Mercedes-Benz Marathon Relay
This is my first race recap and it was also my first marathon relay. It will be interesting
and long (sorry!).
Weather: 48° at the start but had dropped to 45° by my turn. Cloudy, windy and misting rain. Summary: COLD!
We had two teams running in support of The Happiness Foundation. The person that organized all of us wanted to meeting at 5:50 am to go over last minute instructions, pray, and then send us off. So 4:00 am came way too early – not to mention that my 2 year old did not allow me to sleep well for whatever reason. I carpooled with 2 other runners and we made it downtown with time to spare. We met up with the others, got our instructions and some group photos. Then we split.
Side note: Does everyone else compare every race to Disney now? I do – and it is a sad, sad thing for everyone else.
I checked my bag, stopped by the bathroom, and then headed to the bus to take me to my relay exchange point. Thankfully the bus was warm! We were delivered to our spot and off into the cold well before we would have liked. This relay point was actually for 2 legs – 2nd and 5th. So that meant there were 4 of us that would be waiting at least for a little while. I was the 5th runner on team 1. I arrived at the relay point first but was soon joined by 2 others. Then they informed me that the 5th runner for Team 2 was staying on the bus and was going to loop with it until he had to get off in order to stay warm longer. (I wish I had done this!) We found some seats under one of the pop-up tents and huddled in for the wait.
At 7:04 am we received a text that runner 1 had started the race. She had 6.5 miles and we knew she would be quick. Runner 2 was extremely anxious about her portion. We all were giving her pep talks leading up to the race. She is more of a walker than a runner but we told her just as long as she kept moving forward it didn’t matter how fast she was. We told her that 3 miles is 3 miles no matter how you cover it. As we started seeing runners come through she made the comment about not seeing any walkers. I laughed and told her those were the elite runners and they wouldn’t be walking. Then I added that there were definitely walkers. She said something about no one starts walking immediately and I told her that people that do run/walk intervals do. That seemed to help calm her a little. Before we knew it we were getting the text that runner 1 had crossed the 10K.
Pace: 8:45 min/mile
6.5 miles
Total time: 57:40
She arrived soon after and runner 2 took over. Then I settled in for a very long wait. The good news is we were at a nice park and there were all kinds of birds, ducks, and a few bystanders with some dogs to watch. I texted this pic to DH and told him I was sad it wasn't Maleficent.
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We also had 2 porta pottys as well as a small hydration stop. The portas kept a steady line for the first hour but I knew I had hours ahead so I didn’t worry about a wait (side note: thanks to whoever on the Dis recommended taking tissues/toilet paper when you run because I did need it when I finally did go). I had packed some water, an uncrustable, and a protein bar. I wish I had taken a throwaway blanket or something. I tried to sit so as to not be on my feet but it was so stinking cold that I had to get up and move.
At 8:45 am I got the text that runner 2 had passed the 15K mark. (Oh and runner 5 on the other team finally got off of the bus).
Pace: 14:56 min/mile
2.9 miles
Total time: 1:40:58
Shortly after this, they opened the park bathrooms and they were heated. One of the other runners came out to tell us so we went and spent the next 1.5 hours in the women’s bathroom. This was good and bad. Good – we were warm. Bad – we were on our feet. During this wonderfully warm bathroom stay, I discovered (thanks to another runner) that you could go to the tracking site and it would show you where the runner was instead of just waiting on the texts. I quickly realized that it was an estimation based on the previous runners pace at the time of the crossing. I knew that runner 3 was much faster than the pace runner 2 had set so I wasn’t surprised when I got the next text at 25K.
Pace: 8:50 min/mile
6.0 miles
Total time: 2:34:50
I knew runner 4 was slower so I stayed in the warm bathroom. It was very funny to see the surprised look on others faces as they came in the bathroom and saw us. What was funnier is they would end up staying in there with us for a while. Then we all started comparing paces of our teammates and trying to figure out when we needed to leave the warmth to get ready for the exchange. The tracker estimated that runner 4 would get to me about 10:20 am. I knew that was not going to happen but I wasn’t sure how close to it she would be. She had told me that she kept about the same pace as I do and that was before we found out they had adjusted the legs a bit. Everyone but hers went down and she absorbed the extra making her 3.8 miles into 4.2 miles. I had originally planned to eat my uncrustable about 10:00 am but we were moving along faster than I expected so I ate it around 9:45 am.
I started getting anxious around 10:15 am. Based on the tracker and the texts, I expected a 30k text update and then, after having done the math, figured that we had about another mile before they would get to the exchange. So I considered waiting until the text. But at 10:20 am I couldn’t stand it and went on out. Ouch it was cold! I found runner 5 from the other team and chatted for a bit. He apparently had gone in the men’s bathroom and hung out for a while, too. Soon after 10:30 am we got the text. I had hoped to get the text before he did because I knew he was faster than me and I wanted a little head start. But, we actually got them seconds apart.
Pace: 14:26 min/mile
4.2 miles
Total time: 3:33:58
Before we knew it they were coming over the hill. I don’t know if it took that long for us to get our texts or if we’d done the math wrong. Then it was our turn. The other runner offered to let me take off first but I just laughed and said there was no point – he’d overtake me in seconds.
So I set-off and immediately noticed the stiffness. Before I’d even gone a mile there was a hydration station. I went ahead and grabbed some and of course forgot to squeeze the cup before drinking therefore spilling it on me. A little later I rounded another corner and there were spectators handing out shots of something and what looked like funnel cakes. I did not partake.
I covered my first mile at 11:17 but I was still feeling pretty stiff (or frozen, I’m not sure which). I also knew I needed to slow it down or I wouldn’t hold up the entire 6+ miles. My second mile was at a 12:48 pace. This was a tad slower than I wanted but I was finally starting to warm up. I was also noticing that my feet were hurting and realized it had to be from all of the standing. So I made the mental note to not do that ever again.
I passed a fuel station that I believe had Gnu. I wish now I had grabbed one to try on a training run but oh well. There were very few spectators so it was pretty quiet. I ended up putting in my other earbud because there didn’t seem to be much point in leaving one out. We were running down side streets and across railroad tracks. Some places had pot holes and loose gravel so I was trying to be cautious. Then it happened. About mile 3.5 I wiped out. Even more sadly – there was no obvious reason for my fall. There were no potholes, railroad tracks, loose gravel, banana peels….nada. One minute I was up and trucking along and the next I’m face down in the middle of the road. A few runners passed and asked if I was okay. Another pair said “you’ve got this!” I had to laugh at that. I got up, walked for just a bit to determine if I’d injured anything and noticed my left knee hurt. It felt more like a flesh wound but I wasn’t sure. My hands had gravel imprinted in them but it didn’t break the skin. After about 45 seconds, I started jogging. Nothing screamed at me so I kept going. So mile 3 was at a 13:12 pace.
Over a mile later, I realized that I had lost my gloves (cheap ones that didn’t matter) and also that my app had gotten paused. I don’t know exactly when it got paused so my mile 4 is actually mile 5. I did have to walk briefly a few times as the soreness from the fall started to creep in as well as the pain in my feet. I passed a couple of more pop-up tents with people giving out trail mix and gummy bears.
At mile marker 24 I noticed the time on the clock and began to calculate in my head. When I got to mile 25 and saw this…
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I decided that I was going to make sure we finished under 5 hours (even if just by a few seconds). Mile 5 came in at a 13:25 pace. So I skipped to "Footloose" on my playlist and picked up my pace. I passed some people with signs that said “Free Beer stay Left”. I stayed straight. Even with having to take a couple of 30 second walk breaks I covered mile 6 at a 12:58 pace.
As I approached the finish line, my teammates ran out onto the course. They hollered and asked if I was okay (they didn’t know I had fallen so I wonder if I really looked that bad). I hollered, “We’ve got to finish before 5 hours” and just kept going. We crossed the line when the clock said 4:59:** so I knew we had done it. I just wasn’t sure what the last 2 numbers were.
At the finish line they were passing out Mylar blankets (that I wish I’d had BEFORE the race) and ear warmers (could have used that before the race, too). We walked over to the relay tent to hand in the timing belt, get our medals, and then backed up to get a group shot.
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Official time: 4:58:00
Another teammate commented that he couldn’t believe we had finished with an hour to spare. I wholeheartedly agreed. We all thought we’d be pushing that 6 hour limit leading up the race.
So even with the freezing cold, me falling, the poor spectator experience, and the sorry mile-marker signs (comparing to Disney again), it was a great race. There was an after party with free BBQ in a warm warehouse type building and they had plenty of hydration stations along the course (at least the last 6.6 miles
).
My personal goal for my leg was 6.9 miles at 1:34:46 (based on the pace we’d have to keep to meet the 6 hr time limit). Even with the distance change to
6.6 miles, my time was
1:24:03. A part of me is excited that I beat my goal by 10 mins but another part of me is disappointed because it should not have taken me 14 mins to cover that extra half mile (previous 10k PR of 1:10:42). But overall, it was a lot of fun and I would do it again.
Fall update: I did skin my knee up but that seems to be the only damage. It does not hurt when I walk or bend it. Just the part where the skin is scraped off hurts. My feet are still a little tender but the rest of me feels perfectly fine.
Thanks for reading and sorry it was so long!
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