Epic Relay

Well, I did it 🙂

Epic Relay

or as I now call it

“How to lose 5lbs in 48hrs”

is done and over

Overall,

I had a GREAT time

I think if my youngest hadn’t shared his sickness,

It would have been even better

So we met at around 5am

I had gotten a decent amount of sleep

Maybe 6 hours?

I ate a bowl of oatmeal before leaving

We get to Beaverton

(van one and my van-mates)

and the starting line

I am the first runner!

EEK!

About a quarter mile into my run

(this is a 5 mile run)

I think

“Oh! Crap… What was I thinking? I can’t do this!!”

This is when I realized I really should have trained more than I did!

But I kept going

I ran through a nasty construction zone,

which had us running in the road

and I had to stop at a few stop lights to cross the road

that took FOREVER

(but were a nice rest)

My lungs are on FIRE by mile 4

but I made it

AND 4 minutes before my scheduled time!

That is what I was hoping for

Just to get in around or before my time

It felt GREAT to have my first and longest leg done with

Then my brother in law was off

He is CRAZY fast

He had an INSANE amount of hills

and he blew them away

Then it was time for everyone else’s legs

During the 3rd leg,

We noticed a guy with AMAZING hair

Seriously,

While he was running,

It looked like a shampoo commercial.

Through the race,

this guy was pretty much neck and neck with our runner on this leg

(actually, our little runner passed him twice!)

so we got to know him quickly and cheered him on as well

(even offering him water, since we hadn’t seen his van for awhile)

He was nicknamed “Fabio”

by our car

At some point,

Keith (one of the guys in our van)

asked his name,

but now none of us can remember it!

After the first leg,

We hit up the Little Roadhouse restaurant for lunch

I was fine until I sat down

and then it all came on me

and I felt awful and couldn’t eat a thing

I ate a roll and like 2 bites of my sandwich

Thanks baby for sharing your sickness 😛

We went to the local Anytime Fitness

(our team member owns them)

and took showers and laid down

I couldn’t sleep, but laid down and ate a banana

Then we headed for the next exchange

I was feeling a bit better overall after a rest and banana

It was about 3ish in the afternoon

and it was HOT with the sun beating down…

oh no…

My leg had a bunch of turns through a neighborhood,

and then up a hill

then most of it was down a highway

There was a discrepancy on the routes length

and I believe (as does my teammate who counted the mileage)

that it was in fact the longer mileage

There was NO shade most of the way

with the sun beating down on me

About a 1/3 mile from the end,

there was a freshly dead skunk on the side of the road

in the sun

Yeah,

my stomach was already not happy

I am shocked I didn’t throw up right then :s

However,

that was my best leg time wise and how I felt

By the time the next exchange was over,

I was feeling well enough to finally eat

so I ate my lunch out of the cooler

(it was 5pm at this time)

YAY food and fuel!

On that exchange,

our runner passed Fabio

and we came in FIRST out of any team on that leg!

From that leg,

until the end of our van’s run,

we were in first,

and made it in JUST around the time the volunteers were setting up

On our van’s last leg (for this set of legs)

our runner Keith

hurt his toe

so he took his shoe

(just one)

off!

His wife got him his other shoes,

but he didn’t want to change

so he ran his last mile with one foot barefoot!

FREAKING insane!

It was because he wanted to stay in first

and not let the guy behind him pass

He did it

He got us into the exchange FIRST

although,

not sure it was worth the cost!

but we do have something to remember

and talk about for a REALLY long time

It was pretty EPIC (haha!)

Then we went to our team captain’s house to rest for a bit

My husband brought the baby out to nurse

I showered and *tried* to sleep

but couldn’t

I maybe got an hour??

Then it was a little before 2am and we were off to our next van exchange

I felt AWFUL

Seriously,

I was holding onto a bag the entire way

because I thought I was going to lose it

We get to the exchange

I am half asleep

and sick – not doing great at all!

Then our runner from the other van comes in

and I am set to take off

when they stop us

We can’t leave until 3:00am

we were too early!

I told them I promised to go slow and walk,

plenty of time for the next stop to be open 😉

Once I got running at 3,

I was actually feeling better once I was moving..

at least for the first mile…

Then it was alot of uphill!

I was trying as hard as I could to keep the 1/2 a banana I ate

while waiting to start from coming up

I could feel it at the top of my throat the entire uphill 🙁

It is surprisingly creepy

how many people are up in Corvallis that time of morning

and no, they were not watching the race

I had some teenagers throw a drink out of their car at me

and shout profanities

Then I was about to pass this CREEPY guy

just as my van was passing

and I quietly was like

“BACK UP! BACK UP! COME BACK!”

I saw the back up lights come on

and they saw the guy too

and came back until I was passed him

I was EXTREMELY grateful

I guess I could have always puked on the guy 😛

Our team leader said she saw the guy and told my brother in law to back it up

until the guy was passed

*phew*

The last mile was simply brutal

It was just over 3.25 miles total

but uphill, half asleep, exhausted, and extremely sick

was NOT exactly what I call “fun”

But I FREAKING did it!!

Oh, and I even did it in the time I told them

(not ahead like my other 2 legs, but heck, the way I was feeling, the fact that I did it close to the time I said, I was HAPPY! I think I came in like 49 seconds ahead of schedule :P)

It felt so GOOD to be done!!

Seriously,

I didn’t feel the best

(I was rather sick in fact!)

but the high of accomplishing it and not giving up

is amazing!

I wanted to shout for joy that I was done!

Kind of nice to be the first runner

and get it done first!

I can imagine it feels even better if you aren’t sick 😛

No time to celebrate,

because we had to get off for the next runner

My brother in law got to enjoy the downhill of my uphill

which he totally deserved after all his CRAZY/INSANE legs he had!!

Then our runner passed Fabio again on the next leg

My other van mates had their longest legs last

I did NOT envy them!

Longest leg last must be BRUTAL!

But they rocked it of course! 🙂

Then it was Keith’s turn to run after running with no shoe

It was a long 7.5 mile run too

(but no big hills – his 2nd leg, there was a straight up hill – the steepest hill I’ve seen! My brother in law had brutal hills, but nothing quite as STRAIGHT up as that one – we waited at the top of the hill for him to cheer and give him water!)

We were all worried about him

Everyone in the van was ready to take turns and run for/with him

but he as determined to do it

and he DID!

Freak of nature he is!

I am in awe of all my van mates and their awesome running skills!

The entire van was done

so we headed to get some breakfast

at a DELICIOUS waffle place

This place in Eugene was AMAZING!

I got through about 3/4 of my waffle

and the nausea set back in

My team was able to polish of my waffle for me 🙂

Then we walked across the street to Voodoo Donuts and I got donuts for my family

Then it was off to Anytime Fitness

 to shower

and they had a Hydro Massage bed we all got to use!

That thing was AMAZING

Might have been worth running the race

just to enjoy that!!

Then off to the finish line

My Husband and the kids met us there 🙂

Oh how I missed my babies!

My youngest didn’t want me out of sight

He is now in our van photos

because he couldn’t be without me

We all ran together across the finish line

got our medals

and took pictures together at the finish line

It was an amazing journey

and it was fun

(other than sickness)

And if you want to have some great stories in the car

have an Assistant District Attorney in your van

and you will be amused and entertained the entire time 🙂

That and have a guy with amazing hair on the other team

that you call Fabio 🙂

2 of my van mates took a picture with him at the end

and that picture is one of the most AMAZING pictures ever

Seriously EPIC picture – one of my favorites of all time!

My husband drove us home

I did have to pick up his car on the way home

I took like a 3 hour nap with my baby

and then my body simply shut down

I think all the adreneline and excitement of the race wore off

and the sickness REALLY set in

I felt awful

Not sore/running awful

but my body is going to explode awful

I was always surprised there was more in my body

considering how little I ate over the last few days

I was light headed and really weak too

probably due to lack of calories

but I physically could not eat anything

(I wish I had that problem more often!!)

I was in the bathroom lots overnight

at one point 5 times in a row

Needless to say,

I was NOT feeling well

and now I know why I was not feeling well

most of the race

but somehow I still managed to do it and finish

For kicks,

I stepped on the scale

on one of my many trips to the bathroom

down another 5lbs…

So there ya go

a recipe to lost 5lbs in 48hrs!

runs 12ish miles

eat VERY little

and get violently sick 😛

Would I do it again??

Maybe once the memory of being so sick is gone

I don’t think I can blame the sick on the race,

as I have never had this problem on other races

(more than likely, it is Elias’ sickness he had)

It was fun

and I enjoyed the time in the van with my van mates

If we could skip the whole running part 😉

Ha!

When planning to run a race like this

pack lots of water

(as they do not have water stops)

Lots of food to eat

The Peanut Butter M&M’s I brought were a HUGE hit

I mean protein and chocolate right? 😉

Bring a change of clothes and socks for each leg

pack them in ziploc bags, to put your sweaty clothes in and not stink up the car!

I guess time will tell if I do this adventure again!

Although,

I probably would like to attempt Hood to Coast at some point 🙂