Race Report: 2010 Blue Ridge Relay Pt Three

This is part three of my 2010 Blue Ridge Relay race report. Click here if you missed part one or two.

3. Rotation for Van1

The third rotation in relays tend to be the ones, when things fall apart. People run on a couple of hours of sleep, a generally a little under-fueled and have already several miles in their legs. But you just have to keep on plucking along... Despite the odor levels in the van which one of my team mates tried to cure with a royal pine air freshener. That thing smelled so intense, it made me feel queasy. Fortunately, that was enough to convince my van mates to take that thing down.

Back to the running:

When Alex took over from van 2 at the Bakerville Fire Department... Where I skipped the baked potatoes... Not the pancakes as stated in the last report. Moving on. Alex took over and had to run 4.3 moderate mile. The run starts out with rolling downhills, only to have a nasty 7% grade climb in the last mile. I never ran this leg, but drove it twice by now and I personally think that leg stinks. It's a along one of the busier roads (but better at night) and it's just spooky!

Alex passed the wrist band to Christina and with this, we had the first runner in the van that was done! That's good for the runner and everyone else just looks at them in envy... Changing into... regular clothes... gasp! Moving on... Christina had 4.5 moderate miles on tap next. Again, it was a fairly busy roads and on top of that, her leg also had a fair bit of turns... Oh and did I mention the fog? Spooky.

I was waiting for Christina at the next exchange zone and I just looked at my watch saying something in the lines of "according to schedule, she should be here any minute" and there she was and I was on for my longest leg.... 9 hard miles starting with a 2 mile downhill and then rolling uphills for the remainders of the leg. Maybe 30 seconds before I started running, a runner from another team took off and I saw his blinky lights ahead of me, which makes you feel not as alone in the dark. I made him my rabbit and wanted to make sure to at least keep him in sight. The first two miles ticked by fast, but my quads sure weren't happy with more downhill running. Once I hit the bottom of the hill, it really felt like the wheels came off a little. But then I saw that my rabbit was gaining on another runner and eventually passed him, which gave me the drive to keep pushing. I passed that runner maybe at mile 2.5 and we chatted a little. My crappy fueling started to catch up with me. The turkey sandwich in the middle of the night just didn't hold me over and since I passed on the baked potato, I kinda got a little in trouble. Fortunately, I packed some Powerbar gel blasts and started eating those, when feeling hungry. I also drank a ton of water. My team was passing me around the half way point and they topped off my water bottle. Shortly after that, I passed a girl on one of those rolling uphills that she hiked up, while I ran/jogged/shuffled up the hills. It was the same girl, I passed during my night leg! In the meantime, it finally dawned... Nothing better than hearing a rooster crow when you are sick and tired of running in the dark. My rabbit was still in front of me, but he started fading on the rollers. I finally passed him around mile 7 on a hill, only to get passed back on the downhill... But I held on to my consistent pace and on the next hill I passed him for good. The remainders of the leg was pretty uneventful. Oh yes and of course I got passed by runners... 4 in total. The last one passed me in the last quarter mile of the leg. All of the runners that passed me, basically just zipped by me, I hardly ever knew somebody was there until they were right next to me. Oh well.

Jeff was off for his last leg. 7.4 hard miles that are basically all uphill. Yikes! What sticks out in my mind about this leg was, that you turn on Highway 19 and there is a parking lot to your left that may look like an exchange zone at the first glance. Only to find out that you have another 0.7 miles to run. But once again, Jeff clocked an awesome time for his leg and was done as well.

Our van really had some long legs in the last rotation. Once Jeff handed off to Ken, he was on the road for a 7.5 hard miles that had some juicy rollers going on. The first mile he was running through the town of Burnsville. When we passed him in the van we handed him his water bottle that he forgot to take and this way also had the chance to help him out with some equipment issues... That needed a little more attention later on, but after that, he was ready to roll.

Right about then, I also started to take pictures again.

For example of Joel, waiting to finally get on the road... Ready to get it done!

And the fog that I mentioned earlier was still there when our last runner (of van1) hit the road, but by the time he was done, there wasn't a cloud in the sky.

After Ken handed over to Joel, he and van1 were only 4.4 easy miles from being done. 4.4 miles with no turn, along a river with beautiful scenery. But all of a sudden, it also started to get back hot. But Mr. Joel brought it home for van1 in a great time!

Resting and waiting to cross the Finish Line

Van1 did a little happy dance and then left the transition area to head to Asheville NC for pizza and beer! We did drive the Mountain Goat leg, so that Ken could see what all the fuss is about when we talk about that particular part.

Once we parked and got some food (and beer) into us, it was time to relax and rest at the finish line.

It was pretty warm outside, so after a while we headed into a bar/restaurant right next to the finish line... for more food (and beer) until van2 arrived!

Over 33 hours and 207 miles after we started in the Grayson Highlands State Park, our last runner crossed the finish line in downtown Asheville NC.

I honestly have to say, that the more relays I do (this was number 3), the more I think that it is about the journey and not about the finish line. Relay finish lines, just seem very anti-climatic... Everybody is just tired and ready to be done with it and go home. For me it's all about the team meetings before and after, the smack talk e-mail going back and forth between team members, the actual time traveling and running and reminiscing about how your run was... Basically the whole social aspect of the experience. Of course it's also a physical challenge and I am always amazed to see what our bodies are capable of, even after you sleep deprived them and didn't fuel them properly!

We'll see team DNR is up to next! ;-)

Race Report: 2010 Blue Ridge Relay Pt Two

This is part two of my 2010 Blue Ridge Relay race report. If you missed part one, you can find it here.

2. Rotation for Van1

Van 1 took over around 6.30 Friday evening. This post is going to have much less pictures than the one before, because taking pictures at night doesn't really work with that camera and my abilities. Also, because I tend to take less pictures the more tired I get. Same goes for general reporting, since things get a little fuzzy in my memory starting in the second rotation, I can hardly keep the rotations apart basically, but I'll try my best.

So Alex took over in Blowing Rock for his second leg. He was about to embark on 7.1 miles rated "hard" for distance and elevation changes. It was also routed along a very busy road and we were loosing light fast. Certainly not the safest conditions, but equipped with blinky lights, safety vest and last year's team t-shirt in neon yellow, it was the safest way possible. While we were waiting for Alex to come to the "Blue Moon Station", we saw this cowboy getting ready to run as well. He was part of an ultra team that ended post a 7 something minute mile for the whole course. This guy took off for a 10 mile leg with a pace that most people run a 5K.

When Christina took over the wristband, it was almost dark. So no pictures anymore. She was about to head out for the Grandfather Mountain Leg from the Blue Moon Station to the entrance of Grandfather Mountain State Park... 10 hard miles with a total of over 800 feet climbing, through the woods in the dark with last year's report of bats still in our ears. Do I need to say more? We decided that we are going to wait 45 minutes before we are going to drive the leg, so we could see how things are going and support her with water and whatever else. By the time we finally caught her, she was much further along than we thought she would and even better, she was in great spirits and feeling good. So we just took one additional cheer stop and then went ahead to the next exchange zone.

80% of the elevation that Christina climbed over her 10 mile leg, I was about to loose in my next leg over 2.3 miles. ALL DOWNHILL! I got staffed out in my blinking safety vest, that I bought specifically for this relay, and soon was glad that it was a short leg because the safety vest was too big and moving around too much. Luckily, I brought my cheap safety vest with me for my long leg later on. Anyways, I was running downhill for 2.3 miles. I got passed once and I passed on girl. Other than that, I didn't see anybody around. I was just plucking along, trying to keep a high cadence. The leg was over before it really started and I was done in under 18 minutes, clocking a 7:45 minute mile... I never run under 8... But this was probably the first time ever that I was running downhill for that kind of distance! My quads got a serious beating and I was basically instantly sore... Not bad (yet), but I definitely felt the burn.

And now things start to get really fuzzy.

I handed off to Jeff and he took off for a short and sweet 3.4 mile run that in total didn't gain or loose a lot of elevation, but he had one quarter mile 9% grade to climb not even a mile into his run. But in usual Jeff performance he plowed through that leg like a champ and handed off to Ken.

Ken was about to do a 4.9 mile "moderate" leg. Which is kind of not really moderate considering that he had to climb for 1.5 miles half way through his leg. It was also one of those spookier ones.... Kinda dark, in the woods etc etc... yikes.... Oh yes and of course he was sandbagging again when giving us his projected time for the clip board! ;-)

Last one up for that rotation was Joel. Close to 6 miles and basically one rolling downhill. Well, there was one juicy climb too!

I don't have much memory of this leg, because we headed out right after Joel left and traveled to the next transition zone to meet up with the other half of the team and also to grab some of the turkey sandwiches that the volunteers at the Plumtree Presbyterian Church exchange sell.

2. Break for Van1

Pretty much all of us grabbed one of these sandwiches and then we chatted some with the other van until Joel came in. Actually, I might have left the group early and took a little cat nap in the van until Joel was done with his run.

After we wrapped things up at the Plumtree exchange, we moved ahead to the next transition zone at the Bakersville Fire Department. They sell pancakes there, but I just had the turkey sandwich and wanted to sleep more than I wanted to eat. So we found a spot at the back of the parking lot and Alex set-up his tent, Christina and Ken an air mattress, I pulled out my camping mattress and the remainders of the group set-up shop in the van. After maybe two glorious hours of sleep on the soft and mushy grass, I woke up and the first thing that I saw was a big fat old spider crawling over the grass maybe two feet away from my face. I am glad that happened after I woke up and not before I feel asleep, otherwise, sleep would have been impossible... at least outside.

We got our stuff together and waited for the last runner from van 2 coming in.

I skipped the pancakes again... Not a good idea if you are planning on running a 9-miler in a couple of hours.

To be continued...

Race Report: 2010 Blue Ridge Relay Pt One

This is part one of my Blue Ridge Relay race report.

207.1 miles from Grayson Highland State Park VA to Asheville NC
Team "Do Not Resuscitate"

Total Time: 33h 03m 09s (9:32 minute/mile)

Open Category: 41/44
Overall: 87/99

Pre-Race:

Last year, we stayed in Boone NC in the night before the race, which made for a very early wake-up call. This year, things were a little more relaxed since our hotel was just half an hour away from the start line.... theoretically... 45 minutes including a couple of detours.

Van2 decided to sleep in (can't really blame them), so van1 was on it's own. We signed in with the race officials and took our starting line picture with half of the team. The other half is going to be photo-shopped into this pic! ;-)

 

The sequence in Van1 was: Alex, Christina, me, Jeff, Ken and Joel

A disclaimer for the following "leg reports": I didn't interview my van mates about their legs, so please keep in mind that all of this is basically what I saw or what they mentioned after their run. Some descriptions will be more detailed and some less detailed... Depending on what stuck in my head. Each of my team mates is encouraged to add their opinion or set me straight where necessary.

1. Rotation Van1

As our first runner, Alex took the show on the road for team DNR. His first leg was downhill and the goal was to beat Joel's time from last year... and even more important, not to get passed by Fred Flintstone again, which was a no show this year, so no threat there. The van handbook mentioned to watch for wild ponies, but I don't believe there were any sightings. His 4 mile leg was done and over quick (at least for the one's waiting) and the wristband was handed over to Christina.

Christina's 7.5 mile leg was also mostly downhill on narrow gravel roads. It actually took our van forever to navigate those roads, but the views were nice and there was almost no traffic, except the team vans. She made it in to the exchange zone pretty much at her projected time and looked strong when she handed over the wristband to me.

 

My first leg was 5.2 miles with the second mile being a nice steep uphill (up to 8% grade) on gravel roads. The first mile, I did faster than I thought I did and still felt good. The uphill mile was a little more work, but I kept plugging along... slowly. Mile 2 according to the Garmin was around a 12 minute/ mile. But once I was done with that hill, it was all downhill to the next exchange zone - first on gravel, but then the last 2.5 miles on the road. The gravel made for some insecure footing and even though I was wearing trail running shoes (as usual), I felt several rocks poking in my feet. The van traffic also caused some dust which didn't feel to good. I good passed by several people during this leg and passed one runner. The people that passed, didn't just pass me, but they flew by me and most of them were out of my sight quickly. I tried to not get discouraged by this and just kept on running based on my abilities, trusting in my faster team mates to make some ground on their legs. I ended up with 10 minutes/mile as average for this leg and I feel good about it... It also felt good to pass the baton to Jeff.

Jeff had a 6.9 mile leg on tap as first run. He actually was the only team mate that chose to return to his legs from last year (to re-live the glory? ;-), so he knew what he was about to run through from own experience and not just watching other team mates. He also had to run on one of the first bigger roads with heavy traffic. But in true Jeff fashion, he had a fast leg despite the long nasty climb between mile 3.5 and 5.5... Carrying NO WATER... Fascinating! Time to hand over the wristband to Ken.

Ken's leg routed him through the town of West Jefferson. A lot of the time, there were sidewalks available, but at one of the craziest spots there was none. Of course.  He also had tons of turns on his run, but not a problem for Special K. There was this one quarter mile 7% grade climb in the last mile of the run. Yikes. He came in way under his projected time, so Ken really has to stop sandbagging! ;-)

 

Time for Joel and the last leg of the first rotation for van1. Joel had two nice hills on his first leg over a total of 5.2 miles. The first mile was all hill topping out at a 6% grade and then the other hill was between mile 2.5 and 4.5 topping out at 8% grade. The handbook says to enjoy the views of the mountain and the waterfalls on the first big descent, but I kinda doubt that anyone has the nerve for that kind of thing on a gravel road while trying to recover from climbing a big ole hill. But like the trooper that his is, he brought it home and handed the baton to the first runner of van2.

1. Break for Van1

Now it was time to get some rest for van1. We drove to the Tanger Outlets in Blowing Rock and set up camp at the second transition zone where we would start up again in a couple of hours. We got there around lunch time, so we hit up the same spot we did last year and stuffed our faces with burgers/wraps and fries/ sweet potato fries (onion rings for the people with the iron stomachs). After feeling sufficiently full, we got back to the van to nap. Some of us napped or tried to nap in the van, some of us where laying out on the grass like so many other runners from other teams too. I maybe got in 1.5 hours of sleep, which is pretty darn good for me in.

Funny side story from the transition zone: After we were already parked there for several hours, two police cars visited us with sirens and blue lights and stuff. From what we hear, a "concerned customer" called the cops because our van had "Do Not Resuscitate" written on them and there are people laying in the grass. Hmmm... For whatever reason they completely ignored the writing on the next van window saying "This time it's not serious... again!". Anyways, the police officers were pretty cool after we explained what was going on and they of course also had to notice all the other decorated vans in the parking lot. Weird weird story.

Stay tuned for the next part of the relay race report coming up tomorrow... maybe... We'll see! ;-)


First run post BRR2 update: It was ugly and I just made it to 3.5 miles before giving in and walking back to the Y. I still feel pretty crappy now and will call it an early night. Hopefully things feel better tomorrow.

Too Soon?

Monday morning, I received this e-mail from one of my team mates:

Since Team DNR has become Do Not Return to the BRR.  Here are some details for the 2011 Bourbon Chase:

Date is 10/7/2011.

Field size is limited to 200 teams.

Cost is $1,200 if registered by Thanksgiving.  A $400 deposit is required; the balance is not due until July, 2011.

The race goes from Jim Beam to downtown Lexington.

I have not looked at all the legs, but several of the "Difficult" rated ones had hills with 3% grades, 100' over a mile or so.  Those would be rated Easy or Moderate on the BRR!

The starting line is about 6-1/2 hours from Greenville.

I'm in!  Who's with me?

Too soon?

Looks like a lot of people on the team are ready to make plans for next year already! ;-)

***********************
In other news:

There will be a local relay on November 13th benefiting the Project HOPE Foundation.

The relay is for teams of five and every runner has two legs and course is 42.5 miles in total. The start line is in the Paris Mountain State Park and the finish line in downtown Greenville SC.

Here is the race information.

This sounds like so much fun, but I am already signed up for the Camp Croft Trail Half on the same day, so I guess that means I am out for this one. Dang.

***********************

And I am still working on my race report for the Blue Ridge Relay and just give you a couple more pictures (thanks, Brian) from the weekend in the meantime:

 Carbo loading in the hotel room... Yes.... It's really water in my hand! ;-)

Van1 and Van2 reunited at the first transition zone.

Another reunion at the second transition zone.

And the third and last transition zone.

In the meantime, the recovery is coming along. I can walk down stairs again and I made it to the pool this morning for an hour of easy swimming. Tomorrow morning, I will attempt my first run post BRR2 and can only hope that my running partner is going to take it easy on me! ;-)

So long.

All Over The Place

Brace yourself, because this post is going to be all over the place.

To follow-up on my yoga post from last week, I have to confess that I didn't make it... Zipp, zero, nada and nothing at all on Thursday other than working, traveling to Jefferson NC and have a ball with my van1 team members at the local pizza joint. But due that post, Lindsay gave me this great link for some 10 minute yoga videos. Can't wait to try those out, once I can move again.

Which brings me to the next topic: Yes, I am still sore... Of course my quads are still trashed (thanks downhills), but even worse are my ankles. This is the weirdest thing, I don't think I ever had sore ankles in my life!! I just hope that what I feel is actually soreness not something more serious going on.

Due to all that, I am going to skip my planned workout for tonight and will give my body another full day of rest. That frees up the evening to go to the monthly Greenville Track Club meeting and listen to guest speaker Jeff Galloway! Can't wait!

When I posted yesterday morning, I still had high hopes that I would get in a swim, but honestly I was just too tired for it and couldn't get myself to do anything. I also planned to head downtown in the late afternoon to see the finish of the USA Cycling Pro Championship, but even for that I couldn't get my butt off the couch.

I tried to follow the race over the live stream on the official website, but that thing was a nightmare! After getting really frustrated, I finally grabbed the dog and headed towards Old Buncomb Road which was part of the course. That's not even a mile from the house and since I should be doing at least a little bit of physical activity to loosen up those muscles, a little walk sure wouldn't harm. Half way there, I heard the helicopter and police sirens and I was worried that I would miss the cyclists by a couple of minutes, so Karma and I started a little shuffle (yes, quite painful). We made it just in time to see Ben King (the winner) leading with around a 10 minute gap to the peloton. I also scored a water bottle that one cyclist tossed away close to where I was at. Once the peloton passed me, I made it back to the house and rest up some... 20 minutes of walking is ROUGH! ;-)

So long! ;-)

First BRR Pics

WE ARE BAAAACK! I caught up on some sleep in the meantime and now I am ready to look at the first pictures from the relay.

We had tons of fun as usual and there are so many stories that need to be told, once it's all sorted out in my head. If I remember correctly, we ended up under 33 hours in total for 207.1 miles from the Grayson Highlands State Park VA to Asheville NC. I ran 16 miles out of that distance and am happy with them. The soreness settled in as soon as I finished my last leg and has just gotten worse from there. I can't remember the last time I was this sore. My ankles (????) and quads are killing me right now. So the plan for today is to do some walking and maybe some swimming, to shake things out.

Here are the first couple of pictures off my camera and I hope to have tons more as soon as everyone has uploaded their stuff in Facebook.

Some people in Van1 thought it was a good idea to have pizza pre race... Actually, not the two on the pic.... Not me either! ;-)

We made sure, that everyone knows our van means business!

Van2 decided to sleep in, so Van1 represented team DNR at the start line... There will be some photo-shopping!

Some people warm-up with push-ups, they are so hard core! ;-)

Parts of Van1 and Van2 at the transition area in Blowing Rock. Van1 about to take over for the second time.

Van1 right before we send our last runner on the road. Ready to be done!

Team Do Not Resuscitate at the finish line in Asheville NC. GO TEAM!!

Packed And Ready To Roll

This post is schedule to be published around the same time as "van one" is planning to pick me up at the house.

On the road again and super excited. The only thing that sucks about this little trip is the fact that my dear husband decided not to join in the fun this year and with that, I lost my personalized and customized pillow.

I just finish packing a couple of minutes ago and ended up with a huge bag that normally Terry hauls around. But really, with the van rentals, I didn't worry about packing more conservatively.

What I think I need for this relay:

• three running outfits including socks, arm and leg warmers to make quick long sleeves and pants in case it's getting cold at night
• 2 safety vest with blinky lights, 1 regular safety vest, 2 head lamps and 1 red rear lamp (Christmas in September)
• two pairs of running shoes, 1 pair of sandals
• compression sleeves and recovery socks for in between the runs
• big towel, so I don't have to sweat into the car seat this time (it's just a rental... yummie)
• TOMS (tons of more stuff)

My biggest "innovation" for this relay is having three string bags (race goodies) in my big bag. One for all the safety related gear, one for all running gear (Garmin, glasses, headbands, Road ID*, nutrition) and one for "medical" needs (tape, nail clippers, aspercreme, biofreeze, sunscreen, tums)... Hopefully, this approach will save some time and nerves.

*reminds me, that I have to update my insurance information in my RoadID profile

After I got all my stuff together, I did a little photo series about Karma and me:

My fellow "model" obviously was a little distracted.

Here we go!

And here another pic with some crazy eye action.

Every time the flash went off, Ms Karma was going into a little frenzy, jumping all over the place and on top of me... She's lucky, that she's cute.

And here is a Runner's World's "Daily Kick In The Butt" quote from a couple of weeks ago:

I think there is too much emphasis placed on the distinction between the people in the front and the people in the back. I happen to feel that the sensations are exactly the same for all of us.
Kenny Moore, marathoner and writer

In that sense, I expect for team D.N.R. to rule the 9 minute/mile division at the BRR!

So long! ;-)

Dress Rehearsal for the BRR

Happy Labor Day!

This blog post comes to you from my bed and was written while watching silly series on TV. Yes, I know the weather is beautiful and such, but you know what.... I have the house to myself today and I will just take it easy. Besides, the weather is beautiful for around five months now... At one point, one just needs to curl up in bed.

Oh and yes, I already ran 9 miles today, so I think I am alright.

I used the long weekend to do my usual relay dress rehearsal. The Blue Ridge Relay is in two weeks, so this was my last chance anyways! ;-) My sequence in legs is 5.2, 2.3 and 9 miles and that's also what I was planning on running for the rehearsal.

For the last couple of months, the only thing I did was long slow distances with a couple of intervals sprinkled in and a race here and there. So my goal for all of these rehearsal runs, was just to run them... Not paying attention to heart rate and just get them done.

The five miler was done Sunday morning around the neighborhood. It is going to be the hilliest out of my three legs and our neighborhood is hilly.... Perfect. Thanks to the cool temps, this run felt great and it was faster than anything I have done since... I don't know how long. Success.

After the run, I failed to hydrate properly which resulted in a nasty dehydration headache that I just wasn't able to shake for the rest of the day... No matter how much water I had after the headache already started.

Due to that headache, I bagged my second run for the day. Especially since it was just a two miler and I didn't think it was worth the hassle. But I took the dog for a longer walk, doing that two mile loop that I was planning on running. This way, I at least spend that distance on my feet and got a good upper body workout in, since Miss Karma is just incapable of walking civilized on the leash and kept dragging me along.

I spent a good chunk out of my Labor Day morning just being lazy and of course got a late start on my 9 miler. Actually, such a late start, that the swim after the run wasn't going to happen, because the Y closes at 1PM on holidays. I still drove to the Y and ran from there for a little change in scenery and it was totally worth it. Even though the trail sometimes was very crowded with all the people out... But this way, things never got boring, because there were always things to look at. 9 miler done and done and at a decent pace too, even with the day already warming up again.

Well, I guess I am ready for the relay now. ;-)

Are You Ready For The Blue Ridge?

Yesterday, somebody asked me if I was ready for the Blue Ridge Relay.... Hmmmmm... We'll see.

After a little e-mail chatter break earlier in the summer, the team is in full organization mode - kind of... maybe... We'll find out whenever we have the next team (actually first meeting for BRR2) that is tentatively scheduled for next weekend.

But one important bullet point was crossed off the list by finalizing the t-shirt designs! As usual, kudos go to Alex for doing a great job over and over with our team t-shirts. Slowly but surely, I also get used to this obnoxious color choice that we are not changing since it somehow has become our trademark... If they say so. Anyways, here are the final t-shirt designs for your viewing pleasure!

front

back

In more runner 3 (that would be me) specific news: They changed the legs around again* and instead of 14 point something miles in total, I will do 16 point something miles with the added goody that my longest leg with 9 miles is going to be last leg... Yay me! That's going to be FUN!

*happened to me at the Palmetto200 as well

For a little while, I thought about trying to trade my leg with some of my van buddies, but really, the other legs are not that much shorter to be worth the hassle. Besides, the good thing with runner 3 is that the night leg is short and sweet... Just how I like my night legs! ;-)

Note: They did switch their leg descriptions from handdrawn to mapmyrun.com maps and elevation charts which makes me feel more confident in the accuracy, especially for the elevation changes. My last leg last year was quite a surprise (and not a good one) when I ran it, since it looked nothing like the elevation chart.

Okay, let's have a look at what is going to be in store for me this time around.

click on the pictures to enlarge

Well, at least I don't seem to have crazy* elevation gains. That's good!

*it's all relative at the BRR... There is going to be a good bit of up and down and from the look of it, the only beast I will have to conquer is mile 2 in my first leg... Git'r'done!

On the training front, things are getting back into swing after my no workout policy of last week. The temperatures and the humidity makes for rough runs these days. Low in speed and high in heart rate. Other than that... Trucking along!

So long! ;-)

B-Day Hiking Trip Report

Day One (Friday): Running Errands and Returning to the Scene of the "Crime"

The day started off early. We are so used to getting up early, that we even wake up early on weekends and days off. But that wasn't necessarily a bad thing, since we had a couple of errands to run before heading out of town. I also still had to pack, because I just couldn't get myself to do it the night before. After that we headed out to our chiropractor appointment and then grabbed some breakfast. I didn't have a good backpack for hiking day trips, so we also stopped by a couple of stores and now I am the owner of a brand new Camelbak Mule. Looking at the watch, it was almost 11AM by then and we decided, that we will stop by the Hincapie Sportsware Warehouse Sale. I was hoping to go there, but we originally thought that we would be already gone by the time the Sale started. It was certainly worth it... I wanted to get some winter gear and left the store with a winter bib, winter jacket, base layer, knickers and socks. NICE! :-) So there are no excuses this winter, not to ride the bike!

By 1PM we were finally on the road to Mount Mitchell State Park. We got on the Blue Ridge Parkway in Asheville NC and for Terry it was a trip down memory lane. Just three weeks prior, he was running exactly this piece of road as his last (glorious) leg in the Blue Ridge Relay. Now I know, where he passed who and so on and so forth. Here, we also discovered that Karma gets motion sick... This time we were able to stop in time, the next time, we wouldn't get that lucky. We followed the Blue Ridge Parkway and made a couple of stops at overlook points. At milepost 364.5 Craggy Gardens we made a longer break for taking pictures and a little bit of walking.



We saw big clouds rolling in and it got worse each mile we travelled. By the time we finally reached the Mount Mitchell State Park, the visibility was basically zero. We parked at the visitor center and decided to take the two mile trail up to the summit. Right from the get-go the trail was rough, but was also a lot of fun and interesting to hike on. When we reached the intersection to the Mountain-To-Sea-Trail (MST) we somehow lost the trail and ended up hiking straight up the mountain through the woods until we finally hit another trail. We had the choice of following the trail to the left or to the right, we chose the left and 20 minutes later ended up on a camp site. Good thing was, that we finally knew where we were again, the bad thing was, that we were walking in the wrong direction away from the summit. On the camp site we ran into a ranger and he confirmed that the signs on the Old Mount Mitchell Trail are pretty confusing and gave us the shortest way back to the visitor center. Visibility has gotten even worse in the meantime and there wasn't really a point of going up to the summit anymore. In the Mount Mitchell State Park, there are signs posted everywhere that they have frequent black bear sightings... In this context, Terry made the quote of the day: "Karma, if Mr Bear comes, you are on your own!" ;-)

On our way to the hotel in Marion NC, we rode along the Blue Ridge Parkway and then switchbacks down the mountain. I assume that this is the last 25 miles the cyclist have to do when riding the Assault of Mount Mitchell... Tons of respect for these guys!

Day Two (Saturday): BEAR! and a lot of Hiking

We started Saturday out with breakfast and then made our way to Grandfather Mountain. We have been joking before about the bear advisory signs that are posted everywhere. While driving along a four lane highway, we all of a sudden saw a black bear sprinting across the road in front of us. Fortunately so far ahead, that there was never any danger of actually hitting the bear. So my first live and in color viewing of a bear happened out of the security of the car and I am not unhappy about that. Unfortunately, the cameras were tucked away in our backpacks on the back seat of the car, so we don't even have a picture to proof it. The speed the bear was sprinting was really impressive... There goes the illusion that you would be able to outrun a bear! :-) We kept on going and soon enough hit switchbacks again up the mountain. My stomach felt queasy and so it was no surprise that Karma got sick too... This time, she was a little too fast for us. But we learned and didn't give her food before arriving at Grandfather, so the mess didn't get too bad.



At Grandfather Mountain, we made a quick pit stop at the Nature Museum and then parked the car on the Hiking Parking Lot. From there we did the short hike up to the Mile High Swinging Bridge.



The bridge was shorter than I thought it would be, but it was still impressive. The wind was blowing like crazy up there, but we made our way across and walked over to the peak. Nice views all around... Clear blue skies and everything. Unfortunately, the Grandfather Trail access from the bridge was closed and therefore we had to hike back to the parking lot and go on the Grandfather Extension Trail, that leads to the same peaks. Our plan was to hike to Calloway Peak that would have been 2.7 miles one way. The trails where beautiful, but also very crowded, which was not surprising on such a beautiful day. It was leading through rhododendron bushes which makes me think that this might be worth paying the USD 15.- entrance fee again and come back when those bushes are blooming in the spring. The dirt trail became a rock trail and we went from hiking to mountain climbing in the matter of a couple of steps. The first obstacles, we were able to easily navigate and Karma showed her mountain goat potential. Once we hit the base of McCrae, things got a little more complicated. There were steal ropes fastened to the mountain on which we had to pull ourselves up and then came the first ladder.



Terry carried Karma up that one, but then we hit the next ladder and we had to give up right there... Maybe one mile into our hike and over an hour on the trail already. We looked at a series of wooden ladders up to the peak of McCrae. These ladders where basically fastened on the side of the mountain... There was no way, we could get the dog up to the peak. There was an alternative route, but that had ladders too. So I went up to the peak while Terry stayed with Karma and then he went up while I stayed with her. At least we saw the first peak and the stunning views before heading back to the parking lot.





We left Grandfather Mountain around 3.30PM, got a late lunch on the road and then stopped again at Linville Falls for an easy hike and really beautiful views on a nice water fall and a lot of nice people along the way we chatted with. The place was even more crowded than Grandfather Mountain before, but that didn't matter because the trails where nice and wide. We spent another 1.5 hours there and walked from one viewing area to the next.



On the way back to the hotel, we stopped at Eddie's Spaghettis, the best Italian place in the county per vote in 2007. The food was alright and it made me wonder how many other Italian places are in the county. Honestly, I was so hungry, I would have eaten anything. Back in the hotel, we where glad to finally lay down and rest our legs a little. Later, we actually ended up walking to the gas station across the road for some ice creme before snoozing off.

Day Three (Sunday): Gem Mining and the Return to Reality

This morning we got up, had some breakfast and then headed out to find the Lucky Strike Recreational Mining Company. In the area are tons and tons of gold and gem mining places and we saw a report on the Travel Channel previously and thought we will try our luck with some mining. It was fun and we actually found some really nice precious and semi-precious stones. While talking with the lady that was running the diner that morning, we found out that the gem mining is basically just a fun activity for the ladies and the kids. They buy the stones and prep the buckets that they sell you. So it's kind of fake panning, but at least you are guaranteed to find some stones and really, it was fun! :-) The gold mining you can do there is for real though! After our treasure hunt, we hit the road again back to Greenville.



Halfway there, we passed the sign "Saluda Historic Downtown" and we took the exit to have a look at it. I was there before several years ago and yes, it's a cute historic downtown, it's just very tiny. Already heading back, I saw the sign for Keith's Bike and Tri Shop and decided to stop since Coach Katie once mentioned that they have cheap bathing suites. We probably spend an hour in the shop, chit-chatting with Keith and looking at tons of stuff and buying some of it.

We got back to Greenville in the early afternoon, so we had time for some cleaning and a nice 5.6 mile run... Since we haven't been on our legs enough over the weekend! :-)

This was an AWESOME birthday weekend... Couldn't have asked for anything more! THANKS, TERRY!

After the Race is Before the Race

Before writing this post, the famous Sepp Herberger quote "Nach dem Spiel is vor dem Spiel" (eng.: After the game is before the game.) was bouncing around in my head. I always loved this sentence, even in my non-athletics days, because it contains a very simple truth that can be applied to pretty much any field in your life. Sure it's great to have accomplished something, but most of the time ending something, means to start working towards something else. Only because you just finished this huge project at work doesn't mean you won't show up the next day taking on new challenges - right? Or do you want to end up like Wile E. Coyote in the picture (taken from Runner's World blog) above? ;-)

Obviously, the adventure of doing the Blue Ridge Relay is still not quite digested and I caught myself chuckling several times in the car on my way home from work just thinking of: the "safety thong", "Kerrie would never do this!", "You live on M&Ms and TUMS right?"... For some of the things you just had to be in van #2 otherwise it doesn't make any sense. You would think that so shortly after the relay, we wouldn't want to see or hear anything from each other, but yesterday there were already e-mails flying back and forth, talking about how much fun we had and to wrap up some organizational stuff. In the middle of all this, Brian (aka Guz) brought up the idea to venture out doing another relay and within minutes we basically decided to do the American Odyssey Relay (AOR) from Gettysburg PA to Washington D.C. end of April 2010 and over half of the BRR team already committed to join in the fun... And the rest will come along over the next couple of weeks - Sure thing! :-)

As promised, here are some links to race reports about the Blue Ridge Relay of other teams, in case you are interested. (Link list is taken from http://www.runningrelays.com)

• Run, Theoden, Run
• Foot Rx
• Coach K Is Going Somewhere
• Team 4Tunate (To Have 2 More Runners)
• Screaming Mountain Goats
• Run Bob Run Bob
• Ingram Running Team
• Just Kev.in

While I happily jumped on the bandwagon to do the AOR yesterday, I also finally decided NOT to do the American Warrior Triathlon this coming Saturday. Several reasons played into this decision and on top of the list is certainly that I wasn't able to train properly in the last three weeks. Even though I am not competing for trophies, I want to at least compete against myself and I don't feel like I would be able to… This was a tough one, because it means that I only did one triathlon in my first tri season and my plans at the beginning of the year were much more ambiguous. I guess, I have to do a better job planning my 2010 season. :-)

But it's still "before the race" for me because of the Race for the Cure 5K coming up on September 26th. I know, it "just" a 5K, but I like doing them… It's a nice distance, you don't have to put hours and hours of training into the preparation but it still keeps you from slacking. Also, it supports the great cause of fighting the fight against cancer and this is a topic that touches all of our lives in one way or another sooner or later. It's not too late to donate, click here for my fundraising page. Besides, I still have unfinished business with this race course around the CU-ICAR campus. I did the Candlelight Run end of June of this year. It was still over 90 degrees when the gun went off at 9 PM… The humidity was out of this world. I never suffered that much on a 5K and I never posted a worse time for this distance… Not this time…

Oh and I almost forgot, the official results of the Blue Ridge Relay are out.

Team: Do Not Resuscitate
Time: 31:47:53 hours
Placing Overall: 75/106
Placing in the Open Category: 33/45

Once again, great job team! The BRR is considered one of the most challenging relays and we jumped into the challenge with both feet as complete relay newbies and made it happen. So proud of our accomplishment!

2009 Blue Ridge Relay Race Report

208 Miles from Grayson Highland State Park Virginia to Asheville North Carolina
Team "Do Not Resuscitate"

Total Time: 31 hours 50 minutes (official time not available yet)

This report is out of the perspective of runner #9.

Getting to the Starting Line

The team met up on Thursday (9-10) at 4PM in Greenville SC. It's 12 people and two vehicles that needed to get there, get packed and organized... And yes, it's as much fun as it sounds! :-) We also got our official team t-shirts that just look AWESOME... Kudos to Alex for the design and Kerrie for getting the job done! Thanks so much! By 5PM we were on the road with the Clemson game kick-off time breathing down our necks to make it to Boone (NC) on time... Not that I would care about that, as already stated in a previous post... But if you are in the team, you hang with the team! :-) The three hours up to Boone, gave us some time for good old bonding. A couple of us, just knew one or two of the other team mates when we signed up for this adventure. It was time to get to know each other a little better in the prospect of spending the next two days together in very restricted space! We didn't make it to Boone in time for the kick-off, but the beer was tasty anyways and we also got a first glimpse at all the yummy snack stuff, that Kerrie brought along... I am still thinking about these brownies and really consider to get a Sam's membership again!

Clemson lost, but I didn't know about that until the next morning, because I actually tried to get some sleep. The alarm was set for 4.10AM in order to grab the last shower for the next 35+ hours. I slept miserable... It felt like I didn't get any sleep at all... Not unusual for me. My pre-race jitters were fully geared up and I wasn't even scheduled for my first leg until the early afternoon! From the hotel we had another 1.5 hours to drive to Highland Park in Virginia to the starting line for our seeded start at 7.40AM. My stomach was feeling squirrly (Thanks again Kerrie for this word, it describes everything I never knew how to express!) and the narrow roads and switchbacks sure didn't help. We arrived at the race site with plenty time to spare.... Picked up our race packages (great long sleeve race shirts!), had some breakfast, waited for dawn and took THIS picture of 12 people ready to rock'n'roll!

Van #1 is rolling and van #2 is taking a break!

In this relay, there is an active and inactive van for teams of 12. Van #1 is home to runner #1 through #6 (Joel, Dave, Chris, Jeff, Christina and Alex) and van #2 is the crib for runner #7 through #12 (Mike, Todd, Me, Kerrie, Brian and Terry [BF]). Joel started the race out with Leg #1, a 4 mile downhill within the state park. He was clearly sandbagging ;-), before the gun went off... Talking about hoping to make it around 32 minutes, just to blast the first leg out of the way in under 29 minutes! Great job, Joel! But I completely jump ahead in the story right now. We send Joel off for his first leg, then van #1 had to get rolling quickly, because they have to drive ahead to the next exchange zone and Dave had to prepare to take over the baton/wrist strap thing whenever Joel made it in. Our van is on a break until it's time to take over at leg #7 and we planned on six hours of free time. On our way down, we passed Joel twice (we stopped to take some pictures of the great scenery) and saw van #1 sitting in the exchange zone 2 before we headed out of the park and to the first transition zone (area where the baton gets exchange between vans). From then on, we got spotty reports from van #1 how they are doing and where they are at. The NC mountains is really a place with a lot of crappy cell phone reception... That always makes me wonder, how we were ever able to survive without cell phones at all! Anyways, I was worried about being bored out of my mind during our down times, but I have to say, that those six hours just flew by. You talk to your team mates, you talk to other teams and before you know it, van #1 is pulling into the transition area and everyone waits on Alex to make an appearance, while catching up on how everyone is feeling and how their first run was.

Van #2 is taking over the baton for the first time!

It was afternoon already and the sun was burning down, when Mike started leg #7 and with that, the race for van #2 had officially started too. So we didn't linger around long, hugged van #1 good-bye and got going to get to next exchange zone in time. We were on the course now and saw the beautiful scenery and also had a first glimpse on how hilly it was. Leg #7 was rated "moderate" and when we saw the hills on this piece of road, we really wondered what would wait for all of us in the "hard" and "very hard" sections of the course. We saw several people run/walking the hills. Mike made it into the next exchange zone with a great time (didn't walk once) and handed the strap over to Todd. While Todd was out there, we once again were surprised by the difficulty of the course. His leg was tons and tons of switchbacks and whenever you turned a corner there was still hills left to climb. Once again, we took LOTS of pictures out of the van having our eyes wide open for the beauty of the area. The next exchange area was a tight fit, so we had to get the van parked first. By that time, I was super hyper and nervous, because I was the next one up. I was waiting around for maybe 10 minutes until Todd came in handing me the baton and so finally the race also started for me. Leg #9 was a 5.2 mile piece mostly flat with one bad hill at the very end. I had a girl with a light blue shirt in front of me and she was my rabbit, but I just didn't have it in me to close the gap, just the opposite, she got further and further away from me. I got all kinds of paranoid about my knee and every slight feeling out of the ordinary made me worry, but that was all for nothing, because the knee held up great throughout the run, just my legs felt like they didn't have any juice in them. When I hit the last piece of the leg with the hill, it felt like running against a wall and I walked maybe 30 yards on this hill... That was my first time ever walking during a race, but it wouldn't be my last time until the relay was over, but more about that at a later point. I did a 9:59 mins per mile average on my first leg and have to say, I am a little disappointed about that, but on the other hand I am glad that I was able to do this without pain in a beautiful landscape and even had a dog as a running buddy for a mile or so! :-) In the exchange zone, I already saw Kerrie and she was ready to burn her leg up! She had 8.2 hard miles ahead of her. Around 3 miles of that climbing on gravel roads. When we passed her she was looking strong. We also waited around at a descent to check in with her and she told us that she was feeling good. So we took off again and waited for her in the next exchange zone, while Brian got ready for his run. He would be our first runner on the Blue Ridge Parkway (BRP) and we had to take a different route with the support vehicle, so we were not able see him on the course. From what he told us after he was done, that the BRP was busy, but fortunately not crowded. While Brian plugged his way along the BRP, we took advantage of using the alternative route to get a couple minutes of cell phone reception and also to pick up ice at a gas station to finally get our Gatorade cooler going. Now it was time for Terry and therefore the last leg for van #2 in the first rotation. He also had a piece of Parkway in his route, so we wouldn't see him until Blowing Rock NC in the second transition area, where we reunited with our peeps from van #1. Terry said later, that he started getting hungry around mile 2 of his 9 mile leg, but was able to get through it and really enjoyed the beautiful vistas on top of the mountain before he descended again. While Terry was still on the road, we learned what van #1 did with their downtime and that they got a nice nap in and were ready to roll once more. Joel was already dressed and prepped before van #2 even got there, ready to grab the baton whenever Terry would show up. And it all happened like clockwork... Terry in, Joel back on the road for leg #13, van #1 hitting the road again and van #2 heading to the closed burger joint to grab some dinner! :-) Life is good!!

Van #2 is taking a break or Lost in the NC mountains

While we had a nice sit down burger and wrap dinner and tons of delicious fries, we discussed, if we should stick around this transition area to try to rest some or if we should move to the next transition area to get a cat nap in. Fortunately, we decided to go ahead as we expected that van #1 will only need 4 to 5 hours to complete their runs. We followed the course and actually saw Dave running out there. In full night gear with headlamp, reflective vest and flashing lights as it was already getting dark quick. Sometime after that I snoozed off and when I woke up again, it was pitch black outside and the van was still moving. We didn't find the next transition area. The problem was, that there were directions in the handbook issued by the race director, but the exchange zones didn't have an address along with it, so we had trouble choosing the right spots in the GPS, but also had trouble finding it based on the directions. But Kerrie stayed calm on the wheel and Mike and Brian tried to figure out the directions and stuff. When we finally arrived at the transition area and just settled down for some sleep, we got a call from van #1 that Christina is on the road and that they expect for Alex to arrive at the transition area around 11.15PM... That was just 1.5 hours away and nobody other than Terry and I had gotten any sleep so far. Time flies when you are trying to get some rest in and soon enough, van #1 pulled into the transition area, Alex came running out of the dark handed the wrist strap over to Mike and van #2 was on again for the second rotation.

Van #2 is running through night and fog

The bad thing about running a 208 mile relay is that you will run portions of it in the night. The good thing is, that the NC mountains are not a highly trafficked area at night. On top of that, the race organization made sure, that all the runners looked like slot machines (flashing and reflecting) which should make it easier for semi-cautious drivers to spot us early enough. Mike was once again flying through is leg and handed the baton over to Todd once again. Todd's leg was a "hard" rated 7.5 mile piece of road with a lot of switchbacks and neverending climbs, in the woods, in the middle of the night. He was such a trooper and I sure didn't wait long for him to arrive at the next exchange zone to send me on my second leg. Leg #21 was rated "short and sweet" and it was just that. This was one of the most enjoyable runs I ever did in my life. I had an 8:49 mins per mile average for the 2.5 miles and that is super fast for me... Having a course that was mostly downhill sure didn't harm! On top of that, I just felt good... Knee good, stomach didn't give me any trouble, I was running through a community, so even though it was nighttime, I wasn't creeped out at all. The only thing that still bugs me, that this older guy was passing me at the beginning of the leg and I got very close on passing him back, but the leg ran out before I was able to do so. Soon enough, Kerrie was on the road with a moderate 6 miler. We saw her out there and where glad, that she had other runners in front and behind her to keep her a little company. The leg had a climb at the very end and it was the only exchange station that didn't have a sign 1/4 mile before the zone... When Kerrie came back to the van, she said she was about to walk the last piece of hill and then she saw the exchange zone... The thing was, she was blasting through this leg and we actually didn't expect her yet and just Brian's intuition or plain luck made him go to the road early enough that Kerrie could give him the baton. Nice team work right there! :-) By then the fog came in and with the headlamp on, you basically have a tunnel vision. Nice portion of this leg according to Brian, was the gravel road he was on. After Brian, Terry was back in the game to finish our rotation. He was out there for a 3.2 mile easy rated piece and he just plain smoked it in under 21 minutes even though he had to stop twice to make sure, he is still on track. Vision went from bad to worse and having yellow real estate signs competing with the yellow BRR signs sure didn't help. Actually, the van got lost for a little bit and by the time we finally arrived in transition area number three, we had to rally up van #1 to get Joel ready for his last leg... That was the closest transition that I witnessed from our team during the race. Other teams weren't that organized... We saw several runners, especially on the night legs, yelling for their team mates to take over.

Final break and cat napping for van #2

This time we didn't have as much trouble to find the final transition area. Not that I was any help with that, as I was once again snoozing in the back while Kerrie did the driving and Mike kept her company... As I said, I was asleep, so I don't know what everyone else did. When we arrived at the final station, some peeps out of the bus grabbed the pancake breakfast whereas some stayed in the van for some more sleep. The breakfast gang soon returned for a cat nap too. We found out later, that the church was open and that we could have actually laid down there instead of trying to sleep in the van. The night was over quick and we spend the rest of our waiting time with chatting to other teams. Kerrie and Brian even met a couple of Greenville running people and our Clemson tiger paw on the van sure pulled it's share of other Clemson students and/or alumni. Around 9AM (total guesstimation) van #1 pulled into the transition area. Except Alex, who was still on the road, they all were done with the race, while we were about to go on to our final rotation. We heard that Christina was cramping through a hard rated 7 miler, but was a trooper and fought through it. I had a quick chat with Jeff and heard that he had fun and Chris our captain had some major blister action going on... It's all battle wounds! :-) In general, we just tried to catch up once more. There was also a little puppy that was following the race for the last 10 miles and just enjoyed the bustle and getting petted by everyone. I sure hope the pup made it make home alright.

Van #2 on the final stretch

Mike had the pleasure to do the "mountain goat" leg (the toughest leg of the whole race) for the team and he did a great job with it. We stopped on the side of the road halfway up the mountain to check in with him and he was looking strong, despite sleep deprivation and a sore ankle. On the top of the mountain he handed the strap over to Todd for a hard 9.4 miles. Descending on a gravel road for 4 miles and than and endless flat for the rest of the way. It's just like Mike said in the van: "when you hit the flat, it's like someone is taking your wheels off"... But Todd was plucking through that leg as well, despite the heat and the distance and handed me the baton with the words: "It's all yours!" My last leg was 5.2 miles rated "very hard"... I looked at the elevation profile and just told myself, this is just like Paris Mountain. It's about the same elevation gain over 3.1 miles instead of 2.2 miles... I should be able to handle this. So I started out slow, feeling good, plucking along all uphill... I knew that I should reach the top of the hill at 3.1 miles and then it's all downhill to the exchange area. The climbing felt good, I wasn't worried until I hit the REAL hill at mile 2.6. Still not overly concerned, I just decided to power walk (didn't I say it won't be the last time that I walked) up the hill and blast down on the other side. But the hill got steeper and steeper and after every switchback the mountain was still there... At mile 3.1 and 3.2 and 3.3... I didn't see any support vehicles anymore from the other teams and I started freaking out, if I was on track still, so I finally stopped an oncoming car and asked if I was still on the road for the race. He was a young dude and just laughed and said that I was still on course and just need to keep going. Finally at mile 3.5 I hit the top of the hill and just as steep as it was coming up, it was steep going down the other side. No way, I would be able to blast down this hill, not with my rudimentary downhill skills and the worries about my knees. I had an 11:25 mins per mile average for this leg and even though this is slow, I feel that I gave my all... Every picture that was taken for an hour after this leg has me with a pain-twisted face. Even Kerrie asked me if I was alright when I handed the baton over before she blasted out to complete her last leg. Her exchange zone was a nasty one, because the vans all where parked at the bottom of the hill, but the actual exchange point was several hundred yards up the hill and that after the last hard effort in the afternoon heat. Now Brian was on for his last piece of race. Once again, he ran on the BRP, but this time, we were allowed to take the same route. We stopped at an overlook and took a couple of pictures of a biker group and they in turn took a picture of us. I think they thought we were completely crazy running along this road. We asked them to enjoy their day and watch out for runners on the Parkway. Brian was done fast and so Terry, our last runner, on the last leg was on the road. We got back in the van, making time to get to the finish line in downtown Asheville NC meeting up with the rest of the team. We passed Terry and he looked like he meant business and we were about to witness it! :-) The original plan was, to jog over the finish line together as a team. When he got in sight, we saw that he was going fast. His eyes were locked in at the guy in front of him and he wanted to pass bad. We gestured to slow down, while the other guys team was closing in on their team mate. Terry was taken by surprise and almost crashed into the group, then sped up again and went over the finish line with the other group... Oh well... At the end we got THIS group picture and that is sure evidence enough.



Going back to Greenville SC

We were all tired and all pretty smelly by this point. Some of us are from out of town and planned to drive back home once we got back to Greenville. So we didn't stick around long after the finish, jumped into the cars and headed back home... On the way we started reflecting on this trip, as much as it is possible so early on.

This is the race report out of my perspective. I can't wait to read what kind of impressions my team mates and the other teams took home from this adventure.... And I will put the links for these accounts in my next posts as I receive them.