Silicon Labs Relay

Happy Fourth of July! This morning, I ran as a part of a marathon relay team in the Silicon Labs Relay here in Austin. We did this last year, too, and it looks like it may stick as a tradition with us. The team was basically the same as last year (Frank, Amy, Jan and me), with Alex substituting for Patrick this time. Frank had retrieved all the packets and race numbers ahead of time, so we met at 6:00am to distribute those amongst ourselves. After packing our stuff across the Mopac bridge and over to Austin High School, we set up our tent between the school and the track, with a fine vantage point for the whole scene. This year, we had less trouble than last setting up Jan's shade tent, which was a good sign. Frank went to start his warmup with Shannon (who was running on an all-woman's team), and I went over to pick up the timing chips.

The pre-race scene is pretty fun, with all the tent city going up on the football field and around its perimeter, and all the runners milling around or warming up, depending on when their leg was coming up. We got the racing bibs properly distributed and chips handed out, and settled in for a long morning of running and waiting (or waiting and then running, depending on your racing leg). With the sun coming up, but blocked by overcast skies, we were ready to race. There was a really great National Anthem sung by a 13-year old singer (I think I heard that right), and then we all moved to the fence to watch the 12K runners take off. We caught Frank's eye and gave him the old "Go Get 'Em," and at the horn, the relay was on. Noting the time, and Frank's 50 minute estimate for his finish of that leg, we wandered back to our tent village. Shannon's team (with Leslie, Susan, Kim, and Tonya) and the team with Rachel, Brian, Rich, Brad and Michael (a ringer!) had set up camp on either side of our compound, so we had a nice crew surrounding us as the morning wore on.

The relay had 5 legs, a 12K, 10K, 10K, 5K and 5K, in that order. Frank, Shannon and Rich were the leadoff runners. Our team ran about 3:20 last year, so we were hoping to better that this time. We finished 13th in our division (Mixed) last year, and hopefully, we'd sneak up the ladder, there, too. Rich's team was in the Odds and Ends division, which was any grouping of folks not fitting within Men's, Women's, or Mixed (3 men, 2 women). So, at least we wouldn't be directly competing with either of our friendly neighbors!

With lots of time on our hands (especially for those of us running the final 5K leg), we hung out, munched on fruit and snacks, drank water and/or Gatorade, and waited to do our part. As I reported last year, it's strange to be in a race where you don't know exactly when you're starting, so you have to play your pre-race routine by feel to get you to the start line ready to run. Each runner was responsible for knowing the approximate finishing time for the runner ahead of them, so as to be in line for the handoff. It worked just fine today. The race organizers made great improvements this year in the course design, and the handoff routine was much less confusing than last year. That took away a lot of pre-run stress!

I pinned my number on the singlet, and just hung out, chatting away with everyone, and hoping that the cloud cover would stay with us (or, better yet, drizzle or rain for the later legs!). It was steamy for the 12K runners, but mercifully free of blazing sunshine. Christine showed up after a while with Banjo, waiting for Rich to finish. She brought donuts, so she was a popular visitor! Soon enough, Rich, then Frank, then Shannon, all finished their legs in fine fashion, and the first 10K runners were off. Brad and Jan both ran that first 10K leg for the respective teams. Those 12K folks diligently did their post-race cooldown and strides, which was impressive to those of us yet to race. I continued to chug down my quart of Gatorade after my pre-race banana and pineapple, and I was feeling pretty good. A little nervous, because it was a 5K ahead of me, a speedy race, but all in all, I guess I was pretty relaxed.

Alex started his warmup, and we moseyed down to watch Jan finish. The sun was trying to peek through, but the overcast was mostly holding out for us still. My fingers were crossed! Alex was ready for Jan when she cruised across, and took off for our speediest leg. Amy started her warmup routine, and I finally got my running gear on as well. Depending on how Alex did, we had a good shot at a team PR in this event, so we all hoped he did what he expected. By now, the sun was more determined to come out, and I resigned myself to a hot time on the old race course. I was plenty hydrated, so it was mostly a question of plain old discomfort for me. Not as hot and awful as last year's anchor leg, but still pretty tough conditions.

After my last rest period at the tent, it was time to walk down and watch the Alex-Amy handoff. Just before Alex got there, the winning team's anchor runner crossed the finish line. They were only an hour ahead of us. The handoff went great, Amy took off, and with that, I had about 20-24 minutes or so to warmup and get in place myself. I took my pre-race GU, grabbed a water from the post-race area, and went out on the trail to escape the hubbub of the start area for my warmup. I ran about a mile or so, nice and easy, and then on my way back to the start area, I did some strides, sipping on that water in between. A little bit of stretching, a few more strides, and I was as ready as I was going to be for the 5K to come. I moseyed into the corral with the other expectant runners, and saw Michael. We talked a bit, stretched a bit more, and pretty soon, Brian came steaming across and Michael was off. With a few minutes to kill, I spent them getting nervous. :-)

The announcer called out our team number after a bunch of others, but Amy outran those people and I got the handoff ahead of those other folks. Excuse me, pardon me, my teammate is RIGHT THERE. A click of the watch, a grab of the team wristband, and I was away. I ran the race in my new Fila Providence shoes, which are way lighter than my long run Mizunos. I figure they'll be good for shorter races and speedwork, leaving the heavy long run work to the Mizunos. They certainly felt great today! I tried to settle in quickly, with a goal to count all those people that I passed (and those that passed me). That mental work would keep me amused during the anchor leg to come. The sun was beaming down, but what the heck, I could deal with it for a little over 20 minutes, right? Although my legs felt a little rubbery in the first half mile, I soon started passing folks. By the first mile, I had caught and passed 16 runners. I don't know how many were also running the anchor leg (probably not many), but it was fun to pick someone, chase them down, and reload. I grabbed water at the stop, but just poured it over my head.

Mile two was around the CSC buildings, up and around 2nd Street, and then back down Cesar Chavez. This was a loop that is apparently required to appear in every race course in downtown Austin, so there were no surprises today. I caught runners in bunches by this point, given that it was the halfway point of the 5K legs, and mile 4.5 (approx) of the 10K legs. Those that went out too fast were breaking down then, and I was just getting started. Back onto Cesar Chavez, and I was up to 35 runners passed. The course was slightly downhill to flat from there, so I just kept my effort consistent, and rolled along. Another cup of water to cool off my head, and I found new targets. Mile two came and went, and it was time to push for the finish.

Mile three was pretty cool because Woodie was playing guitar under the Lamar bridge. It was nice to see a familiar face when I was feeling the effort of the race. More runners caught. I finally did get passed by a guy in that last mile, but that was the only one. Around the dog pound loop, I only had to hang on for a couple tenths of a mile. A girl stopped to walk, and a guy coming up behind her (and just ahead of me) told her that it was just around the corner, and the girl started running again. That was encouraging to me. Didn't stop me from going around both of them, though. Three seconds of shade under the Cesar Chavez overpass, and then that last hard right hand turn to the final curving path to the finish. I threw down at that point, with just a tiny bit left to run, and set my sights on one last person ahead of me. Just as I was catching her, my teammates and Rich's team were screaming at me to "Go, Go, Go!" With that, I guess I had to finish strong, so I kept the hammer down all the way through the tape. Done! Passed 53 runners, caught by only one.

It was an excellent run for me. I was just a few seconds off my 5K PR, under tougher conditions than that PR race back in April. The splits: 7:20, 7:11, 7:03, and a last .1 kick of 0:35, 5:36 pace! Who knew I could run like that? :-) The team finished in 3:16:14, a 5 minute improvement over last year. Personally, I ran a minute faster over 5K than last year's anchor leg, so that was a big improvement for me, too.

The post-race ice-cold towel that the volunteers draped across my shoulders was totally wonderful! I felt much better within seconds of that post-race treatment. Ahhhhhhh. Made me forget the tough 5K pretty quickly. Scurrying through the food tent, I scored a couple of handfuls of goodies. Oreos, banana, Powerade, water. Yum! After meeting back up with my peeps, it was all smiles. I felt really good afterwards, no big aches or pains, so either I didn't run hard enough, or I ran just right. Either way, I was happy with my day.

We ended up finishing 6th this year in Open Mixed, a big improvement over last year. Shannon's women's team finished 3rd in their division, and Rich's Odds and Ends team finished 2nd in theirs. Nice. After some post-race cooling off and a bunch of snacks, our day was ovah. I didn't do any cooldown in particular, so the walk back to the cars shall count as that activity.

It was another fun day of running, and as always, it was great to share a bit of the holiday with my running friends. Kudos to Captain Frank for getting us organized!