The paint of the baton came off on our sweaty hands.
In actuality, I only ran 13.1 - of a marathon relay.
This weekend was the Rockin' Marathon Relay. Several months ago, I recruited a few mommy-running friends, and we registered as a team of four for the marathon relay. Starting about a month ago, the mommy runners started backing out. There were various reasons, all doing with - life. It happens. The last mommy runner backed out this past Monday - the week of the race.
I freaked out. I knew I could run 13.1 of the race. . .maybe, maybe 15? But not the entire 26.2. I had not been training, and I really didn't even want to run the entire race - alone. I asked a few friends. It was too last minute, and no one could help. One of the mommy-runners posted on Facebook asking if anyone was interested. No one jumped at the opportunity.
Finally, on Wednesday - in a panic I asked a fellow teacher. She is a runner. She is a very good runner actually. However, I know her weekends are usually quite busy, so I had not initially asked her. I was desperate now. I was in begging mode - so I went, fully prepared to open up a can of full blown begging, tears, if necessary.
She readily agreed!
Science Teacher and myself set up camp at the race. It was a relay race, and we agreed in advance to divide the distance in half, and as each lap of the loop was 1.31 miles, we agreed to run two loops before passing the baton off. Science Teacher ran first.
We both admitted that it took our first two laps for our feet to warm up enough that our toes weren't numb. Luckily, the weather steadily warmed up - and it turned into a beautiful day.
By miles 6-7 my hamstrings were killing me. "What's wrong with me?" I yelled at Science Teacher during one point in my loop, "I normally run 8 miles, no problem."
She said it was the killer hills and the gravel that was causing us problems. I. Hurt. And I still had another 6 miles to go. . .
Wonderful, amazing Science Teacher - who ended up running 14.5 in this relay, and is running another 5 mile race tonight.
There were a lot of hills in that 1.3 mile loop. One of the hills rivaled Patrick Johnston Lane hill in Davidson - you locals know what I am talking about. . .that hill is the dread of many a runner locally. So, we had a Patrick-Johnston wannabe hill on our loop, and two mini Patrick Johnstons toward the end of the loop.
Ten laps. Ten times up those hills.
My legs hurt.
By my last two laps I felt like I could barely pick up my feet to clear the rocks and sticks on the gravel trail. I honestly felt like I'd run the full marathon.
I thought this run would be a lot easier because I was splitting it with a friend. She would run two laps, and then I would run two laps. Which meant - I had a break, while she was running. I was too afraid to sit during my "breaks" because I was afraid I wouldn't be able to get back up. I did use the breaks as an opportunity to run to a different point on the course to cheer on Science Teacher (and she did the same for me), and to use the restroom, and eat fig newtons. I have not eaten fig newtons in years, but they were on the snack table, and they were yummy.
As I approached the start/finish line for my final lap, Science Teacher yelled, "One more lap, you can do it." Since I was breathing so hard I couldn't speak, I just motioned for her to join me (misery loves company, right? Right!). What did she do? She joined me! Science Teacher - who had already run her 13.1 - ran the final 1.3 miles with me, and we finished together, in under 4 hours.
We got a fun record medal for finishing.
When I first registered, I was supposed to run with 3 other women - so 8 feet running the race - we were "Gr8ful Soles" - which was the name on the back of our shirt. Pretty cool.
We rocked the Rockin' Marathon Relay.
We earned our First Place Gold Record Award.
Who cares that we were the ONLY two women team, and therefore 1st place no matter what?
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