoyed this experience. Running the relay felt kind of like cheating – all the marathon fun for a measly 6.75 mile run
Race report
The relay race included 4 legs:
1. 6.75 miles, 2. 8.5 miles, 3. 6.75 miles, 4. 4.2 miles
This course was so fun and familiar – we always run Santa Fe… now between our training and a couple of races, I think I have covered the full course which runs from Palmer Lake all the way to downtown, ending at America the Beautiful park.
Our team, “7x’s and a Why?” included myself, my husband (Mark) and two running girl friends – Jamie and Tanya. (get the team name?). The first and last legs were quickly decided between our two teammates.
Mark and I, however, squabbled over the 2nd leg all the way up until race day. We both wanted the longer distance – he because he’s the “dude” on the team and me because well, I’m me. Finally, race morning I caved and let him have it – the winning argument from him was that it was a hot day – only to get hotter and hotter with each leg and I deal with heat better than he does (true enough).
We met Jamie at her finish, cheered her on and my husband was off. Then she and I drove over to the start point for my leg… and proceeded to get stuck behind a train near the Southgate of the Air Force Academy – really only about a 100 yards from my start. I was trying to stay calm as there were several people lingering around waiting for the train to move…but there was a part of me that was considering jumping over one of those thingees that connect the train cars together. Thankfully it didn’t come to that – the train did eventually leave with plenty of time for me to hit the the port-o-potty – twice… and then nervously wait for my husband to finish so I could start. I don’t know why I was nervous but I was… Soon enough, Mark came running down to the exchange zone, tagged me and I was off on my run.
My stretch of the trail was really nice. A few rolling hills until about mile 2.25 when it pretty much flattened out. It was hot, sun beating down pretty intensely. I started out a bit fast with a sub 8 minute mile the first mile and then a progressive slow down – not the best strategy but tends to be the way I roll during these things. It’s not as key for these shorter races, but one day, I will master the negative split! I passed several full marathoners, cheered them on and made sure they realized my pace was because I just started. In fact, I shouted out – “relay runner” a couple of times –I mean mile 4 is way different than mile 18. According to my Garmin, I ran 6.85 miles (a tenth of a mile more than the mapped course) in about 59 minutes – pretty good overall pace for me: 8:36 per mile. My husband had picked up my kids after his leg and they all were there to cheer me on at mile 6 – they even joined me for a bit …the company helped in that final stretch! I tagged our final runner and she took off.
We all met her at the end and enjoyed the post race party at America the Beautiful park – my kids in particular enjoyed the pizza (I wasn’t too ready to eat yet)… but I did enjoy a icy cold beer!
I am also pleased that the relay supports the Pennies for Nicoll foundation which supports children with MPS.
