10.16.2005
The Relay and how I became The Blue Ox
This is basically a draft but I thought I'd leave this up, it may get changed and more pictures added hopefully (my camera was on the fritz so only got a few shots, hopefully I'll get some more shots from the folks running) (also this is a crapload of verbage, believe me, feel free not to read all of it...) This is what you do when you are sore and just feel like sitting, typing on the computer that is...
Results -- We finished 42nd out of 238 w/ an average pace of 7:52 min/mi, pretty solid!!
-- reference previous post The Relay --
I had no idea what to expect going into this run, except that it would entail running (duh!) Basically a team is comprised of 12 people, each having to run 3 separate legs to complete 199 miles. The team is split into 2 vans of 6 members each (ie van 1 runs legs 1-6 then van 2 runs legs 7-12 and so on until the end). In van 2 (the van I was in) was (in order of running) Ian, Kev, John*, me, Aaron*, and Janine* (* denotes met at this event), also in our van was Ian's brother Shawn* who ran along with: Ian in his first & second leg and Janine in her first leg (that btw is a pretty studly effort in my book). We definitely had a pretty amazingly fun van, between the maddison brothers and my & john's extraordinary odifying gifts, we all were a good match for a weekend of running together.
Although I definitely see how reality tv works for instant drama. You throw a few different personality types into together, don't give them any sleep and then put them under some sort of assumed pressure and volia! a winning combination! good thing for us we all got along great and were very encouraging. Ah good memories:
- team push-ups, sleeping in the van, watching ian and shawn battle with brotherly love, the rocky iv soundtrack, easy like sunday morning, missing turns, dancing at the golden gate bridge, ian and kris snipping at each other.
we were sad we weren't able to meet up with the alio's at the end of the race, but still very glad that we could be running for them and their daughters.
also, while we were a little male heavy in van 2, van 1 had a bit more female influence. in order of appearance: marlene*, denise*, mb*, roger*, kris* and dave* (i'm sure i spelled some of those names wrong too...). i'm sure they probably had some more worthwhile conversations about relationships and outfits, but we probably had better topics of discussion on flatulence and rocky iv....
this run was by far the most senic total run i've ever done. you can't beat going thru the wine county, the rolling hills and valleys, over the golden gate bridge, along the sf beach front, thru the hills to santa cruz, and into santa cruz. you've just got to love CA!!
only pic i have of me from my camera...what a suprise...
-- Leg 10 - 8.9mi - Very Hard -- Start time ~5:30p
- time ~ 1hr 10mins ~8:00 min/mi pace -
So before the relay, just thinking about running leg 10 definitely made me realize I should be running religiously and practicing more mountainous terrain than say, sacramento if I was planning on completing that stage. What happened? Well, hopefully you haven't looked at my posted workout log/cartoony thingees because I only show running 3 times in the month and week prior, and the only time before that that I ran to run was June 10! Although I do have a crapload of biking and some soccer and other activities...but it's not quite the same. And so I realized dramatically after doing the relay. I took the warm up to the beginning of the hill at a half way decent pace and then grunted my way thru the ups. Made it w/o walking, so i was happy about that at least. I passed one guy on the hill that was walking then jogging, but also caught a glimpse of another guy walking/jogging ahead of me as well. I kept seeing him for a second and then he would turn a corner. I finally saw him at the crest of the hill and then he disappeared going down hill. I saw him again when we got on real roads and made it my goal to pass him. I was closing the gap pretty well and then heard ian yell out 'You got him ox, go pass him!' so that was it, i had to get on my horse and leave him in the dust. I kicked it up a gear and went past and finished the leg. Pretty tough leg, was tired, but still felt pretty good afterward and glad I only had 2 more stages left... I found out afterwards that I was named 'the blue ox' by our team members because apparently I liked blue (I did wear my superman shorts, my blue socks, blue trimmed shoes, the blue headband, and blue shirt, you just got to do it sometimes!!!) and I was a workhorse that could take the beating...so for the rest of the weekend you could hear GO-OX-GO!!!
shawn chasing ian on Leg 7, kev getting water from shawn on Leg 8
-- Leg 22 - 4.2mi - Easy -- Start time ~ 4a (brutal!)
- time ~33min - 8:00 min/mi pace
I was pretty well out of it by this time of the night, been up for quite a while, had a good hard run under my belt already, and it's chilly outside and my body was yelling to go to bed! What i thought was supposed to be my easiest leg turned out to feel like one of the most difficult! It was all rolling hills, couldn't see anything because it was the middle of the night, my muscles were heavy and sluggish, kind of crapped out. I made it thru and sweat in a chilly van for the next 2 hrs before taking a shower!
john driving on our second set of legs, kev finished with Leg 20
-- Leg 34 - 6.2 - Very Hard -- Start time ~ 11a
- time ~46min - 7:30 min/mi pace
I started this leg off with some stiff muscles and figured i'd let them warm up a bit before trying anything too crazy. I passed one guy right off and then spotted a running chick up in the distance. I just kept my own pace pretty much and she stayed about the same distance ahead as well. I started warming up and got pretty close and kept thinking about passing and making sure to set my own pace. I just watched the pony tail for a while and kept thinking about passing. finally after about mile 2 I knew it was time, i passed by her and then another guy and then another 1 or 2 others. at mile 4 the hill started and i just put my head down and tried to maintain the same pace. hey the faster i go i thought the faster i finish. I got about 400yds to the finish and i see another guy ahead of me walking, so I know I've got to pass him as well. I get up to him and pass and then he starts right back up and says 'you're going to have to earn it'. so i think to myself, 'great, dang it, i was ready to finish all easy and stuff, but noooo'. so of course, high gear comes back in and we sprint to the finish. he gave a good push, but my overdrive took over. I'm glad he pushed me a bit, made me finish strong. a short while later the running chick comes in and says she kept waiting for me to bonk so she could pass but it never happened (luckily for me I think =) )
This is basically a draft but I thought I'd leave this up, it may get changed and more pictures added hopefully (my camera was on the fritz so only got a few shots, hopefully I'll get some more shots from the folks running) (also this is a crapload of verbage, believe me, feel free not to read all of it...) This is what you do when you are sore and just feel like sitting, typing on the computer that is...
Results -- We finished 42nd out of 238 w/ an average pace of 7:52 min/mi, pretty solid!!
-- reference previous post The Relay --
I had no idea what to expect going into this run, except that it would entail running (duh!) Basically a team is comprised of 12 people, each having to run 3 separate legs to complete 199 miles. The team is split into 2 vans of 6 members each (ie van 1 runs legs 1-6 then van 2 runs legs 7-12 and so on until the end). In van 2 (the van I was in) was (in order of running) Ian, Kev, John*, me, Aaron*, and Janine* (* denotes met at this event), also in our van was Ian's brother Shawn* who ran along with: Ian in his first & second leg and Janine in her first leg (that btw is a pretty studly effort in my book). We definitely had a pretty amazingly fun van, between the maddison brothers and my & john's extraordinary odifying gifts, we all were a good match for a weekend of running together.
Although I definitely see how reality tv works for instant drama. You throw a few different personality types into together, don't give them any sleep and then put them under some sort of assumed pressure and volia! a winning combination! good thing for us we all got along great and were very encouraging. Ah good memories:
- team push-ups, sleeping in the van, watching ian and shawn battle with brotherly love, the rocky iv soundtrack, easy like sunday morning, missing turns, dancing at the golden gate bridge, ian and kris snipping at each other.
we were sad we weren't able to meet up with the alio's at the end of the race, but still very glad that we could be running for them and their daughters.
also, while we were a little male heavy in van 2, van 1 had a bit more female influence. in order of appearance: marlene*, denise*, mb*, roger*, kris* and dave* (i'm sure i spelled some of those names wrong too...). i'm sure they probably had some more worthwhile conversations about relationships and outfits, but we probably had better topics of discussion on flatulence and rocky iv....
this run was by far the most senic total run i've ever done. you can't beat going thru the wine county, the rolling hills and valleys, over the golden gate bridge, along the sf beach front, thru the hills to santa cruz, and into santa cruz. you've just got to love CA!!
only pic i have of me from my camera...what a suprise...
-- Leg 10 - 8.9mi - Very Hard -- Start time ~5:30p
- time ~ 1hr 10mins ~8:00 min/mi pace -
So before the relay, just thinking about running leg 10 definitely made me realize I should be running religiously and practicing more mountainous terrain than say, sacramento if I was planning on completing that stage. What happened? Well, hopefully you haven't looked at my posted workout log/cartoony thingees because I only show running 3 times in the month and week prior, and the only time before that that I ran to run was June 10! Although I do have a crapload of biking and some soccer and other activities...but it's not quite the same. And so I realized dramatically after doing the relay. I took the warm up to the beginning of the hill at a half way decent pace and then grunted my way thru the ups. Made it w/o walking, so i was happy about that at least. I passed one guy on the hill that was walking then jogging, but also caught a glimpse of another guy walking/jogging ahead of me as well. I kept seeing him for a second and then he would turn a corner. I finally saw him at the crest of the hill and then he disappeared going down hill. I saw him again when we got on real roads and made it my goal to pass him. I was closing the gap pretty well and then heard ian yell out 'You got him ox, go pass him!' so that was it, i had to get on my horse and leave him in the dust. I kicked it up a gear and went past and finished the leg. Pretty tough leg, was tired, but still felt pretty good afterward and glad I only had 2 more stages left... I found out afterwards that I was named 'the blue ox' by our team members because apparently I liked blue (I did wear my superman shorts, my blue socks, blue trimmed shoes, the blue headband, and blue shirt, you just got to do it sometimes!!!) and I was a workhorse that could take the beating...so for the rest of the weekend you could hear GO-OX-GO!!!
shawn chasing ian on Leg 7, kev getting water from shawn on Leg 8
-- Leg 22 - 4.2mi - Easy -- Start time ~ 4a (brutal!)
- time ~33min - 8:00 min/mi pace
I was pretty well out of it by this time of the night, been up for quite a while, had a good hard run under my belt already, and it's chilly outside and my body was yelling to go to bed! What i thought was supposed to be my easiest leg turned out to feel like one of the most difficult! It was all rolling hills, couldn't see anything because it was the middle of the night, my muscles were heavy and sluggish, kind of crapped out. I made it thru and sweat in a chilly van for the next 2 hrs before taking a shower!
john driving on our second set of legs, kev finished with Leg 20
-- Leg 34 - 6.2 - Very Hard -- Start time ~ 11a
- time ~46min - 7:30 min/mi pace
I started this leg off with some stiff muscles and figured i'd let them warm up a bit before trying anything too crazy. I passed one guy right off and then spotted a running chick up in the distance. I just kept my own pace pretty much and she stayed about the same distance ahead as well. I started warming up and got pretty close and kept thinking about passing and making sure to set my own pace. I just watched the pony tail for a while and kept thinking about passing. finally after about mile 2 I knew it was time, i passed by her and then another guy and then another 1 or 2 others. at mile 4 the hill started and i just put my head down and tried to maintain the same pace. hey the faster i go i thought the faster i finish. I got about 400yds to the finish and i see another guy ahead of me walking, so I know I've got to pass him as well. I get up to him and pass and then he starts right back up and says 'you're going to have to earn it'. so i think to myself, 'great, dang it, i was ready to finish all easy and stuff, but noooo'. so of course, high gear comes back in and we sprint to the finish. he gave a good push, but my overdrive took over. I'm glad he pushed me a bit, made me finish strong. a short while later the running chick comes in and says she kept waiting for me to bonk so she could pass but it never happened (luckily for me I think =) )
Labels: the relay
¶ 5:07 PM
