Michael & Liz are Bloggable

The only thing from this past weekend (and if you don't know what happened, check the previous post) that I could construct logically into a blog post were my 3 legs that I had to run. Outside of those, I can't think of any way to put a post together that flows in a logical way about the race weekend. There's nothing I can do but make it all random thoughts on what happened. As a whole, the race was fantastic. I really enjoyed it. But of course there were also the crappy parts like sleep deprivation, lack of decent meals, lack of cleanliness, and so on and so forth that started to mar my feelings of the race around 3AM Saturday morning. Me and sleep deprivation don't work well together. So for this post I thought I'd logically construct the positive highlights from the race by naming this post "Things That Are Amazing".

Big Vans:
Van #1 was a huge 15 passenger monstrosity and van #2 was a 7 seater Toyota Sienna. Van #2 has said that it wasn't terrible and they were comfortable but I feel lucky to have been able to ride around in Van #1. Come to think of it, we should have named our van, it deserved a name. Hindsight is 20/20 I guess. I spent most of the time in my own row which allowed me to spread out and relax when I needed to. Most teams had huge vans like this. It was funny at some random checkpoints like a shopping strip mall, it looked more like a Ford Econoline sales lot. There were more vans than cars. If you look closely you can see writing on the vans as well, a lot of the writing was HILARIOUS. We need to bring window markers next year too. Big vans are amazing.


Headlamps:
Who ever thought it would be that easy to see in the dark?!? You can write in the dark. You can put up a tent in the dark. You can freakin' RUN in the dark. Headlamps are AMAZING!

Slap Bracelets:
The "baton" in the race that we handed off at each check point to the next runner was a slap bracelet. OK, so the slap bracelet didn't work very well. When you tried to slap it on, it just slapped you back. You had to roll it onto your wrist and force it to stay. Everyone remembers these sweet accessories from the 80's... early 90's... I can't remember, but I do recall that my favorite was an orange and black checkered one. Slap Bracelets are amazing.


Good People:
I could definitely talk about my teammates here but I'll get to that below. The other teams were such good people and it was so nice to be a part of a race with people like that. Runners in general are great people but it really came out this weekend. The one moment that stood out the most was from the second checkpoint. There was a small stray puppy hanging around the church parking lot where we were. He reminded me a lot of Gryffin in size and demeanor. A team named the "Fuzzy Dice" picked up the pup and because it wasn't wearing a collar and was obviously a stray, decided to adopt it. I mean how much more awesome can you get? Along the race course it was so awesome to see the puppy go from a skinny, sad, and worried dog, to a happy dog with a full belly and a new momma holding him tight. They named him "Fuzzy" after the team (much to my chagrin because his hair was anything but fuzzy). But had they not taken him, I just might have. There were so many strays along the way, and a few that had obvious abuse issues. At least one had a happy ending. Good People are amazing.

Running:
Alright so it's a race and the reason we are there is to run. Running is amazing. After every one of my legs I got that runner's high everyone talks about. It's hard to describe but you basically feel like all the effort was worth it. For me I get goosebumps and finish pumping my fist like "YES! I did it!". The greatest feeling for me was after the 7.1 mile run. It was hard but I finished with a time I could be proud of and just was all smiles at the end. This picture is from the very start of the race (5100 feet above sea level) and I started in a wave of 11 teams at 9AM. You can see the start line behind us. At that moment I was turning to the girl and asking "how fast you doing this 4 miles?" because she came out FLYING. That may be why I ran it so fast. The dude in lime green eventually smoked me though. Running really is amazing.


Gallon Sized Plastic Bags:
When you finish a run, the last thing you want to do is hop in a van for a few more hours with gross clothes on. So you throw your sweaty clothes in a gallon sized plastic bag, wipe down with a wash cloth, and get out a fresh change of clothes and it's like you never ran in the first place. I told Liz when we came back. She asked "Where did you change?" and I said "Ya know, after a race like that, I'm a little more OK with public nudity". In all seriousness though, we'd hide behind the doors at the back of the van. All you gotta do is yell "No one come back here" and you're good to go. But to keep your stinky clothes under control, gallon sized plastic bags are amazing.

Headbands:
OK, I get a lot of flak for this because it looks ridiculous. Headbands are just not cool anymore. It brings back nightmares of Richard Simmons in short shorts. But I seriously LOVE headbands. I have no hair to soak up all that sweat and I used to always have stinging eyes at the end of long runs because sweat would just flow down into them. With headbands the sweat all gets soaked up. Here is a picture of my get-up for the long 7.1 leg I had. Headbands are amazing and I don't care who knows it.

Verizon and Sprint:
Matt and I were constantly texting back and forth on our locations and times while the punks with AT&T went the whole race with absolutely no service. In the mountains, Verizon and Sprint's services were amazing.

Mountains:
The views were absolutely gorgeous. At one point at the top of the hill on my second leg I turned and literally took my hand like a camera and said "Click". It's one of those stop-time moments that I wish I could always remember with a photographic memory. It was a breathtaking view. Whether I was running or driving, I just never got tired of the scenery. This picture was taken at the top of Grandfather Mountain. It was at the end of our second runner's second leg at 8PM. His run was a 10 mile gradual uphill climb. I really wish I could have been here in the daylight. Mountains are amazing.


Awesome Teammates:
I really could not have asked for a more fun group of people to run with. I went into the race not knowing anyone in my van and only knowing Matt (black shirt/black shorts) and Moose (white hat) from van #2. We had a lot of fun talking and getting to know each other and laughing about some of the lyrics in the songs that played on Jeremiah's iPod. Check out one of them, it's too hilarious. Everyone was also super respectful of the other people in the van. We all were very aware of our sanitation following long runs. With everyone getting super sweaty our van could have been super double disgusting. It was impressive how clean it was at the end. Awesome Teammates are amazing.


I swear I had so many more things to list as "amazing", but those are the highlights I can think of at this moment.