Slow and Sweaty

Last weekend I teamed up with my sisters for the Run The Bluegrass Half Marathon relay. While 4 people (we had a friend, too) may normally be a little overkill for only 13 miles, this course was the exception. Set in Lexington around Keeneland race track and private horse farms, this race may have been the most beautiful course I've ever been on. Beautiful homes, blooming trees, horses running on the fields, and rolling hills (beautiful but brutal!).

I was given the last leg of the race, which made for a lot of sitting around and waiting. My shuttle didn't even take me to my checkpoint until 45 minutes after the start of the race, and while it was warm enough to run, it was not warm enough to stand around and wait. That was a misjudgment on my part, and I would have benefited from hanging on to my long-sleeve shirt for the 90+ minute wait for my leg.

I was dropped off at my aid station and the main goal was to warm up and stay warm. This is challenging, though, because of the narrow roads. There was no good place for me to run and still have a good view of the course to look for my runner. While I had a rough idea of when Angie started Leg 3 (thank goodness for race day texting!) I didn't want to stray too far and risk keeping her waiting and wondering. And, with the fore-mentioned hills, the course visibility was pretty short, so I didn't see her until she was about 40 yards out.

I'll say it's pretty exciting to see people you know running! We also had our friend Rich, brother in law Josh (on a relay with friends) and Michael. When I saw Angie coming down the hill, I sure hoped she was boosted by seeing me, too. I took the wrist band from her and set off on my 3.75 mile run... pretty much straight uphill to start.

I didn't keep track of how many hills, but once you got up one, there was a lovely downhill before the next incline. The last mile was about three continuous hills with a quick plateau before finally making it to the top and then down to the finish.

I'll have to say, I'm quite proud of how well I'm adjusting to the hilly terrain around. They are still not fun, but at least I'm not huffing and puffing my way up them as much as I used to. I have no idea what my pace or what I ran the leg in as I forgot to start my watch and assumed that there would be timing mats at each leg (there weren't). But, overall, it was a PR half marathon for me! :)  Haha, not sure that counts, but we did finish in 2:13:51!

From post-race accounts, there was no easy leg. All of them were pretty brutal, ranging from 2.75 miles to 3.75 miles. (As my sister exclaimed, Holy Hills, Batman!) It sure felt like I had run longer than just the nearly 4 miles, and both my sisters did run longer than their leg. Kim ran her 2nd leg and continued to the finish and Angie ran leg 3 and also 4, just to get in additional training. I sure wish I had as much motivation as those two!

Michael impressed me with how well he did with only training up to 8 miles or so. He looked great across the finish, and it was fun to cheer him on, too.

I think relays are great fun, and I would love to do a 2-person Half some time, if we can find one. A 10k is a great, easy distance to train for.

Oh, and our team name (by Kim) was Slow and Sweaty, so I whipped up a quick and simple design and we made tshirts. Thanks, Carren, for doing that for us!