We gathered, the ten of us, at 5 am in Georgetown, Colorado, to begin the race.Our first runner, Tim "Sloggo" took off at 6:15 am. From l-to-r: Back Row - Dave, Baboo, Me, the Jimmy, Tim, "Sluggo", "Mighty Mike", Bones. front row: DreadPirate, SW TriGal, Flamin' Mo.
Each of the ten of us ran 3 legs, rotating in order the thirty legs over 170 miles. I did legs 10, 20, and 30. Baboo did legs 9, 19, and 29, and then tagged off with me. I was followed by Tim twice, who did legs 11 and 21.
Leg 1: This one was at 9000 feet. It was cold, and rainy. I managed a 13:15 mile over the 6.8 miles, but I was sucking wind, baby. Several other runners went the wrong way and cut the course. (There was a startling number of people who did not bring the required print-out of the maps and directions of their legs.)
Leg 2:
This one was at 4:45 am-ish. Sweet Baboo tagged me and off I went, armed with a headlamp and my "Running Energy" playlist on the iPod. My run was at about 6000 feet above sea level, which is closer to
what I'm used to, down Col. Hwy 6 from Eagle to Gypsum. It was 6.55 miles, and I managed a 11:55 pace, which is good for me.Then I tried to sleep, while people banged van doors and talked loudly. :-( Eventually, I put on my iPod, which has a 55-minute "White Noise" file on it.
Leg 3:
This was warmer, again around 6000 above sea level, down from the outskirts of Carbondale through the town. It had some pretty steep downhills, dropping 900 feet over the first 3 miles. it was 4.4 miles and I managed about an 11:20 pace. About 20 yards from the finish the group joined me and we crossed the finish line together.
Then, most of us had beer. I will tell you that I'm NOT a beer drinker. I'm more of a fruity drink kind of gal: Margaritas and Rose Wine. But after a marathon, I'll drink pretty much anything. After that, we went to the hot springs at Glenwood Springs and soaked in the hot pool and the cool pool.
Statistics' and Miscellanea...
As a team, our average pace over the 170 miles was 10:05 minutes/mile. "Mighty Mike" had the highest climb and the longest run, 13 miles up over a 12000 pass. That would have WIPED ME OUT.
Then, close to the finish, Mike fell and cut his hands. Here he is displaying the stigmata.
Most of the runs were between 4 and 8 miles, with a few shorter ones and a few longer ones.
Temperatures ranged from low 30s to upper 60s. Some of us ran through snow. All of us did legs in the dark. Some of us had various leg issues. One of us got sick.
The relay ran continuously for the 30 hours that it took us to finish.
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