Monday, June 14, 2010

Sawtooth Relay: Team Sofa to Sawtooth: Part 1

I can't believe that I was sitting on my butt in January, and running this relay in June. This was an amazing experience....like no other.

My sister, Janine,  was along for support, and our designated, dedicated, team photographer.  She takes amazing pictures, and I am lucky that she is willing to come down here and hook us up!  Thanks Janine!  I don't have pics of her, because she prefers to be on the other side of the lens.


We all began arriving in Stanley around dinner time on Friday. 
 
 
We met at the Casino Club for dinner.  Aside from the fact that they weren't staffed properly for big crowds, we had to sit at 2 tables and they didn't have any "light" pasta dishes, dinner was good. 
 
Better than that though, we went to the cabins for a quick team meeting, and got the food into the race vehicle.  Each of us was responsible for a part of that.  We brought bananas and grapes, cereal energy bars, protein drinks, peanut butter and jelly sammies and lots of water and Gatorade!  We took a few pictures and then it was off to bed for an early (if that is even the right word) start the next day.
 
Team Sofa to Sawtooth: (L to R) John, Jennifer(me!), Roxanne, Heather, Michele, Kathy
 
Our team had 6 members, plus a volunteer to work one of the exchanges.  Each runner ran 2 legs of a 62 mile course.  Here is how it went:
  1. Our team start time was 3:30am.  That meant we had to check in at 2:45.  Imagine what time we had to get out of bed!  Ugh.  Anyway, have you ever been in Stanley at that hour?  Not a lot of city lights!  We met at the starting line to see Michele off....she had to run in a reflective vest and a headlamp!  This legs was considered "hard", and was 5.96 miles.  Here are some pics so that you can see what we saw....nothing.  I am grateful that I didn't have to run in the dark...that would just be too weird for me.  She completed the leg in  57 minutes!  Thanks Michele!
  2. Heather is next!  "Moderate" leg, 5.83 miles.  Completed in  75 minutes.  The sun was just starting to come up when we were getting ready for the next exchange. 
  3. Adjusting the headlamp...
  4. Roxanne ran leg 3, a "moderate" 5.03 miles.  She completed this in 50 minutes.  She seemed to be saying, "What hill?  What altitude?"  Way to go Roxanne, looking good, as always!
  5. ME!  This leg was "easy" (yeah, right!) for 4.43 miles.  I completed it in 62 minutes, and worked hard for every step.  All 6 of the first legs were uphill...to varying degrees.  This one was "mellow" but my legs didn't know that.  And my lungs were angry, and it took me a while to adjust.  I was able to enjoy the scenery though....wow.  (I know, lot of pictures of ME, but it is MY blog, after all!)
  6. Waiting for Roxanne, donning cold weather gear.
    They say you run faster if you hug at the exchange point.
    And I'm off!
    This is one of my favorite pictures.  See how long the road is?  And the pretty scenery?
    Peeling of layers as I go...
    It looks as if Kathy is wondering where the heck I am, and checking her watch.  But really, she is slapping the bracelet on her arm, after I had handed it off to her.  Seeya!
    Not pretty.  But that pretty much captured the way I was feeling.
    Now I am safely back in the team vehicle, recovering.
  7. Leg 5. This was considered "hard" for 5.83miles.  Kathy's iPod was trying to ruin her day, and she wasn't loving the elevation....but she completed it in 71 minutes....WAAAAAAY better than I could have done it.
  8. Roxanne and Heather, running Kathy in.
    Ready for the hand off....Kathy was joking that the next leg was so steep, she would have to hand the bracelet off over her head to hand to John!  What a card.
  9. The SUMMIT! (this really should be a 4-letter word)  This leg deserves a lot of attention...not only because any time you mention the relay to anyone who knows about it, their first question is "Who ran the summit?!", but because it was run by none other than my awesome dad, John.  This leg is "very hard" ad 5.35 miles.  That hill gained 1,300 feet in 5 miles!  But, he did it in 63 minutes.  He said that was a snails pace for him, but was very speedy in my opinion!  You should have seen that hill!  The vehicle even had to downshift to get up!

Peeling of the outer layer....really working up a sweat.  It wasn't even 9am yet!

LOOK at the backdrop!  Breathtaking.
Does he LOOK like a runner to you?  Yep, pretty much.
You really cant appreciate the grade of this hill....stupid steep.

Alexa and I, waiting.  What is up with our looks of concern and astonishment?  We could not BELIEVE  he was coming up that huge hill so fast!

Almost there, and the road levels out.

Now he is just being silly....must be the mix of adrenaline and lack of oxygen.

The hand off!  It's all downhill from here!


Now we are halfway through the relay.  It is just about 9:45am.  Stay tuned for the second half!


1 comment:

  1. congrats jen. what an awesome read this was. you have every reason to be proud!!! can't wait to read the next segment. xoxo

    ReplyDelete

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