The Official Team Picture
The starting line
Team 406, West Siders, Runner #7
Denie the champ has arrived, along with his entourage!
All the other teams might as well just go home.
Waiting for the final leg, Leg #36 (Claudina) at the finish line.
The beach has been reached!
Friday & Saturday: 18.25 milesWeek: 23.75 miles
Workout: Reach the Beach Relay, Legs #7, #19, and #31.
Leg #7: 7.23 miles in 46m 58s (6:30/mile) ran at approx. 8:00 p.m.
Leg #19: 4.33 miles in 31 m 00s (7:09/mile) approx. 5:00 a.m.
Leg #31: 6.69 miles in 46m 21s (6:55/mile) approx. 3:00 p.m.
The Reach the Beach Relay (RTB) is the longest distance running relay race in the United States, according to the RTB website. The race goes from Cannon Mountain, New Hampshire to Hampton Beach, New Hampshire. This year that worked out to be approximately 207 miles. Relay teams consist of as few as 6 runners to as many as 12 runners. The race consists of 36 legs. Our team, West Siders, had 12 runners, so each person ran 3 different legs.
My first leg, Leg #7, was hilly and at night. I had 7 kills (people I passed), but one guy passed me. Headlamps or flashlights, a reflective vest, and a blinking light were required from 5:30 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. The headlamps took a little getting used to. I felt like I was running in a tunnel. I struggled on this leg. I went out a little too fast and was BARELY running up one of the hills. As I approached a line of spectators at the transition area, I could not see Rob, the next leg, and I ran the wrong way. Then, people starting yelling at me, and I saw Rob waving his arms.
My second leg, Leg #19, was short, but the worst of my legs. I started alone and never saw another runner the entire time. The worst part was my hip was hurting, and I thought I might not be able to complete my last leg a few hours later. Also, my headlamp kept tilting downward, and I had to tilt my head upward (or hold the headlamp up) so that I could see the arrows along the race course.
My last leg was the most enjoyable. Even though it was very hilly, the sun was out, and I was passing people (9 kills).
It's tough to pick out highlights from this race because there were so many. Here are a few of mine:
-- Our team finished in 73rd place overall out of over 400 teams.
-- We came in 15th place out of 123 teams in the Mixed Open category (at least 6 women)
-- It took us 26 hours 47 minutes and 36 seconds to complete the race (7:45/mile)
-- Rob was a last minute replacement on our team, and we rewarded him with one of the toughest legs of the whole race. And he was AWESOME on that leg!
-- Van #1 ran over a skunk.
-- Van #2 got lost and made Allyson wait for 10 minutes, but no one panicked.
-- Van #2 had issues with the blinking lights on our vest, but we never got penalized!
-- At one point (because we were one of the last teams to start) we were the last team to go through at least one of the transition areas.
-- A couple of our runners fell, but still completed their runs.
-- Everyone really came through for the team.
-- I would have missed a turn, but Team #121 pointed me in the right direction.
-- We almost forgot to put the timing chip on Claudina for the last leg of the race!
-- Van #2 runners were stuck in traffic and had to jump out of our van and run about a 1/2 mile so that we could see Claudina at the finish.
-- The whole team ran with our last runner (Claudina) across the finish line.
-- Bruno telling the story about how he woke up to find Rob's head on his stomach.
-- We finished the race and, amazingly, no one wanted to kill each other. In fact, I would do it all over again with the same people.
It was great to be a part of such an awesome group of people.
