Michael & Liz are Bloggable

So last year, for the first time ever, I ran the Blue Ridge Relay. You can have all your "what is that" questions answered by this post I made last year. There are some pretty amazing things that happen over the course of the race. I also posted about that last year, and you can reference those with this post.

This past weekend I ran it again. It was absolutely amazing and I have a bunch of pictures and info to share, but I will post about how the race went later. Today is all about my specific legs. I was runner #3 of our 12 person team. We started the race at 7:30AM on Friday, and my first leg happened around 8:50AM. It was 5.2 miles and labeled as "moderate". That part is funny to me, only in the Blue Ridge Mountains would this run be considered "moderate". It's all relative though, believe me!! Here is the outline:

The hills are as brutal as they look. The last part of this run was beautiful, just rolling country side with small homes lining the road. At one point I was running by a house with an older woman sitting on the porch knitting. The house was close enough so I yelled "Good Morning!" and she looked up with a smile and said "Good Morning!" back. It was really cute, I felt like a southerner. It's all about the enjoyment of the race, and enjoy it I did. I finished this 5.2 miles in 39:49. Under an 8 minute mile? I'll take it!!

My next leg didn't happen until 8:15PM that night. Matt, runner #2, had a brutal 10 mile run up Grandfather Mountain. He claims it wasn't as bad as he thought it was going to be, but I don't want to hear it.Any run up hill for 10 miles is a bad and brutal run. So what did that mean for me? I got to go downhill. I got to go downhill very very fast. It was only 2.3 miles to the next town. Here are the specs:


My strategy? Start out sprinting and then ease into a pace slightly slower than that. The "Easy" label is an understatement for this run. Most of the time I was trying to slow myself down so that I wouldn't completely wipe out if I hit a weird crack in the road. I was keeping such a close eye on my watch too because how long was this run supposed to take? A sneeze should have taken longer. My goal was to hit a 6 minute per mile pace. The 2.3 miles took me exactly 13:52. That's a 6:01 pace, good enough.

My last run was certainly the worst of all 3. I had been dreading it all day. I estimated I was going to be running around 4AM and it was a daunting 9 mile run mostly up hill. I don't do very well with sleep deprivation. In fact I'd argue I am the worst person I've ever met when it comes to staying awake past 10PM. Fortunately I was able to get a good 3 hour nap in right before the run so I was refreshed. Here is the leg info:



I bet this would have been a gorgeous run had the sun been out, but unfortunately the entire run was done in the dark. I started at 4:28AM on Saturday morning. I was passed by one runner in the first mile but then over the next 20 minutes, I passed 8 other people. From that point on, for the other 50 or so minutes, it was just me, the road and darkness. I saw absolutely no one except for a van that passed every now and then. It's a very surreal feeling. You're running down a road with a headlamp and blinking lights attached to your hip. It's pitch black behind you and all you can see is what your head lamp illuminates. You are heavily relying upon the signs on the road to guide you to the next exchange zone. If you miss a turn, you are in a lot of trouble. It's the most amazing experience.

Finishing this leg felt absolutely fantastic. I have been struggling over the last month with running. I had taken all of July off from running after the marathon in June, so I was struggling to get back into running shape. I might not have lost anything physically, but I certainly lost a lot mentally. I needed to get it back.This run was exactly what I needed. It ended up taking me 76 minutes, which is almost exactly a 8:30 minute per mile pace. That's not good enough in my mind, but it is what it is.

My next post about the relay will have pictures and more fun information about the trip.