Wellstone's Dallas White Rock Marathon Relay

I ran my first 5-person relay yesterday, where every member of the team ran one section of a full marathon (total distance of 26.2 miles). First, let me begin by saying that it was a very cold, windy, and drizzly day. It was so cold that my face froze to the point where I couldn't move my face to form words. But, despite the ridiculously evil weather, overall I had a really good time. I came to do what I sought out to do, and I finished! Plus, I got to cheer friends on, who then also cheered me on. It was a good feeling knowing that we were all in this together.... There was my team, Team Awesome... Our "sister team," Supreme Team 3-Beam Bucks... and Thang's team, whatever his team's name was =) ... And somewhere out there was our buddy D.Lam running his second full marathon. There was definitely a lot of team spirit in the air. And also, kudos to our "Team Manager" Newton for coordinating everything for our team, including registering our team before the the event sold out, and also synchronizing our rides so that we arrived to our exchange points on time.

So, as I mentioned in my previous post, it was a loooooooooong day! Here's the play-by-play:

6:20 AM - Wake up
6:45 AM - Meet team
7:20 AM - Take first runner to starting point
8:00 AM - Race begins
9:40ish - Exchange 1st and 2nd runners
10:10ish - Exchange 2nd and 3rd runners (MY EXCHANGE)... Walk one mile to switch point, then run 5+ miles.
11:30ish - Exchange 3rd and 4th runners
11:35ish - Try to find mom
12:25ish - Exchange 4th and 5th runners
1:30ish - Go to finish line. Run across finish line with Julie, as if we ran the full marathon =)
1:40ish - Standard 20-minute loitering
2:00ish - Get free food and drink in the American Airlines Center
2:30 PM - Pass out on Newton's couch
4:40 PM - Wake up and shower
5:30 PM - Sushi Buffet at Tokyo One
8:00 PM - Get gas and coffee, and head back to Austin
11:30 PM - Arrive Austin
11:53 PM - Blog =)
11:56 PM - Send in my weekly status report for work
12:01 AM - SLEEP!!!

Here I am finishing my leg...

And here's the exchange!! Go Janice, go! (I look so frail, like a raggedy doll.)

There were a few hiccups which I think could have been avoided had the event been organized better. The most frustrating part was not being able to find my mom at the finish of my leg, which really upset me because she had been standing in the face-freezing cold by herself, at the WRONG mile marker. Who knew there was a 15-mile marker for full marathon runners and a completely different 15-mile marker for relay runners? They really should have at least labeled things better! I was so upset about not being able to find her to make sure she was able to get to her car (or anywhere with heat) safely. Fortunately, she was able to wave down a race official in a golf cart to take her to her car, which was two miles away. =( ... Well, problem solved, although it could have been easily avoided, and I felt really bad I didn't at least get to see her... =(

The other little headaches were relatively minor. First, the maps we were provided with didn't specify where the road blockades were going to be, so the closest I could be dropped off from my exchange point was a mile away. Maybe the event organizers didn't share this information on purpose so that everyone would use the buses, but where is the team spirit in that if everyone waited separately on buses in the cold?! =\ Secondly, my leg also turned out to be longer than 5 miles because the relay exchange points weren't placed exactly 5 miles apart. My team mates estimated my leg to be anywhere between 5.75 to 6 miles, but it would have been good to know the exact distance. I didn't mind running the extra distance, but what was frustrating to me was not knowing exactly how long my run was so that I could determine how to pace myself and also how to calculate my average pace. It's a little disappointing to train for a run and not have the information to figure out how well you did. But to share some numbers, I ran the 3rd leg in 1 hour, 18 minutes, and 20 seconds. If the leg was 5.75 miles, then my average pace was 13:37 min/mile. If the leg was 6 miles, then my average pace was 13:03 min/mile. This is around the pace I expected to average out at, so I was happy... MUCH happier than I was when I originally thought my pace was 15:40 min/mile, based on a 5-mile leg!! ......... So, in summary, I had to walk a mile to my exchange point, and then run 5+ miles!! Crazy! Well, I'm glad I did it. Piece of cake, man!!! hahaha Sure, I say this now when it's all over =)

Another strange thing about the event was the location of the "post-race party," where free food and drinks were provided for all of the runners. It was located in the downstairs pit of the American Airlines Convention Center. For novice runners like me who only ran 5-6 miles, it wasn't a big deal to walk up and down the stairs; but for marathon runners like David, this is a painful (and pretty cruel) location for runners to walk to and from. ... It was as if the organizers of this event hadn't ever participated in a race before... Strange.

Oh well, little minor annoyances, but like I said, overall I had a really good time! After everyone finished, we all went home to shower and rest. (I took a nice 2-hour nap.) And then, we all went to eat sushi buffet at Tokyo One. At 8:00 PM that night, I started my exhausting 3-hour drive home.

So, what's next? Snowboarding in Lake Tahoe this weekend!! Then once the new year begins, we'll talk about future runs. I see a 10K and/or a Half-Marathon Relay up ahead in Spring of 2008.

Stay tuned!