On June 22, I embarked on my 5th adventure race relay and
what would be the last race with my running buddies from New England. Well, maybe not the last. But I certainly will not be running on their
team in the near future. We were headed
to Casimir Pulaski State Park in northwestern Rhode Island where the race would
start. We would be running across all
six New England states finishing at Fort McClary State Historic Site at Kittery
Point in Maine. The race is reported to
be the longest relay in the United States covering 220 miles. Little did we know how far we would really
end up running on this mad adventure.
I was in Van 1 with 4 of my closest running friends (Amanda, Josh, Jess
and Vanessa) and a new runner (Theresa) who had never run one of these crazy
races. As we drove down to the starting
line, I had a chance to talk to Theresa and get to know her better. I told her that we would be great friends by
the end of this race and that she would surely be hooked on these types of
races as well. I could tell she was a
little nervous about the race but I also knew she would be one of the gang
before it ended.
We arrived in plenty of time to the starting line. After everyone answered nature’s call, we
checked in and got our race numbers.
Amanda would be Runner #1 and would be handing off to me as Runner #2. We had lost one of our runners to an injury
before the race which meant that someone would have to pick up the extra
legs. Vanessa, Amanda and I all agreed
to take on an extra leg. This meant that
Vanessa would be running 30+ miles, Amanda 20+ miles and I would be running 25+
miles. I knew I could do the
mileage. My only concern was that I had
been having pain in my right hip and hamstring.
If that started to act up, I knew it was going to be a long race.
The race started right on time which would be the last thing that the
organizers did correctly the rest of the race.
They had set some artificially tight check in points in the race which
unless you were running at a 7:00 per mile pace you would never hit. Their solution was to start the next runner
prior to your other running getting to the transition area. This would ruin a bit of the camaraderie that
I love about these races. Plus it meant
you had some screwy start and finish times.
We decided we would keep our own times so we knew how well we did as a
team.
After Amanda took off, we headed to the transition area so that I could
get ready for what was supposed to be a 5.8 mile run. Amanda killed her 8 mile run which actually
turned out to be 8.21 miles. She had
clocked in at an 8:37 pace. I took the hand off
at 8:11 a.m. and headed off. I would
have the chance to run through Quinebaug, CT across the border into
Massachusetts checking off Connecticut in the process. It was a basically a flat route and very
nice. It was a little humid for me since
I have gotten used to Phoenix weather which meant I was soaked in sweat early
into my run. I finished strong and luckily
my right leg wasn’t feeling too bad. I
did feel a little soreness near the end of the run which would come back to
haunt me in the latter legs. I finished my
first leg (6.0 miles) at an 8:40 per mile pace which was better than I
expected.
I handed it off to Josh who took off smiling as he always does. Josh ran his 4.49 miles at an 8:40 pace and
handed off to Jess who then rocked her 7.53 leg. Jess handed it off to Theresa for her first
leg. Since this was Theresa’s first leg
we did not go straight to the transition area. It was starting to get hot so we
wanted to check on her a couple of times along her route. We met her once to make sure she was OK and
then headed to one of the critical turns on the way to the transition area to
give her water if she need it. When we left
her she was running at a great pace so we became worried when other runners who
were behind her came by where we were parked.
Just as we decided to head back along the course to check on her the
phone rang and it was Theresa. After
some discussion, we realized she had missed the turn and had run almost 2 miles
past the turn. We told her to stop where
she was and wait there. We drove to pick
her up and brought her back to the point she missed the turn so she could
finish her leg. Needless to say she was
very angry with herself. Having missed
at turn in the Green Mountain Relay, I could relate. She finished strong despite the heat and
wrong turn. Theresa had run 11.91 miles
and averaged a 9:35 pace. Unfortunately,
the extra miles didn’t count.
Vanessa had an 8.1 mile run which ended up being 8.2 miles. She ran great as expected and we were finally
done with our first legs around 2 p.m.
We decided to go and grab some lunch and relax before we would have to
run again. Lunch was fantastic and we
all felt good about how we were doing.
But we also knew it was early and we were picking up Runner #12’s legs
which would add to the degree of difficulty as the race wore on. When we finished lunch we drove to the
transition area where Kent (Runner #11) would hand off to Vanessa for her
second of 4 legs.
Vanessa met Kent at the transition area to take the hand off for her 5.1
mile run. It ended up being 5.13 miles
and Amanda took the hand off to start her very short second leg. It was only 2.7 miles. I knew she would run fast so we booked over
to the transition area so I could stretch a little before my leg. My right hip and hamstring were really tight
after sitting for so long. I did my best
to stretch it out. I knew it was going
to bother me on my second leg. But, I
have run with pain before and did not want to let my team down. So, I kept it to myself and did my best to
mentally prepare for my run.
As expected, Amanda finished her leg averaging 8:26 per mile. I took the hand off and headed out for what I
thought would be an 8.1 mile run. I
started my second leg at 7:35 p.m. I was
running from Northfield, MA across the Vermont border into Vernon, VT allowing
us to check of Massachusetts. When I
crossed into Vermont we had run through 3 of the 6 states. Only 3 more to go. The run was very hilly but
beautiful. I ran past dairy farms which
are a bit aromatic this time of year. I
even ran by a woman walking her horse along the road. The horse looked at me funny as I
passed. I am sure he was thinking, “Why
is he running down the road at this time of night?”
It was twilight and I enjoyed watching the sun set over the hills of
southern Vermont. My right leg did bark
at me a bit on the run. I put it out of
my mind and kept on going. The problem
was that the leg was only supposed to be 8.1 miles but it actually clocked in
at 8.5. I wanted to run at a sub-9
minute pace. I finished the 8.51 miles
averaging 9:01 per mile. Although I was
disappointed in my time, I felt good about being able to keep that steady pace
despite the additional mileage and a bad right leg. When I
got in the van after handing off to Josh, I was feeling pretty sore in the
right leg and began to worry about my next 2 legs. But, I knew that no matter what I was going
to finish my legs.
Josh, Jess and Theresa ran extremely well on their next legs. In fact, Theresa ran angry and finished her
second leg averaging a sub-7 minute pace.
Theresa handed off to Vanessa for her third leg which was going to be a
7 miler. She had already run over 13
miles. Vanessa is a running
machine. Before we knew it, she had
finished her leg and we were headed over to the ski area where we could park
and get some sleep. We knew we would
only be able to catch about 4 hours of sleep before I was going to run my third
leg. We got to the parking lot and all
sacked out in the van.
The next thing I remember is Amanda shaking my leg to wake me up at
4:45 a.m. My right leg was really tight
and sore. The original plan was for me
to run a 4.1 mile leg hand off to Amanda for her 7 mile leg and then she would
hand off to me for my final 7.5 mile leg.
We talked about it for a while and decided that the best thing would be
for me to just run back to back legs and be done. As I thought about it, I knew this was the
best solution because I knew my right leg would not be able to run 4.1 miles
and then rest for an hour and then run another 7.5. My right leg would never be able to handle
it. Since the Amanda and my legs were
virtually identical, I agreed to switch knowing that I would have to take it
slow and gut it out to the end.
My run was going to take me from Francestown, NH (just outside of
Bennington) to New Boston, NH. It would
be a net downhill. I will admit that my
leg was hurting for most of the run. A
fellow runner on the first leg asked if he could run with me because he was
struggling. I thought, “You’re
struggling, look at this old guy!” I told
him I would be happy to since I knew it would keep my mind off of the
pain. We chatted as we ran which definitely
helped. When we got to the exchange, I
shook his hand grabbed some water and kept on going. I was drenched in sweat even though it was
only 64 degrees. The 77% humidity at the time was draining. I pushed on.
My teammates met me twice along the route to give me water. I just wanted to average 9 minute miles to
try and keep us on pace. But with the
humidity and my sore leg, I ended up at a 9:59 minute pace. The last 1.5 miles was tough. But, I finished and was happy to be done with
all my legs.
Because the race organizers did not plan well, Amanda actually started
her 3 leg before I finished. So when I
came in, I had to take some water and try to recover a bit before jumping in
the van to go support her on her leg.
The good news is that everyone did really well on their final legs. Vanessa finished her final leg at around 1
p.m. We had not had much to eat and were
famished. Amanda had one final leg (the
anchor leg #36) so we drove as close to her starting point in Kittery as we
could and looked for a place to eat.
We found that Loco Cocos Tacos was close and had quick service. Everyone agreed that this would be great as
we could accommodate our vegetarian runners and the carnivores like me could
get want we needed. I will admit I was a
little worried about Mexican food in Maine.
But the place was great. The food
was much better than I expected and we all gorged ourselves. We felt great after our meal and were looking
forward to finishing this beast of a race.
After we finished, we decided to head over to Amanda’s starting
point. The race organizers could not
allow our final runner to run to the transition area due to some bridge
construction. If they had planned
better, there were alternate routes to the spot. Nevertheless, we got word that Amanda could
start at 2:45 p.m. It was getting to be
really hot and Amanda was worried. I
wasn’t worried about her because she is highly competitive and a beast on the
road. She took off like shot carrying
water just to be safe. We headed over to
the finish line area at Fort McClary to wait for her.
When we arrived at the finish line area there was nowhere to park. With only 30 teams participating, you would
have thought the race organizers would have planned better. We found a spot on the road and waited to see
Amanda coming. Vanessa went out about ½ mile
to find her and run with her to the finish line. Sure enough after only 20 minutes we saw
Amanda and Vanessa coming down the road.
The entire team gathered behind her and ran across the finish line
together. We all hugged and high fived
each other knowing that we had accomplished something in this race.
Van 2 had one of their runners get injured and not be able to run. So the others picked up more miles to make
sure we could finish. Getting to this
finish line was truly a team effort. Everyone
worked together, assisted runners when they were dragging, picked up extra
miles, cheered each other on and generally developed that bond that only other
runners can understand. I feel like
they are all a part of my family now and would be proud to be on their team any
time or just to run with them again.
Must Dash! finished the race in 36 hours 13 minutes and 27
seconds. We had run 227.19 miles and
despite injuries had a perfectly respectable pace of 9:34 per mile. Van 1 had covered 138.44 of those miles and averaged
a 9:05 per mile pace. The three work
horses on this team were Vanessa (31.76 miles at an average pace of 8:14 per
mile); Amanda (20.52 miles at an average pace of 8:39 per mile); and me (26.38
miles at an average pace of 9:22 per mile).
The three of us had covered 35% of the course. But regardless of who ran what distance or
time, the entire team laid it all out there across New England and conquered
the course. You have to admit that it is
pretty amazing given we had only 11 runners and several injuries. I wonder what we could have done if we had all
12 runners and no one hurt. I am so
proud of our effort.
I do want to let anyone who may be reading this trying to decide if
they should run this race in the future that I would recommend against it. I have run small relays in the past (Green
Mountain) and found them to be very organized and a lot of fun. Without going into too much detail, this one
was poorly organized. The legs were not
correctly measured. Most of the
transition areas had no volunteers. And
to really add insult to injury after running all those miles, they did not have
medals for the teams. Instead they gave
16 ounce pint glasses with the race logo in black and white on the side. They did have lobster rolls for us to eat so
that was nice. There are much better adventure
relay races for you to run than this one.
Despite the negatives, it was a truly great experience because I had
the chance to be with my friends and experience it with them. All I can do is quote the message from the
Ragnar Relay series which says, “12 friends. 200+ miles. 2 vans. Unforgettable
stories.” We adventure relay race runners liken the race
to a slumber party without sleep, pillows or deodorant. We all share inside jokes, close quarters and
truly unforgettable stories. A race like
this brings you together with like minded friends and allows you to create deeper
connections and to celebrate together as you conquer a challenge that you could
never accomplish alone. As they say at
Ragnar, “Life’s a journey – run it with friends!”
June 3 – 6.10 miles (53:02, 8:42 pace)
June 4 – 6.20 miles (49:40, 8:01 pace) – Tempo Run
June 5 – 6.20 miles (23:25, 7:33 pace) – Speed Work
June 6 – 6.20 miles (57:14, 9:14 pace)
June 7 – 5.20 miles (43:33, 8:32 pace)
June 10 – 6.10 miles (53:12, 8:43 pace)
June 11 – 3.10 miles (23:32, 7:36 pace) – Speed Work
June 13 – 6.20 miles (49:38, 8:00 pace) – Tempo Run
June 14 – 6.20 miles (56:22, 9:05 pace)
June 15 – 9.10 miles (1:26:11, 9:31 pace)
June 16 – 7.10 miles (1:03:25, 8:57 pace)
June 17 – 6.10 miles (54:55, 8:57 pace)
June 18 – 3.10 miles (23:27, 7:36 pace) – Speed Work
June 22 – 6.00 miles (52:07, 8:42 pace) – New England Relay
June 22 – 8.51 miles (1:17:02, 9:05 pace) – New England Relay
June 23 – 11.84 miles (1:58:17, 9:59 pace) – New England Relay
July 1 – 6.10 miles (56:32, 9:14 pace)
July 2 – 3.20 miles (24:50, 7:48 pace) – Speed Work
July 4 – 6.20 miles (49:42, 8:00 pace) – Tempo Run
July 5 – 6.10 miles (58:00, 9:31 pace)
July 6 – 6.20 miles (1:01:14, 9:50 pace)
July 7 – 7.15 miles (1:12:35, 10:10 pace)
Total Miles: 138.2 miles
2013 Total Miles: 913.8 miles
