HTC19: Leg 13 - It Was Just So Hot

I really had no idea what to expect on my second leg. I knew the course perfectly. I didn't know the weather. Come on - this is Oregon after all. Oregon in late August. And it was 6pm. My race outfit certainly captured my uncertainty on what I was in for. Due to the time of day I was required to run with a reflective vest and red flashy lights on my body. I had to have with my a headlamp. But it was so sunny, naturally I had to have my sunglasses. Should I throw on the tank top? Will I did in short sleeves? Will I get a sunburn in the tank top? In the end I took my sunglasses, stayed in short sleeves and shoved my headlamp in my race belt. Clearly it was not going to get dark while I was out there so I felt no need for the visor and headlamp to actually be on my head making me sweat. That was a lot of babble!

Prior to the run I snapped some photos to share with you all where I would be running. I had time to kill after all. And so then I snapped some other photos too....

After a lot of stretching, rolling out my legs and hydrating it was time to find Van 2 and get myself in position for Lisa's hand off. It's a good thing I'm me and I can get into a zone at a race because otherwise I might have felt silly for what I did to kill time. I stretched. I paced. I obsessively looked at the path Lisa would be running down. I checked my Garmin over and over. I checked my music. I tap danced.

Ugh, I'm nervous just remembering my nerves. Seriously, WHY??? We all know I've done an insane amount of races. Will I ever get these nerves under control? I suspect not.

Once I saw her I felt better. Lisa came down the path, around the last corner and boom, Hand Off Complete! I waved at my teammates and started off ... but running up stairs?? Crazy. And yep, that happened. Immediately I was running west over the Hawthorne Bridge to get me to the regular part of downtown Portland. It was really nice actually. A lot of people were milling about along the waterfront, which was motivation to just keep moving.

I made it pretty far until it happened. My shins. Dang. They were so tight. I took a moment to use the railing and try to stretch out my legs more. I don't know if it really helped or not. Back at it I went. Then I was smack dab in the middle of transients. My hometown can't even complain about homelessness when you compare it to what I saw during that short segment of this run. It was more than I've ever seen in that area before when I've run through. Knowing it typically smells bad there, and not wanting to really lolly gag, I powered through the pain.

I essentially ran in a straight path from the Hawthorne Bridge to the exchange. I'd make little goals like "run to the shade and walk until the sun". There was a café on my route with spectators outside watching. A mom was there expecting her daughter any minute. She could tell I was struggling and jumped up and gave me some water. What a peach! I appreciated it so much.

After that I paced off a girl that Robin said was my twin ... cute pink skirt and fun knee high socks. As long as I had her within a nice range I was happy. If she ran I made sure to run. I promise I was NOT close enough for it to be creepy. I think we runners use each other as pacers all the time, so this was just normal.

I was very happy to see the exchange coming up. My legs did feel better the longer I ran, so that did help me out in the last bit. On came my smile, up went my poster, and into the exchange I went! Oh boy was I happy to see Jill!

This is typical of a relay. I mean you're running back to back to back with no rest and hardly any food. Looking back, it did hurt, but I'm actually happy with what I did. I kept myself mentally grounded and knew when to push and when to back off. On a normal day, sure, I could have been better, but in a relay after running down a mountain... I'm pretty darn happy!