Yes, friends, it's time for another epic tale, this time of the Wild West Relay, a 200-mile adventure relay race that starts in Ft Collins and ends in Steamboat Springs, after wandering through Roosevelt National Forest in Larimer County, up over Sand Creek Pass (elev 10, 269 ft), into Albany County in southern Wyoming, through Medicine Bow National Forest in Jackson County, Colorado, and up and over the Continental Divide at Rabbit Ears Pass (elev 9573 feet). I had the extreme pleasure of running with a team made up of Runner's Edge of the Rockies members Al, Bret, Randy, John, Amy, Alyse, Jen, Lana, and Allison, Chris, and Amanda. The twelve of us divided into two vans. This allowed half of the team to drive ahead on the course to rest while the other half ran, and leapfrog along the way so that each person would run a total of three of the 36 legs of the relay. ("Some teams had only six people, each of whom ran six legs. One person actually ran the entire race by himself!" "Wow. And I thought you twelve were crazy.")
| Van 1 | Van 2 | ||
| 1 | John | 7 | Bret |
| 2 | Doug | 8 | Randy |
| 3 | Al | 9 | Alyse |
| 4 | Chris | 10 | Jen |
| 5 | Allison | 11 | Lana |
| 6 | Amy | 12 | Amanda |
John started us off in Ft Collins at 5:00 am. After a while the rest of us drove along the course, cheering for John and all the other runners as we passed. ("This became something of a tradition for us, cheering for all the runners as we drove along to each exchange point." "I'm sure they all appreciated it." "The funny thing was, at first our cheers were enthusiastic and coherent: 'Way to go,' 'Good job,' and that sort of thing. By the end they descended to a kind of unintelligible 'Grahraun!' kind of noise, and we weren't doing it all the time." "Didn't care any more?" "No, we were just exhausted.")
All too soon John was finished with his run and I was off. Actually, John was the first person to reach the exchange point, which meant that we were in the lead. ("Awesome!" "Yeah, well, it didn't last long.") I set off at a very aggressive pace to start, but was passed by a runner about 0.3 miles into my 3.9-mile leg. Still, I maintained a sub-9 minute pace for the entire run, and in fact each mile was faster than the one before. ("That, also, wouldn't last.") The sun had risen by the time I started but stayed, mercifully, behind some low-hanging clouds which kept the temperature nice and cool. My first leg was very quiet and peaceful in the early dawn. There was very little traffic and some gentle, easy uphills.
I finished my 3.9 miles in just under 34 minutes. After that I climbed into the van to rest. We made our way along the course, with Al running after me, followed by Chris, then Allison, and then Amy. At each exchange point, we would wait for a while, then drive along slowly, cheering for runners as we passed them--especially our own--and then waiting ahead at the next exchange point. I particularly enjoyed seeing members of the other teams again and again at these exchanges. It was kind of nice to be able to check in with them. It was a wonderful opportunity to make new friends and really feel part of a community. ("A community of crazy people!" "Be that as it may...")
We got to the first van exchange at 10:05. It was now Van 2's turn to run, and the six of us in the first van had a chance to eat some real food. ("A church at the exchange point was serving homemade waffles. Allison, Chris, and I agreed they were hands down the most delicious waffles ever." "What?! Even better than Waffle House in Ft Collins?! I can't believe that!") After cheering for Bret--first runner for Van 2--and encouraging the other half of our team, we drove ahead to the next van exchange at Chapel Pines near Red Feather Lake to get some sleep and wait for Van 2 to arrive. Rolling our sleeping bags out on a nice grassy knoll, we managed to catch a few hours of sleep. Before we knew it, Van 2 had arrived ahead of our last runner, Amanda. So John got ready to begin his second leg of the relay--a very hard uphill climb of five miles. When Amanda arrived, John took off. We followed after a while, still cheering for the runners as we passed.
While we waited at the next exchange point, I spent some time reviewing my next leg. Of course I'd studied it pretty carefully in the weeks leading up to this, trying to psyche myself up for it. But now that it was here, and having driven up along John's climb, I was getting plenty nervous. I was facing an 8.5 mile run that would start downhill for the first 2.25 miles before climbing from just below 9200 feet to the top of Sand Creek Pass at 10,269 feet, 4 and 1/2 miles later, followed by a quick descent for the last 2 miles. I'd thought I'd be able to handle the nearly 1200 foot elevation gain if not easily, at least without having to walk. Now, I wasn't so sure.
When John arrived, I set off. I made good time on the initial downhill, holding myself to about a 9:15 pace for the duration. When I started to climb up, I slowed to about 11 minutes, a pace I hoped I could hold for the rest of the uphill. ("When our van passed by me, they sang some of my Theme Music at me." "What's your Theme Music?" "Superman the Movie." "I should've known.") But as the climb grew steeper as the road wound its way up, my pace began to slip. To keep my focus, I began reciting Shakespeare monologues in my head--Hamlet, Julius Caesar, MacBeth, even some of Portia's "Quality of Mercy" speech from "The Merchant of Venice." I also spent some time chatting with other runners. I ran for about a half mile with Kevin, who was a member of a wedding party: two of his teammates were getting married in Steamboat on Sunday. I also ran with Mark, a Lieutenant Commander in the US Navy and member of Team NF, a charity team supporting neurofibromatosis research. Mark and I paced each other for a solid mile before I pulled ahead just before the summit of Sand Creek.
I'm happy to say that I walked less than a mile of that uphill. I took 7 or 8 walk breaks, each about a tenth of a mile, on the steepest climbs. They were good breaks, because they gave me a chance to reset my form and renew my focus. When I started downhill, I picked my pace up again to about 9:00. As I rounded a corner and saw the exchange point and my teammates about a tenth of a mile away, I gave a shout of triumph. Suddenly I heard a runner coming up behind me. I glanced over my shoulder and saw Mark closing on me fast. As he pulled alongside me he said, "If you wanna beat me, I'm gonna make you work for it." Before I knew it we were in a full-on sprint for the finish. As our respective teammates and the volunteers and other waiting runners cheered, we handed off to our next runners at exactly the same time! It was awesome.
Next: The night shift and Big Finish
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