Friday, August 30, 2019

HTC19: Leg 25 - Running With Elites

By the time anyone in a relay is running their 3rd leg they are undoubtedly tired. You haven't slept. You haven't had normal food. You haven't bathed. By this point in a race I've brushed my teeth outside of the van. I've dozed off. I've frozen. I've tried to thaw. You're just trying to keep going mentally because physically you've put yourself through the ringer. For a few hours we slept on some freezing cold cots near St. Helens. When we woke up my shoe wasn't even under the canopy anymore because the wind had blown it around and it was now outside. Nobody else was there. It was Lady Storm Squad and an empty field, except for a few vans that were sending out their runners in van 2. We loaded up and navigated our way to Mist. I lead us the wrong way accidentally - I think we can easily blame lack of brain functioning at 4something in the morning! But we got on track and eventually we were at the next major exchange. We had some time to kill, so I managed to doze off in the van before officially getting myself ready to run.




And this is when I knew my final run was going to be a good one. I had on bright clothes, as suggested by the Hood to Coast people. I had my compression sock and shoes on. It was time to force myself to hydrate and focus. And what happened? Shawn pointed out a van just a few spots down. The Dead Jocks!!! The team of older men runners I was so hoping to see last year... and here they were! Basically Lady Storm Squad was a bit behind schedule, and now the elite teams that started hours after us were by us - in the process of passing and leaving us in their dust. I had a fan girl moment - but kept it cool. I got my photos and tried to absorb the energy of the elites. Not only were the Dead Jocks by us, but right in front of us was a Bowerman team. We met the Bowerman TC team that won the entire race earlier shortly after I finished my second run. I can say that they are incredibly runners ... but also pretty cool people! They didn't give off any sort of bad attitude or judgment toward us non-elite runners.


I got myself to the exchange area and began the wait for Lisa with the slap bracelet. While waiting I heard another team come in searching for their next runner. Heart and Sole!! You may remember them from last year's finish area and I got to meet them. Dead Jocks and Heart & Sole are 2 of the teams featured in the Hood to Coast documentary I can't stop raving about.



When Lisa handed off the slap bracelet to me and I began my final run I had this realization. For at least a moment I was running the same leg at the same time as these two teams! Pretty darn cool if you ask me!


My H2C music play list was on shuffle, and it seemed like all the best ones kept coming on. This was all falling into place. Last year our runner started this leg in the dark, but for me the sun was shining. That meant great visibility... to see the cows! The cows motivated me to keep going. I ran a really good chunk of this leg before allowing myself a tiny walk break. I just felt awesome. I was in the zone mentally and physically. I managed to pass some people, and I managed to have some of the elite teams fly by me as expected. Overall it was just really nice. I loved the farm lands. I loved the course. If you have eventually stop your individual running portion of a relay, well, I couldn't imagine ending mine any better!



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