So after coming back and beating everyone I wanted to beat at the Memorial run, then couple weeks later posting my best time ever on a 5k I was feeling pretty good about myself. Was invited to do the Ragnar Wasatch Back Relay Race and thought sure I can do it.
And there lies the deciet. I was so focused on the "What if I can" factor that I wasn't prepared for the "What if I can't".
"Who ordered the humble pie? Your orders up".
I was runner 6 in our 12 member 2 van team. Everyone had done great so far, we were ahead of schedule. My turn comes, get the batton and start running. Felt pretty good for about half mile. Running on the dirty,bumpy road, but going up hill, ever so climbing and increasing the incline. Turns out you have to train for inclines. You can't just be "Oh I've ran 5k's I'll be alright" and just jump in and do it. I got pooped pretty quick going about 1 1/2 miles so far all uphill.
Then the downhill started...
This was no flat paved road were talking about. This was some of the most rocky,bumpy, rut filled back mountain road you can come across. And the decent was pretty steep in most areas. Gravity mostly pulled me down then myself pushing.
But first 5 minutes were pretty good. Picked up some speed, got some breeze going, making up some time. But with every step, every knee jarring impact my body fell apart, little by little.
1st the feet, burning, struggling for footing. 2nd the knees,feet were coming up, body was coming down, they were in the middle. 3rd the ribs, again with these stupid ribs! I thought we were done? Guess not. All the impact,bouncing, deep breathing loosened something up cuz they started hurting with a vengence. My stomach then was working overtime trying to keep by body has still as it could while hopping down this mountain. Hmmm only 4 miles of this.
When I hit the bottom I still had 2 miles on flat paved city streets to go. Legs were like jello, out of breath and couldn't catch my breath because my ribs hurt everytime my lungs expanded.
Humiliated I walked. Rested, caught breath, got some water from teamates in the van. Tried rubbing knees with cold water soaked hat I was using. Ran for a bit, stopped and walked. Repeated for 2 miles.
We handed the batton off to the 2nd van, our van got to rest finally. I sat there under a tree at the park with my shoes off dumping cold ice water on my knees, legs and feet. We ate then pretty much had to drive to our next exchange point cuz van 2 had short routes and fast runners.
Becuase I was a pansie it was decided that Jamie and I would switch legs in the relay since my next run was 8 miles of uphill and didn't think I would be able to do it. Jamie just did several miles of uphill dirty, rocky mountain road. I didn't want her to do more up hill. But she is full of awesome and took it. Glad she did cuz that run was a beast. I think I'd still be there today curled up in the fetal position sucking my thumb rocking back and forth and humming my favorite tune.
My 2nd run was at about 12:30am or so. It was 4.5 miles. I thought it was flat but there were a couple inclines, nothing to die over, but I did. I felt good starting off the first mile or two. First little incline tho and my ribs gave out again. Struggle to breathe in order to catch my breath. Then the legs got tired real fast. Had to do the 'ol walk rest repeat thing several times again.
Finally made it to exchange point and handed off to Jamie to do "my run". Watching her was amazing! She took that hill like it was nothing. It was alot steeper in real life than it was on paper thats for sure. After Jamie's heroic run we travel a couple hours to our next stop to catch a couple z's and wait for van 2.
I think everyone maybe got around 2 hours of sleep before having to get ready for our next round. Again everyone did great thru the night and great thru this next day.
This guy Brent that was in our van had a beast of a hill to climb and he did amazing also. Just added salt to my mental wound. But proud of him and my team mates.
My last run was only 3 miles. When I started I felt good again. Found a rythm and just let it flow. Then made a turn into residential area and had to climb some streets. That totally did me in again. Luckily the last half mile was flat and I was able to push a little and pass a couple people (some that passed me earlier) and give a good show at the end.
After Jamie killed the last 3 miles we were done! 6 of us exausted and happy. Hurt, sore, walking funny but happy. We grabbed a shake from Dairy Keen and took off up the mountain to catch the real runners do THE mountain.
Schyler and Evan (from Van 2) were an awe inspiring thing to watch. Those boys just flew up this thing like nothing. Like they hadn't ran all day and night earlier and on a couple hours of sleep.
Our team "The Grove Trotters" came in 13th in the mixed (men/women) division and 42nd overall out of 1050 teams. We were hoping to come in top 200. Not too shabby. Even with my faults, van 1 was able to make up time. Van 2 with the runners in it totally killed it! Our finish time was 26:17. We scheduled our finish on an 8 minute mile average. We averaged 7:24 a mile. CRAZY!!!
This was an amazing expirence. One I'm glad I did. I can say, "Hey I did that".
I do have mixed feelings. I wanted to put on a good show. And although people are nice and say,"You did a good job". I wanted to do better. I didn't want to have to switch legs with another team member. I didn't want to stop and rest. I don't like the fact that that mountain got the best of me!
I've been asked if I'd do it next year? Yes I would. Even though right now I'm ashamed, it was still cool to be apart of, even if it was a little part. I still did something. There were soo many people, so many cool vans and costumes, so many crazy people and to be part of something that epic was awesome.
So I'd do it again. Will I train harder? For certain!!! Will I want the same routes? Yesterday I would've so, "NO way". Today I'm thinking, "Do I wanna train and get better. Get a second chance on beating Avon Pass? We'll see. In reality I'd like to switch. Just in case. But would feel bad giving that route to someone else. And what if they did great on it, I'd look like an even bigger schmuck.
Well, we'll jump that bridge when we get to it.
So it looks like I need to train harder. None of this 3 mile crap. Need to start going farther and farther. Maybe doing that half marathon I promised myself sometime in August. Soon as my muscles will stretch out and let me I better get crackin'.
I just told myself "Rise and Rise again until the lambs become lions". Then told myself to shut it!!!
Where's the pie?
