4/26/14
Katy Trail, Missouri
Time/distance: 10:23:07/100K
This was so much fun! Seriously, doing events like this makes running worth it!
After the Land Between the Lakes 23K, Jaime and her family left right after for vacation. As we were driving home, Jaime sent me a text about doing this relay. Tim and I were like, "Sign us up!" We figured we'd have no problem finding a 4th runner. Why would we, right? Um, wrong!
So, we signed up and figured we'd split the course up between us if we absolutely had to. As we got closer to the event, the more nervous we were getting. A 100K is about 62 miles. Split between the 3 of us? Um, that's a lot. Especially since I was a slacker with distance training at the moment. We decided that we had to convince Leah to do it with us. I think we all became rather annoying to her, but in the end, she decided to join us. Thank goodness! There is no way we would have been able to do it without her!
This event was on the Katy Trail, which they had just opened up for foot races. It was the first race on the trail, so there really weren't a lot of teams. I was runner 3 with Leah passing off to me. My first leg was really flat, but quite shaded and pretty on the trail. A little girl was waving to everyone as they passed. I stopped to give her a high five and she gave me a flower, so I put it in my hair. I ran the entire time at a steady pace and when I passed off to Tim, I was excited about the day.
My second leg was my longest one. It was hot and I didn't eat properly, so I was pretty hungry the entire time I was running. Also, I was completely alone on the trail. At one point, I was afraid I had missed a sign telling me to turn or something. I was uber relieved when I finally saw the hand off spot. Which I could see for like a mile! I handed off and went directly to the car to eat. Talk about a case of the rungries!
Before my final leg, I was feeling a bit nervous. I just didn't want to run anymore. Tim offered to do my leg, but that would be mean him doing two back to back, and we knew the final leg was going to be hilly. I had to just suck it up. It started to sprinkle when Leah passed off to me. It never fully rained, but it did make it pretty sticky out. I was near 2 other runners, so I wasn't so lonely on the trail. I also had a random moment where I ran into a girl I went to high school with! She probably thought I was nuts because I was so excited to see her. The last couple of miles were up hill and I could tell I was having issues. My leg was burning pretty bad when I approached the final hill. Jaime was at the bottom ready to run up it with me (in flip flops!) and said "Don't worry, they can't see you until the curve." So, I walked until then. I handed off to Tim and the SoIL Halfcorked Trailblazers were almost done with the relay!
We hurried to the finish and waited for Tim at the top of his last hill. He kicked butt, of course.
I think when you spend a day running with folks, you can't help but get to know them in a whole new way.The four of us had a lot of laughs throughout the day. These people are awesome.
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