Sawtooth Relay

Finally! I get to run the Sawtooth Relay, a race I've been wanting to do for a couple of years. I guess if no one invites you to be on a team, you just have to start your own. In the process of organizing the "Rock-to-Run" team, I learned whata huge challenge it can be just to get a team of 6 runners together and to the starting line on time. There were so many perturbations to our lineup. Holly was the first on board but had to pull out due to injury. Deborah was added to the roster when I thought I already had 6 people, prompting me to offer giving up my spot so that the other 6 could run. In the end, Deborah's hip bothered her too much, so I was thrown back into the running order. Given that I had only been running for a few weeks since my stress fracture, it was definitely questionable to have me running it either. But in the end, it seemed to work out fairly well. My times for my legs were respectable given my lack of training leading up to the race. I had hoped to have sub 8 min paces for each leg, but it turned out to be 8:48 going uphill and 8:18 coming downhill. The higher altitude really had me running in oxygen depletion mode. It didn't help that I tried to run each leg way faster than I should have.

There's just something exciting about a relay that gets the adrenaline pumping more than a normal race. The team overall was super. We came in 38th out of 297 teams with a cumulative time of 8 hrs 33 min 11 sec. Even with the hassles of organizing, I have to say it was a super experience and lived up to my expectations. I can't wait to get a team (or two) organized for next year. I have a few "ringers" in mind..... :-)