the relay

i ran in the relay this weekend: 12 people, 2 vans, 199 miles. i was runner 10, which meant that i ran legs 10, 22, and 34. one of our runners got sick at the last minute, and another one got injured during the race, so the remaining 4 of us in our van each picked up an extra leg as well. the table below has a synopsis of each of my legs, with links to maps and stuff if you're interested.

leg	rating	distance	ascent	start time	pace	total time
10	vh	8.9	1400	3:58 p.m.	08:23	01:14:38
22	e	4.2	320	2:23 a.m.	07:46	00:32:37
24	m	5.9	280	3:26 a.m.	08:06	00:47:47
34	vh	6.2	640	10:37 a.m.	07:49	00:48:26
		25.2	2640		08:05	03:23:48

trying to look tough right before the last 2 (uphill) miles of my race.

we finished in 27:58:25, 93rd out of 250 teams.

i was initially pretty worried about how being sleep deprived (i got a total of 2 hours sleep over the course of the race) would affect my mood and performance, but it turned out not to be nearly as big an issue as i thought it would be. aside from some slightly delerious conversations with myself during the early-morning legs i felt ok.

the weather SUCKED for the first 24 hours or so. coming over the top of the big hill on my first leg it was foggy, with driving rain and wind. visibility was about 30 feet, and the dirt road i was on had turned into ankle-deep mud punctuated with cow crap. it was never that bad again, but it stayed wet and gloomy for the rest of the race. predictably, the sun came out about an hour after we crossed the finish line.

the whole thing was a blast, WAY more fun than i thought it was going to be, and i'm really glad i did it.