Let's just be clear right out of the gate: I blame Blair.
It would never have occurred to me to volunteer to fly to Chicago so that I could drive with my mom and her dog and cat to North Carolina, where she's moving. But Blair said, "Don't you think your mom would appreciate someone doing the drive with her?" and I said yes she probably would before I understood that he meant it should be me that goes and not him.
Here then is a recap of yesterday's drive from hell.
It's over! We did it! Team MG Easy ran 208 miles in 30 hours, 45 minutes, and 41 seconds. That's an 8:52 average pace.
I thought I would write a long post about the race but I don't think I'm going to, for the main reason that an experience like this is so hard to capture and I fear not doing it justice. I could tell you some of the details - maneuvering a 15-person white cargo van up twisting mountain roads that aren't wide enough for a moped; stashing wet smelly clothes in airtight plastic bags; eating GORP by the handful; tracking our kills (runners you pass on the course); the snap bracelet; the jokes (Nathan - You go, girl!); the dark hours between 1 and 5 AM when it was cold and everyone has passed the point of exhaustion and we still had to suit up and run; how much we looked forward to the transition zones so we could see Van #2 and hear their stories; the total camaraderie of being surrounded day and night by runners on the same crazy adventure as you... it was an all-encompassing experience. I feel like I've been gone for a month versus 48 hours.
I did okay on my runs. I started out way too fast on my first leg and it cost me. Lesson learned. Start slow, finish fast.
The other thing I learned is that the human body, particularly my body, is capable of handling much more than I give it credit for. My former way of thinking which looked like, "I can't run hard today because I just did a leg workout yesterday and I need to rest" no longer cuts it. If I can run up a mountain after being awake for over 30 hours, most of that time spent in a van, I can handle a P90-X workout followed by a run, don't you think?
Now that I've caught up on my sleep (I slept almost 16 hours yesterday), I already miss the race. I would totally run this monster again. I'm headed outside right now to plaster the 208/36 sticker on my car.
We earned it.
In the hopes of preparing ourselves mentally and physically for the Blue Ridge Relay, Barefoot Josh and I are doing a trial run tomorrow. We will do three runs throughout the day and see if our legs are able to withstand the lactic acid rush. Our schedule is as follows:
For a grand total of 16 miles, 2390 feet of elevation change!
I plan on doing a running blog post throughout the day, posting how I'm feeling before and after each run. I'm also going to run to the store and load up on bananas, bagels, peanut butter, and protein bars to simulate what I'll be eating on race day.
Even though I think (know) tomorrow will be a brutal, painful, "why-am-I-doing-this-please-make-it-stop" kind of day, I'm secretly looking forward to it. I love a challenge.
Yesterday's Wall Street Journal had an article on Making Marathons Even Tougher and highlighted the Pikes Peak Marathon, one of the more brutal trail marathons around. Blair saw me reading the article and was like, "No. No. Hand it over. That's it. You are officially banned from reading anything in the media."
He knows me well. I'm not even close to being in the competitive shape needed to tackle something like the Pikes Peak marathon. But that didn't stop me from spending 40 minutes on the site, reading the course description and thinking, "Hmm... maybe... someday..."
Cheers!
Drove the 6 hours back home yesterday from Kiawah Island and was unpacked with the washing machine churning within 10 minutes of walking through the front door. How do people let suitcases sit around for days? It's beyond me.
Had a fantastic time with best friend. Very reminiscent of our college days when we would go 5 or 6 days in a row and never be out of one another's sight for more than three minutes at a stretch. On the down (but completely expected) side, I wore maybe one-third of the clothes I packed. Big floppy hat never even made it out of the backseat of my car. While unpacking, I briefly considered giving the hat away as I haven't worn it once in over 10 years, but I'm betting the next beach vacation I'll break that baby out, so it's back on its hook in my closet.
Came home and was welcomed by the cats and by welcomed I mean completely ignored. Blair's response was warmer - he had the house cleaned and a bag of M&M's sitting on top of my desk along with a note saying he couldn't wait to see me. Lovely man.
There was some minor frustration this morning in that our internet connection has gone down and I was having trouble getting on-line even through my AT&T 3G network.
"We'll survive," said Blair. "We'll be like the pioneers."
"Oh boy!" I said, with fake enthusiasm. "Fun!"
"Yeah, I know," said Blair. "It is getting a little 'Donner party' around here."
I asked him if, during "Meat Week," he managed to eat a vegetable. "Yes," he said. "I had potatoes."
Yes, everything is back to normal.
Cheers,
Dena
Author. Humorist. Fitness fanatic. Control freak (working on it). Mentor. Klutz. All-around decent human being.
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