A New Way to Celebrate the Fourth!

This morning, Amy, Patrick, Jan, Frank and I gathered at Austin High school for the inaugural Silcon Laboratories Marathon Relay. We promised each other that it was just for fun, with no pressure except that of running pretty fast in the heat. We met at 5:45 am to hand out the trinkets and shirts from the packet and to stake out our turf on the football field at AHS. Frank's family joined him, and I must say that his young children were really good troopers. Even though they had lots of fun food and snacks as well as a bunch of fun playtoys for the kids (moonwalks and slip 'n slides), it was a long day in the sun for the spectators.

We set up Jan's sun tent (it was funny to watch us try and figure that out!), and it was lucky that we had Amy with us who has done some actual camping. Those of us not running right away continued our hydration and eating as if it were a marathon that we were doing, while Frank got busy with his warmup. It was a fun scene, watching all the runners gather for such an interesting event. The event got off on time, more or less, and Frank took off on the 12K leg of the race. Since all of us had done long runs on Saturday, we were really not thinking about winning anything, but we wanted to perform well all the same.

There was some confusion over where Jan was supposed to be in order to exchange the wristband with Frank for the start of her 10k leg, and she was really nervous about it. I think that for most of us, we're used to starting with the horn goes off, we know exactly when to do a warmup and all that stuff, and the uncertainty of the start time messed with us a little. Some more than others. The exchange went fairly smoothly, however, and Jan was off. Frank did a good job on the 12k leg, which was more or less a chunk of the old Motorola marathon course between mile 18 and mile 21 or so, out and back.

Alex showed up during Frank's leg, and it was fun to see him there. He'll be recovered from his injured leg soon, and in the meantime, I picked on him a little bit about the monster cross-training workouts he's doing instead of running. He took it in a good-natured way, but I know he's just dying to get out there and join us for all the training. Oh, yeah, Gilbert's team was way ahead in the Mixed competition. Duh.

The 10k legs were the most difficult of the event, featuring all the really hilly bits, and even incorporating a bit of the tough Meriden 1000m repeat course. While Jan was out running, Amy and I checked out the logistics of where we'd be for the start of our 5k legs, and by then, the race volunteers had figured it out a lot more smoothly. We'd be fine. As we waited for the start of Amy's leg, there was more hydration, some food intake, some rest for us, and of course congratulations to Frank for leading us off. The sun kept rising, and it was going to be really hot by the time I ran. There was a rumble of fear in my gut, but it passed (maybe it was just indigestion?).

Amy and Jan smoothly handled the handoff for leg 3, and Amy was off. Jan was hit hard by the heat, but soon found the ice cold soaked towels which really helped her to cool down. Jan ran pretty close to her existing 10k PR pace, considering the heat, and I know she was glad to be finished. She advised Patrick a little bit about his upcoming leg, and then settled in the tent to get refreshed.

Amy did a good job on her leg, probably doing the best job of matching her 5k PR pace among the team, and Patrick was off on the last 10k leg. Jan and I went up to the course to catch Patrick on his effort, and were able to boost him up a little on the highway bridge going by AHS at about his mile 3.5 point. The sun was just crushing people by now, and the occasional cloud felt like a chilly cool front by comparison to direct sun. I got a little nervous again about running in the heat, but I knew the course very well, and knew it was basically flat, so I got okay pretty quickly.

After Patrick passed, I had yet another hydration adjustment, and then jogged over to the transition area for my leg of the relay. That was all the "warmup" I did. I sure wasn't "cold!" We had a good idea of when everyone was going to finish, and I was ready long before Patrick showed up. I chatted with Anne a bit as I waited, and found out that she was having to run the 5k finishing leg as well as the leadoff 12k leg for her team. A teammate bailed on them at the last minute. What a drag that would be! It was comforting to see Larry, a fellow Gazelle who works for RunFar, the timing people, in the chute calling out the numbers of the incoming team runners. Ivi was along the rail giving me support, along with a bunch of other Gazelles and of course my full team. Patrick came through running strong, and I snagged the wristband and was off for the anchor leg for our team.

Frank said we were in something like 25th place after his leg, then we'd moved up to 17th at the end of Amy's leg, so I figured I'd just try to pass as many people as I could, counting them as I went by. This would give me something to do so that I could try and ignore the heat and sun. Gilbert gave me a shout as I got underway, and then I was up on Cesar Chavez, going into a mild headwind. I was passed pretty early by a fast guy, and then a little later, a military guy on the CAV team passed me. That was it for people going by me. I slowly reeled people in, catching about 7 people by mile 1, which was apparently at the first water stop (I grabbed water and poured it over my head, but that was enough). Without a mile marker to get my pace, I just continued to run hard but controlled to the turnaround on the First Street Bridge. I saw Leslie, a fellow Gazelle, ahead of me at the turnaround. By mile 2, I was heading back down Cesar Chavez, with that slight tailwind, and when I crossed under the Lamar bridge, I caught the CAV guy again, which was sweet! I got a mile click at the 2 mile mark, and I was doing something like 7:35 miles for the first two. Press onward! 17 people down, only 1 passing me for good. I was feeling okay by now, relieved to almost be done. 18, 19, 20 people. Hitting the DogPound loop, I was at 21 people that I had passed, and up ahead of me was Leslie. As much as it was uncomfortable, I pressed on to try and catch her before the finish, because that would definitely be an improvement in the standings for us in the mixed division. Churning for home, I caught Leslie in the last tenth of a mile (22 people passed on my leg), and powered forward to the finish going as hard as I could. My third mile, according to the markers, was 7:13 pace, but I'm not sure how exact the markers were.

That ice cold towel felt just great as I trudged through the finishing chute, and I loaded up with food and drinks from the very extensive selection there. It was all smiles when the gang caught up with me, and I think we were all pleased with our day.

According to the official website, my leg, which started when Patrick crossed the finish line, was 23:17, or 7:31/mile pace. That sounds about right. I know it was as hard as I could run under these conditions. Overall, we clicked off the relay in 3:21:42, good for a very sweet 13th out of 119 teams in the Mixed division. There was no overall listing for the approximately 300 teams, but I know we were well up the charts.

A job well done, we did a couple of group photos, and continued to refuel with all the tons of fresh fruit and drinks that we had brought for our feast. It was such an easy comraderie that we all felt, enjoying the successful efforts of each of us, and just relaxing after the work was done. There were tons of people there this morning who we knew, and it was a really cool thing to get to hang out with so many of our running friends to start the Fourth of July. I hope this event continues next year!

After 30 minutes or so, we got moving and were able to get Jan's tent packed back down with little trouble, and we made our way back to the cars for the journey home. I took Alex to his car, which he had to park a long way away this morning. Thumbs up for this one, despite the heat and all. I think I avoided sunburn, so life is good.