Sunday, September 16, 2007

"I just let gravity pull me down, I don't give a ****"

I have survived the Reach the Beach Relay, and have the medal to prove it. Our team, Go Swim, finished 197 out of 350 teams, and 70th out of 154 Mixed Open teams. We ran 203 miles in 29 hours and 30 minutes, giving a pace of 8:36 per mile. My personal pace was a little slower, though still faster than my predicted 10 minute-mile. I ran 14.8 miles in three separate legs of 3.5, 4.5, and 6.8 miles, with times of 30, 40, and 60 minutes (surprisingly these times do not involve rounding beyond a few seconds). So my overall pace was 8:47 per mile. I ran at three in the afternoon, one in the morning (50 degrees with a light rain), and eleven that same morning (just after a heavy rain, slightly warmer).

The atmosphere was crazy, about 700 vans driving around the highways and backways of New Hampshire. The vans were decorated with horses, kangaroos, shaggy dogs, lewd sayings, etc. Some running teams wore pirate hats, or tutus, or capes. You would expect that runners who agree to run 15-25 miles on three hours sleep would be more sane. And now my sore calves and I are going to bed.

*The title was a quote from one of my teammates, giving advice on how to run down hills.

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